Carter James and the bedtime bottle fight

I have a 19 month old baby boy that still sleeps with a bottle, only at night and only 1/2 full of the glorious white stuff he refers to as moomoo. Puts him to sleep every time. I have been hesitant to take it away because.... well, lets face it, it helps him sleep! I know "the book" says they should be weened by 12 month (I'm a little behind) due to the development of their pallet and the way their teeth grow. I have been monitoring his development and he seems to be fine. The reason I am blogging about it is this; I was at a party with a few other moms that had children my boys age. One mom had a 7 week old baby with a very tempting bottle of moomoo. Carter James walked over to the baby and acted like he was going to kiss him but he took the moomoo and ran for the hills. As I explained he still got a bottle at night the other mothers looked at me like I had six heads and the worst mommy in the world....I just wanted to die! I just don't feel he is ready to let it go all together. Any constructive advise would we awesome!!