Author Topic: When did you drop the bottle?  (Read 3990 times)

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Offline Lindsay27

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When did you drop the bottle?
« on: May 29, 2013, 17:29:27 pm »
DS is 13.5 months and we are down to 1 bottle at BT.  Sometimes he takes a full 8oz, sometimes only 3 or 4oz...really depends on the day.

It is probably different for everyone in terms of when they drop it completely, and I'm in no rush.  I don't think he "needs" it for hunger related purposes, I think it's more of a comfort item before bed and a few mins to settle in the rocking chair before going to sleep.  While I'm in no "rush" to drop it, I also don't want to wait too long and have him become dependent on it.  Most of his other bottles he weaned off himself, with the exception of the morning one which we dropped about 3 weeks ago when he started daycare.

Just curious of when others dropped it and if I should start actively weaning? 

Side note:  I think I'm more upset about the fact that this is the only 5mins in the day that DS will sit quietly with me and let me hold him :(  I'll be sad when that's gone.  Hoping to introduce story time in place of the bottle :)
« Last Edit: May 29, 2013, 17:33:09 pm by Lindsay27 »



Offline Shdef

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Re: When did you drop the bottle?
« Reply #1 on: May 29, 2013, 17:31:03 pm »
We dropped it at the same time he was potty training, at two. He loved his night-time bottle and it was such a sweet bonding moment. Oh.... looking forward to that again  ;D

Offline momtonb&ab

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Re: When did you drop the bottle?
« Reply #2 on: May 29, 2013, 17:33:04 pm »
Side note:  I think I'm more upset about the fact that this is the only 5mins in the day that DS will sit quietly with me and let me hold him   I'll be sad when that's gone.  Hoping to introduce story time in place of the bottle

we had this silly BPA / Glass bottle situation when our guys were 11 months and by silly circumstances they went to milk in cups then....they kept that nightime drink  and sat on our knee for story time with their cup before teeth brushing and bed.   after a couple of months, because they didn't need milk right after dinner like that, we switched to water in the cup and we still do the same thing, water in cups and stories and cuddling.....it can last as long as you need it to!!!!!

Offline aisling

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Re: When did you drop the bottle?
« Reply #3 on: May 29, 2013, 19:16:42 pm »
I could of wrote your side note lol! Ours eventually morphed into a an after dinner bottle at about 2 yrs old where we chilled out and snuggled together. So after supper, we played for a bit, then bottle/cuddle time, bath, sometimes snack, brush teeth, books and bed. We did this until 3 yrs old! He could drink water out of a sippy/straw cup at 6 months and a cup/mug at one, but his milk only came from boobs or bottles. I would never reverse that decision, that bedtime bottle or in the old days bedtime breastfeed fills my heart with joy.

Offline creations

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Re: When did you drop the bottle?
« Reply #4 on: May 29, 2013, 21:20:24 pm »
I dropped the BT bottle at 12 months and the morning bottle 1 month later. The morning bottle switched to a straw cup of milk and eventually to a sippy, it is still now his 'big' milk drink of the day.  Everyone has their own way, their own time and their own reasons.  I know what you mean about that BT routine and snuggles, we still have just as much snuggle time we just don't have a bottle there so he sits on my knee (by his bed in a dimly lit room) with his head on my shoulder and our arms around one another cuddling as I sing to him with his BT music CD playing.  Sometimes if he is not quite so cuddly yet we have a snuggly loving chat about the day before he rests his head on me.  It's still a very loving bonding time without milk.
I moved the milk to a 'supper' snack with sippy of milk 1 hr before sleep.  It gives him time to have a wee before bed so he is drier at night (not 100% dry at night although we do have some dry nights).  His teeth are brushed after supper, before bath and he is offered a sippy of water after his bath which he usually has one sip of but it isn't limited at all.  I did it as a gradual wean, no crying, no upset sleep, zero stress.  Worked a treat.
(we have book reading all day long and usually/often a book during bath time so don't do a BT book.  I might do a BT book when he's a bit older but atm we like to just cuddle and sing gentle music).


