Reducing bottle use doesn't prevent toddler weight gain

Toddlers who continue to use bottles beyond 12 to 15 months of age tend to be overweight. But simply switching them to sippy cups may not prevent extra weight gain, a new study finds.

Doctors recommend introducing sippy cups at six months and weaning toddlers off bottles completely by the time they're 15 months old.

But 20 percent of two-year-olds and 10 percent of three-year-olds in the U.S. continue to use bottles, often drinking five bottles of whole milk every day, researchers said.

"Bottles can become a vessel for extra, or ‘stealth' calories, because they are often used indiscriminately. For example, while in a stroller, or to put a child to bed," Karen Bonuck told Reuters Health in an email. She led the new study at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in Bronx, New York.

"Before you know it, a child can take in 150 calories of whole milk in a bottle on top of their regular diet," Bonuck said.  http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_142362.html