When to drop morning and bedtime bottle - LO is one year old.

[lisamichel]

Im not sure how to get her off her morning and bedtime bottles-   right now she is completly on a sippy cup of milk during the day at meals,   She will be a year old this Friday and I don't want to rip away her 1st morning and bedtime bottle.   Those are the only two bottles she gets now and first thing in the morning she is pretty much wailing when you come in to get her after sleeping through the night and she is in a panic for her bottle - so I can't see taking that away from her just yet and she really wants her bottle before bed too.  I have heard all kinds of advice - like they should be off the bottles by 1 year old etc. etc.   Anyone keep using bottles for a time after you lo turned 1 year old and then how did you transition them off them??

Thanks    Lisa

[LŠuren]

Lisa
Do you mean dropping the bottle but still having the milk in a sippy or dropping the milk altogether from eith bottle or sippy?

[lisamichel]

sorry -  I guess I meant putting the milk in a sippy instead of a bottle for morning and at bedtime.   she definitly still needs the milk

[LŠuren]

How much milk will she take during the day from his sippy?

[LŠuren]

I have just successfully manage to get DS to take milk from a sipp in the morning and the last few nights he has taken all his bedtime milk from a sippy as well.  I do miss the bedtime bottle cuddles 

[M2W]

My grand mother said a bottle should be taken away at 9 months or you'll be screwed.

Our doc said 18 months or you'll be screwed.

I have a friend who's 4 year old is allowed 1 bottle a day and she chooses if it's AM or PM. (but always at home)

Me personally my son could have his bottle until he's grown and heading off to college if he'd like...HOWEVER, just this past week, he has discovered how fun it is to push the nipple INTO the bottle and pour the milk all over the place...so we may have to wean the bottle to some degree for that reason alone. We are currently seeing how often this fun adventure takes place. He is quite attached to his bottle.

I feel that weaning a bottle is a personal choice. For me I think weaning will be easier when Weston can decide he's ready to move on to bigger and better things...and there comes a time when children want to be JUST LIKE mommie and daddy...and I'm not sure about you, but DH & I aren't drinking from bottles, so I imagine there will be a time when Weston wants to drink full time from a cup like us. 

[lisamichel]

she gets her sippy with milk at daycare during the day and they give it to her at 8am with breakfast and then at about 9:30 am they offer it and then with lunch and then again with her snack,   she usually drinks about 8-10oz throughout the day at daycare from her sippy then I give her the sippy at dinner and it varies on the amount she will drink -  usually about 4-5oz.  So combine that with her formula in the morning (5-6oz) and her formula before bed (5-6oz) she is getting about 20-21oz of whole milk/formula a day.     I think I may have to just try and see what happens if I just offer her the sippy for those bottles.   I might try just to wean the bedtime bottle first - I think this will be the easier bottle at this point -   I guess if she completely has a meltdown      I can always just grab a bottle.     I too have heard all the things like if you dont get them off the bottle by a certain age you will be screwed,   but I don't think she is quite ready to give them up.       
M2W-   I agree with you too that it is a personal choice and I too think that she will want to move on to bigger things also -  she is quite an independent little girl and loves to imitate the grown-ups!!!       Thanks everyone.       Lisa

[TDR'smom]

In my opinion the bedtime bottle is the most difficult to get rid of. 

To get rid of the AM bottle, we would just have DS's breakfast ready and when he woke up we would immediately bring him downstairs to the kitchen and into his high chair.  There he would get his sippy cup of milk with breakfast. 

Sorry if you posted this earlier, but have you tried giving her a sippy cup of milk right when she wakes up in the morning?  That also might work.

For us, we did breakfast right away...

But, try not to stress about it because she is still really young.  We got rid of the AM bottle at a year and bedtime bottle at 17 months. 

HTH.

[M2W]

I agree with bedtime bottles being much harder then morning bottles...in the morning you can distract with activity, breakfast, sippy cup, etc...at night, it's quite, there is only a few things to focus on...bottle and bed.

Also, they do know the difference of formula vs milk...Weston will drink milk from a bottle or a sippy cup, but will have NOTHING to do with formula in a sippy cup. He wants his formula in a bottle. And that is what he gets at night. during the day he gets a mix up of formula, milk, juice, water, etc. But in his bottles it's always formula.

