Weaning our daily bottle

[ZacsMumme]

Z has a bottle before his nap (30mins before) and then a BF at BT now. I want to move away from him having a 'bottle at this time as I think its affecting his solids AND I really would prefer to get him off bottles.

Today for the first time I gave him his bottle of formula in the same bottle (we use Avent) but put a sippy on the end - the ones where you have to still suck (trying to transition slowly) He drank 1/2 rather than the entire bottle, but didn't protest or anything.

Any thoughts on this, tips/ideas on if this is a good/bad idea?...I am not sure how to move to the next phase but I thought maybe after a week remove the suction part from the sippy so it becomes free flow and then look at moving to a mix of cows milk and formula.

[Truly Blessed]

Hi Sara,

I just took Sam's bottles away 2 weeks ago and changed to sippy cups. He has cut his milk right back because I think it was the comfort of sucking that was encouraging him to still drink so much, so it sounds like the same might happen with Zac, and consequently you may not even need a further plan. (IIWM I would go shopping and pick a really special cup for his mlk/or naptime juice instead) Consequently my fussy eater is eating like a horse!!!! I wish I had cut the milk down sooner, I suspected it may be the case that he was getting too many calories from his milk but didn't trust my MI 

Good Luck.x.

[ZacsMumme]

Thanks Hun, this is what I think, Z is having his bottle as his lunch then picking at lunch.
Great it worked for you. I think we will go shopping today for a nice one he has water sippys but they are free flow straw ones and he knows they are for water.

Great the change has helped with SAMs food too this is what I am hoping will happen with us

[Truly Blessed]

Everything X'd Hon  I have a feeling it will.x.

[creations]

Just wanted to say that my DS also took less milk when it moved to a sippy cup but he didn't protest about it at all until I tried with the one bottle he still has (morning bottle) when he took a few sips then got upset so I poured it into a bottle for him.  As he's only approaching 14 months I'm not too bothered by him still having a morning bottle.

Sara you might consider a cup with a straw?  It still involves sucking which might help and be different enough from the cup he associates with water?
I'm going to start teaching DS to use a straw in the next few days because they offer milk cartons with the little straws attached to the side (that you pierce into the carton) at toddler group.

[*Kara*]

We are headed to bottle-weaning land as well and I am terrified!  Ugh....  I am going to start to offer her formula in her sippy with breakfast to see if she will start to take it... cow's milk has caused issues a couple of times now for us...

I am more worried about the bedtime bottle though!  She still happily guzzles a full 9-10 ozs every night... and that is after a HUGE dinner!

[Truly Blessed]

Hey Kara,

It may not be the way we're 'supposed to do it' so to speak, but I first tried to switch Sam's bottle for sippy at 18 months and he was very upset, so I tried every month or so since. Two weeks ago he gave it up without the bat of an eyelid  . So despite being a little worried about it previously, I'm actually glad I waited and it was a no tears experience in the end. Well almost no tears, as I cried literally buckets when I threw my only babies bottles in the bin  . (I kept one back for the memory box, although my own boobies are reminder enough of the small baby days IYKWIM 

Good Luck with it 

(X)

[*Kara*]

LOL!  My boobs are just my boobs DD never took to BFing unfortunately  

But, your post does remind me that it is far easier to wait until they are ready than to just force them into a change!  Maybe I will just start casually offering the formula in a sippy with her snacks and see if she takes to it... hopefully she will take it soon enough and will drop her pre-nap ba-ba on her own  

[creations]

I am more worried about the bedtime bottle though!  She still happily guzzles a full 9-10 ozs every night... and that is after a HUGE dinner!

I was worried about the BT bottle too Kara but it was the one I felt needed to go as it was coming after teeth brushing, it was a 6oz bottle which is a full bottle for DS.
I gave milk in a sippy at dinner instead, then still offered the bottle for a while but he took far less then only a few sips.  I kept taking the bottle up with us to offer just in case for another couple of weeks but he wasn't interested.  Now I offer a sippy of water after teeth brushing and before sleep.  he rarely takes any, sometimes a sip, occasionally a bit more.
The whole thing took just a few days really and there was never a single tear or upset moment, he didn't once look for his bottle or not go to sleep at BT, actually I think he was glad it had gone (amazing to say that considering how much I feared it) because he wanted to get to sleep and with the bottle still there he had all that sucking to do before he could go to bed

[ZacsMumme]

Creations he has straw free flow bottles for his water, so he accociating the straw with waer, but really he drinks water out of anything, cups, sippys, straws!

yeah with BT I'm still BF and I'm scared of moving/changing that, we were going to try moving the feed to before bath last week but I've held off as he's teething. Zac will always have agood drink of water before bed as well.

[creations]

Creations he has straw free flow bottles for his water,

Pretty useless suggestion then, oops

[ZacsMumme]

Lol no not useless!

[*Kara*]

Creations - since you had a smooth transition with DS, think you could pop over and transition my DD?  This kid is a bottle lover!

[Truly Blessed]

Sam LOVED  his bottles too Kara which I think is the difference between LO's that give it up so much earlier, he just wasn't having any of it. I think if you give it a go and he protests in a big way, just try again in a while and don't put any pressure on yourself or DS. WRT the sugar from the BT bottle (good point creations  as a qualified dental nurse our advice would be to try and give a little water after the milk to help wash away the sugar..however it didn't always work with Sam as he wasn't always thirsty 

(X)

[creations]

think you could pop over and transition my DD?

Sure if you're paying for the flight tickets