Taking Away The Last Bottle (advice please)

[Grace's Mom]

Once we finish up the last of our formula we are going to be getting rid of our last and final bottle. 

Here is our eating routine now....

Between 6:30/7:00 breakfast (depending on when she wakes and when I decide to go get her  )
10:30 small snack
12:00 lunch
3:30 small snack
5pm dinner
6pm bottle
6:30 or 7pm bed

When the bottle goes away how should our feeding routine change.  I don't think she'll be able to go 14 hours with out food (from dinner to breakfast). Any suggestions? 

Thank you very much.
Melissa

[Katie]

Mel Aliera also has dinner at 5pm but when we eat at 6.30pm she picks at some of ours IYKWIM and  she has her sippy with water and she goes to bed at 7 - 7.15 and sleeps 12 hours. We did the same when the formula ran out we just stopped cold turkey.

You could offer her milk in a sippy at 6.30pm if you are worried.

HTH


Katie x

[Grace's Mom]

Thanks Katie.   

-We usually eat dinner with her so should we give her a small snack at that time or just a sippy?

-Melissa

[Katie]

i would mybe offer her a peice of fruit and her sippy and see if she has any 

[*Natasha*]

So you plan to cut out milk all together?
I would replace the bottle with a sippy of milk instead it might take her a while to get use drinking her milk from a cup rather than a bottle but persist.

[debo620]

Are you giving milk at breakfast and lunch then in a sippy?
what we did was:
milk with breakfast and lunch for a couple weeks only and then milk/bottle before bed. We then introduced the milk with supper and he would drink a few oz.
the bedtime bottle, we just decreased by 1oz every few days---and at the same time he was drinking more milk at supper, eventually it was down to 2oz or so. He wasn't interested anymore and that was it!

[Grace's Mom]

She gets regular milk in a sippy at breakfast, lunch and dinner.  She doesn't drink all that much (normally) which is why we initially kept the one bottle of formula before bed after she turned 1.

-Melissa

[debo620]

I think I would just decrease the amount of formula at bedtime gradually. Her milk intake may go up a bit. Also seems as though milk intake can really change day to day, but averages out overall. I would think that if she is drinking at least 5oz with each meal she should be fine. Calcium and calories from other sources anyhow...

[newmaze]

We did ours cold turkey.  I give her a straw sippy of milk before breakfast, I give her milk during lunch, and she usually finishes it after her meal.  Then I give her milk in a straw sippy with a snack when she wakes up from her nap (before dinner, like you at 3ish-4).  I make that a small one to go with the snack, and then at dinner I give her another small straw sippy of milk (so like the other half of the milk).  Sometimes she prefers water, and she is fine until the next morning.  But, that is the end of milk for the day.  After her bath, I always offer her a sippy of water while we read books if she wants it.  The cold turkey method worked well... I just made sure she was really good at sippys before switching all 3 bottles over. 

[Grace's Mom]

Thank you all very much. 

-Melissa

[Grace's Mom]

Well ladies, I think Grace has just about weaned herself form her last bottle (and yet I still have a ton of formula  ).  She is only drinking about a 1/2 an ounce and then thowing the bottle - I think just about tells me she's had enough  .  She is still sleeping through so that's a good sign. 

Thanks again!
Melissa