Is baby chewing through nipples normal?

Question

I have an 11 month old son. I went to his crib today and he had something in his mouth. It was a nickel sized piece of rubber. Easily large enough to have choked him. It was the end of the nipple from his bottle. We give him a bottle at night and he goes to sleep drinking it. If it had been at night or I hadn't went in there when I did, he'd have choked to death.

So should we stop giving him bottles and pacifiers altogether? Or was this possibly a poorly made bottle that came apart on him? Is it normal for a baby to do that? Really need some advice here. Thank you in advance.

Answer 1

First, you should not put your child to bed with a bottle. Falling asleep with a bottle in his mouth will promote tooth decay (search "bottle rot").

You can keep giving him bottles as long as he's supervised (which he should be anyhow when he's eating). Tossing the pacifier is probably a good idea since he is able to chew through the rubber.

My son would chew out the inside of the Nuby sippy cup spouts to make the flow faster, so yes they can chew through that stuff with enough time and determination.

Answer 2

My sister in law adn my sister both tooked the bottle away from their children when the started to chew off the nipples. My son is only 4 months so I have a while but my son is going to be off the bottle at 1 nomatter what.If your son can drink a sippy cup give it too him.Just put formula in it at bed time and he will go to sleep.It is better to stop a baby at a young age at like11 or 12 months with the bottle and the pacifiers cuz when they get older it well be harder.Good luck.Try a sippy cup.See if he likes that better.