How/When to wean the bottle?

[Ambinsi]

Hello all! My 12.5 month old DD is currently on 3 bottles a day and juice/water in between during snacks. She will drink her juice/water out of a cup with handles and straw (is this a sippy?) but she WILL NOT drink her formula out of the same cup, only the bottle. Since I know she can drink just fine out of a cup, I'd like to try to start weaning the bottle, especially since (a) she refuses to hold her own bottle (I never really pushed this issue) and (b)  I'm 6 months pregnant and soon we'll have a newborn in the house, and the less bottles I'm dealing with the better, right?? So she CAN drink out of a cup just fine, just refuses her milk/formula from the cup. This morning I tried to hand her first formula feeding of the day to her in a cup and she sipped it, looked at me, dropped it on the floor and walked away. I tried a few more times but then after about 40 minutes I dumped it into a bottle and she drank the whole thing.

Any advice?

[Lolly]

At this age they only need around 14oz of dairy and that includes the dairy in her food, so you can drop one bottle and she won't be missing out. From 1 my DD only had bottles at bedtime and wake up and we gave her milk in her cup in the day, if she drank it great, if not it wasn't a problem. They don't take much at first but most will start drinking more once they realise they won't get it any other way - and that's a key point, if you give in and put it back in the bottle she will just hold out until you do!

We swapped the first bottle to a cup of milk after breakfast around 13.5 months because she wasn't eating breakfast so we put that milk into a cup rather than a bottle.

So, I would swap the day bottle to a cup and give her some time to get used to that, then swap the morning milk to a cup. The bedtime bottle can stay for a while if you want it to - DS dropped his at 2.5 but we just gace a cup to DD at bedtime at 18 months and she was fine with it. Bedtime bottles aren't a problem provinding they drink it quickly and their teeth are cleaned afterwards.

You could always try a new and exciting cup just for her milk!

Laura

[Roseii]

Hi hun, at 15m I decided to offer the milk only in a sippy and if she didn't want it then I wasn't worried about her having milk as I was confident she was getting enough dairy in her diet. As it happened she took to it fine after a couple of days and still has morning and bed sippies of milk

[Ambinsi]

I am sorry I never came back here....I meant to respond but pregnancy/mommy brain took over. An update: DD is still drinking her juice/water from a cup and formula from the bottle. She outright refuses it any other way. I am coming back to revisit this because I noticed something interesting ...she is recovering from a stomach virus and went a few days without formula because it was upsetting her stomach. For days all she drank was pedialyte out of a cup. She didn't seem to miss the milk at all. So.....if I try to wean the bottle by simply not offering formula in the bottle, I can easily see her just going without it happily as she's been doing. This does concern me because I know she needs those calories/ calcium etc.
 don't want her to drink NO formula at all!

Or should I not offer any other liquids as I try to wean the bottle? If she's thirsty enough she will eventually take the milk from the cup right? But not as long as she's being satisfied with other liquids.

Wdyt?

[Lolly]

Why not just switch her to cow's milk, they don't need formula now? Maybe the change in taste from formula will help her adjust to a cup. Milk is just a drink now, it's not a food like it was so if you add extra sources of calcium to her foods while you change then she will be getting what she needs.

Have you tried a straw cup for her milk? That may be more interesting for her and different from her juice/water sippy. If she likes milk then she will go back to drinking it if you are consistent and keep to offering in a cup. I would keep the bedtime bottle so you know she is getting some oz at least and stick to a cup in the day and add more dairy to foods.

Laura

[Ambinsi]

Thanks Lolly....a couple of things:
She is still on formula as per doctor's orders due to a lactose intolerance. She's been on a hypoallergenic formula since she was about 2-3 months old since she does have some milk issues, the doc was very reluctant to make the switch to milk. As a matter of fact, she didn't have any dairy AT ALL until she was a year old. Its only recently that I started giving her cheese and yogurt and i had to introduce it all very slowly. We wanted to establish that before we made the switch to milk, and we are planning on revisiting this issue at her next visit which is at the beginning of August and she'll be 15 months old. However, I am aware that cow's milk is not the only option and I'm open to rice milk, etc...this is just something I need to discuss with him. He seems to feel that the formula is best for her right now. I was the one pushing the issue, but at the same time I'm reluctant to do anything to make her sick especially after she's just had a stomach virus.

As for the cup, she already drinks out of a straw. She never really took to the sippy so I moved it along to the straw since that's the next step anyway, and she's been drinking out of a straw since she's like 7-8 months old. So I don't think the straw would be enough to entice her....we've tried that many times. But I'm open to other ideas!!!!!!!!!

[*Kara*]

Do you have Lactaid brand milk where you are?  It is lactose free