I'm thought of switching it up backwards first, but haven't had time to seriously consider the potential consequences yet. By switching backwards, I mean offer him juice, water, etc in a bottle as well as a sippy cup and then eventually see if he'd take formula in a sippy cup...because I think he associates sippy cup with drink and bottle with formula...so if he started to assoc bottle & sippy cup with drink of any kind it might make it easier, but then on the other hand it could make it tougher to wean the bottle, because he's already OK with everything else in the sippy cup. 

I think I'll just play it by ear for a while and see if his nipple trick continues. Because if he learns that the nipple trick is not a good choice, then I'm good with a bottle until he's ready to wean himself. I should say he has sooo far weaned himself off everything on his own. Pacifier, breast feeding, etc... so I have HOPE...lol 

It's a tough call...I feel if you are both ready, go for it...if you're not do it SLOWLY there's no reason to 'rush' a process that took several months to love. 

[M2W]

If you asked me a year ago i was a total bottle nazi, no kid of mine would have a bottle after a year!

Ok so a year  later, I DONT CARE.  Now Kaleb only has the bottle to drink  milk, purely for nutrition.  He could care less for it for comfort and its so far from sleep its not at all a prop or part of his wind down. Kaleb is just terrible at sippy and straw cups. He gets nothing from a sippy and he has more fun spitting out what he gets from a straw cup then consuming it lol.  So he has sippy and straw cups all day and to get the nutirion in a bottle of milk in the am and pm.   The am bottle is an hour after he wakes up, the pm he finishes 15-30 mins before sleep.

So really, I dont care how long he has it. My gut is starting to think hes never gonna get sippys and straw cups and just go to open cups whenever they do that! He loves open cups!  Im sooooo t ired of buying every cup out t here!

All im excited is he now takes cold milk! YAAAHOOOOOO that was battle one. 

LOL...your post made me smile...I have every cup out there trying to find one that doesn't leak...and until my son's newest trick the bottle was the only thing he would drink in full and nothing leaked all over the place.

As for using a real cup...we practice that in the tub (great water there!) LOL I do try to get the water out of the tap rather then his bath water...LOL and during spring summer months OUTSIDE. 

[TDR'smom]

NO straw cups DOESNT leak cause I have them all! He turns it over and it leaks. 

That is SOOOOOO true.  You don't know how many bags, etc I have ruined with those darn straw cups that claim to NOT leak!

 

[M2W]

Weston will bang the sippy cups so hard and make the various valves fall out...so far Avent is the only ones he can't get the valve to fall out of...and those seem to leak through the screw on lid somehow?

Straw cups are great for supervised drinking...but Weston will throw his and then the lid comes off (I have the disposible straw cups)

And now his new trick with the bottles leave me helpless. LOL

We only give him 'bottles' in the car and in bed (eeks...I know a BW naughty) so we aren't RIGHT THERE to stop the nipple popping and pouring process...tonight I gave him a sippy cup with formula and it seemed to work...first time and I'm pretty pleased...we'll see how long it lasts...but if I can get him on a sippy cup instead then I won't be changing crib bedding at 2am.

[lisamichel]

After numerous sippy cups that claim not to leak,   I have found that the Gerber cups (like the suzi's zoo ones)   have not leaked at all!!   The valve in them is so easy to use as it is one piece and so easy to clean especially if there is milk in there.    But I hated the advent ones -  Leia would leak those things all over the place.   But so far my vote is for gerber!!!

[M2W]

After numerous sippy cups that claim not to leak,   I have found that the Gerber cups (like the suzi's zoo ones)   have not leaked at all!!   The valve in them is so easy to use as it is one piece and so easy to clean especially if there is milk in there.    But I hated the advent ones -  Leia would leak those things all over the place.   But so far my vote is for gerber!!!

The gerber ones are the ones Weston bangs the valve out of and then pours the liquid on the floor, sofa, chair, car seat, etc....

Just to make sure we're talking about the same cup...it's these...right?


If it's not these cups, please tell me more...I would love to learn of a cup that Weston may not be able to get the valve out of...like I said before he bangs the cup on the ground, table whatever to jar the valve out. And the Avent ones the valve doesn't come out, but they still leak a ton somehow. 

[lisamichel]

Ya those are the cups -  Leia doesn't bang hers though.   They have been the only ones that havent leaked for us.   But I could see if he is banging them hard enough that the valve could come out.    I like these cups cause the valve is easy to clean especially with milk,  but obviously if he can get it out that is a big problem.    I will have to ask a couple other mothers here what they are using.  All of our babies are pretty close in age where I work.   If I come up with anything else I will let you know.