getting rid of nighttime bottle

[Charlene.b]

My LO is just now 18 mos. He drinks his milk out of a sippy cup during the day, but has been really attached to his nighttime bottle.  He knows exactly when its time, throws down his lovey and pacifier, and cries until he has his bottle. Recently he starting to get a little less demanding about it. Between that and turning 18 mos, I decided its time to phase out the bottle completely.

Tonight we put it in a sippy cup and he took a couple sips, said thank you, handed it to me, and grabbed his pacifier. I tried a different cup and he drank a couple ounces, said thank you and handed it to me again.  I don't think this is a bad thing, but I'm confused on when and how much they should be drinking.  I've read 16-20oz and no more than 24.  Currently he drinks 5-6oz along with his early afternoon snack and late afternoon snack, and then an 8oz bottle during story time before bed.  When is a good time to give them milk? When should I be giving him the other 6oz, if he's no longer drinking milk before bedtime? What is the ultimate goal?

Thanks so much for your experience here!!

[Lolly]

They don't actually *need* milk, they do need around 12/14oz of dairy to get their needs met but if he has dairy in his food then he will be getting some in addition to the milk.

We used to give DD a drink of milk with toast as a mid-morning snack and she had milk on her cereal for breakfast. If she hadn't had much dairy in food I sometimes gave her a cup of milk with her evening meal or lunch. We stopped the bedtime bottle around 18 months too, she took some from a cup for a while but then stopped drinking it so I stopped offering unless she asked for it.

Laura

[Charlene.b]

Thanks! I decided to keep going as you did. :-) surprisingly he drank more than 6 oz tonight from the sippy cup.. I guess my biggest worry was that he would wake up during the night because he was hungry without the nighttime bottle. Hopefully he will do the same as your LO did and gradually stop drinking it.

[Lolly]

At this age they really don't wake in the night from hunger. There were many, many times my DD has gone to bed with no evening meal and no bedtime milk and she has never woken from hunger!

Laura