Offline *happy*

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Re: When did you drop the bottle?
« Reply #5 on: May 29, 2013, 21:32:23 pm »
I followed creations advice&it worked a treat!
We took it slowly but she is off them 2wks now-no
Issues or upset&still get evening cuddles with the water
Cup.x






Offline *Kara*

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Re: When did you drop the bottle?
« Reply #6 on: May 30, 2013, 22:08:33 pm »
Ais - ah yes, the Bot Bot ;)

I let Alexandra have her BT bottle until she was just over 2... she wasn't able to have cow's milk until just recently so we still had a bottle of formula each day at bedtime.. I finally cut it cold turkey at 25 months.. I too loved the quiet snuggles - and I know she didn't need it for sleeping through purposes.. but formula didn't come from sippy according to her ;)



Offline Mama2Athena

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Re: When did you drop the bottle?
« Reply #7 on: June 03, 2013, 13:59:02 pm »
My DD self weaned herself off the bedtime bottle at 11 months.  We kept offering but she would either completely refused or drank 1-2 oz at the most.  So we started putting that bedtime bottle in a sippy and offered with her dinner - surprisingly she drank her usual amount then (5 oz).  The next two bottles to go happened at 12 months, as daycare pushed her to use only a sippy.  We hung onto the morning bottle for another month only because I was worried that she wasn't getting enough to drink.  Then we just dropped it entirely because I figured we had to do it sooner or later. 

It was very easy for us since the bottle is not a comfort item for my DD.  Instead she is a BIG time finger sucker... not sure how I'm going to wean her off that  ::)

With my older DS, the bedtime bottle was last to go at 15 months, and that took some convincing  ;)

Offline Lindsay27

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Re: When did you drop the bottle?
« Reply #8 on: June 03, 2013, 16:23:35 pm »
It seems like most were not in a rush to drop it completely.  Who knows, maybe he'll self wean it like he did all the others.  Sometimes he wants it, sometimes he doesn't, and sometimes he's REALLY excited about it.  I think I'm going to keep it for now and see what happens.  Maybe around 15 - 18 months if he hasn't self weaned I'll think about dropping it :)



Offline *Kara*

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Re: When did you drop the bottle?
« Reply #9 on: June 04, 2013, 02:39:25 am »
So long as you brush teeth after his bottle and he isn't running around all day with one, no hurry at all.



Offline Lindsay27

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Re: When did you drop the bottle?
« Reply #10 on: June 04, 2013, 12:56:40 pm »
Ya, I understand.  He literally just takes it right before bed and that's it - no other time during the day :)  He only has 2 teeth so I usually just wipe them down and try to scrub them with a baby cloth which his doctor said is fine for now.



Offline Buttonbobs

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Re: When did you drop the bottle?
« Reply #11 on: June 04, 2013, 22:00:59 pm »
E still has two bottles of formula a day and takes about 10-14oz over the two. She's always hungry almost as soon as she wakes and we sometimes have a 45minute drive to my parents for them to feed breakfast once I've gone to work so I'm not in a hurry for her to drop this one. We've moved her BT bottle to before bath as she's usually really hungry after nursery but too tired to eat properly. We've always done teeth after bottle and moving bath afterwards now is giving us extra cuddle time with books which is lovely.

I don't worry that E won't drink cows milk at all or formula from a cup, this is working for us and she has always had more than average intake for her age. She's not overweight or anything and eats a really good varied diet (often having seconds) so I'm still happy with it
It's really good to see how every reply here is a little bit different - reassuring that there are lots of different ways of doing the right thing! :)
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Offline Shdef

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Re: When did you drop the bottle?
« Reply #12 on: June 05, 2013, 08:12:54 am »
We had NUK bottles and there is this cool teat, like a mix between normal teat and sippy cup teat, we switched to that at around a year or so.

Offline Lindsay27

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Re: When did you drop the bottle?
« Reply #13 on: June 05, 2013, 14:27:55 pm »
It's really good to see how every reply here is a little bit different - reassuring that there are lots of different ways of doing the right thing! :)
Agreed!  I really wasn't sure if I should be actively weaning, but it was great to see how everyone had a different approach.

He does drink cow's milk from a sippy with all his meals, but for the bottle I use formula.  He's a tiny guy...he could use the extra calories lol!



Offline aisling

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Re: When did you drop the bottle?
« Reply #14 on: June 05, 2013, 14:50:12 pm »
I feel the main reason for docs/peds/public health agencies pushing babies/toddler out of bottles is so that they don't walk around with it all day long filling themselves up, rotting their teeth and not eating proper food that is to be the main source of nutrition in addition to having milk/formula. Lastly, the concern is they need to know how to use a sippy cup, mug, cup, drinking glass etc. so they will not go off to school with a bottle lol.  So, IMHO we were none of the above and I would of let him have a bottle in the evening to chill for as long as he liked, I like my glass of wine (has to be in a wine glass) or cup of tea (in my fave mug) in the evening to relax, so can't blame these wee ones.

Offline Lana

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Re: When did you drop the bottle?
« Reply #15 on: June 05, 2013, 22:00:28 pm »
We dropped bottles right after the boys were 1.  at that point they went from formula to milk.  I did phase them out and the bedtime one was the last to go