When to drop to 2 bottles

[Chloevalentine]

When do you drop to 2 bottles? When does baby stop bottles all together? At 12 months do you just give them cows milk when do you start the transition ? Thanks

[Haribo2012]

My LO had dropped to 2 bottles by about 10 months but he loved food and milk in a cup. We just gave 1 bottle of cows milk at 12 months for a week then moved to 2 bottles of cows milk after that. DS dropped morning bottle about 13 months again preferred food and milk in a cup then dropped BT bottle around 15 months.
I know people who's kids have bottles a lot longer, don't worry too much hun as long as solids progressing too by 12 months.

[Buttonbobs]

E went to two bottles a lot later than many, I think she was about 15/16 months - she started nursery at 14 months and for a few weeks was still having a mid morning bottle there too. We introduced solids using BLW so she wasn't taking so much in the way of solid food earlier on and she had always had a large intake so there was no problem with her having a bit extra.

I think the standard advice is it's fine just to drop bottles at 12 months and offer cows milk and as long as they're getting 10oz worth of dairy in some form throughout the day then that's enough. Go with what feels right for you.

[Chloevalentine]

I dropped a bottle about a month or more ago and he's on 3 bottles now. He's a great eater and takes watee in a sippy cup. Although I'm not sure how much he actually drinks lol. Was thinking of dropping the 11 am bottle next. Do I offer him anything at that time in place of? Maybe I'll drop to 2 bottles soon and then when I drop to one at 12 months offer milk in that one bottle. My dr says to drop bottkes by 12 months all together.

[tfuentes00]

We dropped all bottles by 12 mths but dd was not attached to them like some. I just started giving her milk in her sippy with her meal. She was down to two at 11 months one at wake up and one and bt. Then mid month I dropped morning bottle and put in cup, then on her bday I put her bt milk in a cup. I also started mixing her formula with milk around 11 mths then when we ran out of formula that was it. It may have been a week after her bday.   If he's been easy with the first it will prob be pretty easy to take the others away, at least it was with dd.

[Haribo2012]

I'd offer a snack at 10.30 an ish and water in sippy!? Sounds like a good plan hun x

[Chloevalentine]

So do I offer the formula in a cup at the time i would normally give him the mid morning bottle? That's what the pediatrician says to do. I thought I was dropping the bottle and the formula. I guess then I'll wait another month and drop the morning but do I offer the formula in a cup? At 12 months what replaces the bedtime bottle routine ? It's so relaxing and comforting do I then just offer milk with meals ?

[tfuentes00]

I did put formula in her sippy so she'd get used to drinking milk from it. What I did was move to where her lunch and milk cup were together. I kept her morning milk cup before her breakfast so she'd get her milk in. Then any milk left I'd give it with her breakfast. I still offer a cup of milk in her room in the rocker before bed. She doesn't always drink it all but I give her what she wants. My dd gets a milk cup around 7 then breakfast around 730-8. Then she gets lunch around 11-12 with a cup of milk (I do water now bc dr wanted me to cut milk back ).   Then we did a snack and cup of milk around 3 then dinner and cup of milk around 6-630. Then around 730-8 a bt cup of milk. If that's too much milk you could offer water around 3 instead of milk and water at dinner. This is what we did when she was 12 mths. Hth.

[Chloevalentine]

Thank you so much did you also mix formula with milk and gradually increase the ratio over a 2 week or so period?

[Chloevalentine]

Oops just read your earlier post about that. Thanks again!

[Chloevalentine]

So if I'm trying to drop the 11 am bottle do I just offer the formula in a sippy cup and hold him in lap like I normally do with bottle or do I just wait until lunch time and offer it to him with food? The pediatrician says that his formula intake should remain the same but I don't see how he will take that much formula from a sippy cup. He's just starting to get the hang of drinking water from it. I'm trying to drop the bottle but not his formula intake which seems hard. Thanks

[creations]

I also don't see how the formula intake would remain the same if you switch to a sippy cup - from what I've seen most babies do not not take the same amount in a sippy and many wont' take any milk in a sippy in the early days.
You can keep the amount of dairy the same so for instance switch the 11am bottle to water or milk in a sippy cup along with a snack which could be yoghurt or cheese if you are concerned about the dairy/milk intake. Or make a milk pudding (like blancmange) for that snack time.

I just switched the mid morning and mid afternoon bottles to a sippy of water with a solids snack and made sure there was cheese either at snack or lunch time.  So by 12 months we were down to 2 bottles, WU and BT. At 12 months I dropped the BT bottle, introduced a sippy of milk with a solids snack after the evening meal and before bath, (supper) with a tear free gentle wean of the BT milk. Our BT routine remained cuddly and relaxing despite weaning the bottle. The WU bottle I dropped a month later. I *had to* keep that milk intake up so took it slowly and kept trying a gentle switch from bottle with teat (split and sat up rather than laying to drink) to bottle with straw. It took a few tries but the bottle was gone by 13 months. We continued with the straw for milk at WU for a good year.  After that he was able to switch to a sippy for WU milk because he would take the full cup (whilst the rest of his drinks switched to open cup rather than sippy cup).
Formula intake can drop a bit as you move towards 12 months, esp if solids are fine.

[Buttonbobs]

You can offer milk in a sippy but really the idea is when you reduce bottles the amount of milk taken at other feeds should increase and that, together with an increase in dairy solids intake, should even out overall.

Posted with creations

[Chloevalentine]

I can't really increase the other two bottles as I already offer9 oz bottles so if he drinks both it will be total of 18 oz plus whatever he manages to drink from sippy cup. I'm hesitant to offer it in high chair with snack as lunch is only about an hour afterwards. But is the idea not to hold him in lap with cup? Should I move up lunch? My only concern with that is it's a long time until dinner unless I offer another snack in afternoon. Seems like so much time spent in highchaur. And he much rather be on the go lol. At 12 months I plan to start mixing formula in with milk in the am and pm bottles and then fazing them out as well. I can't find too much information online as to a good way to do it. Hence my postings here thanks so much !

[creations]

If you're giving 9oz in the two bottles I don't really see why you need the milk intake to stay up the rest of the day. 18oz of milk plus a couple of servings of cheese (1oz is about 1"cube) or yoghurt (small pot 1oz) is plenty.

I do not think that 11am for snack and 12pm for lunch is too close together. I put both the mid morning and mid afternoon snacks at exactly the same time as the bottle had been. The snack is not a huge meal, just a little something to get through to lunch so LO is not waiting all the way from breakfast. A small piece of cheese or a small cracker, a few sultanas or a slice of apple say.  And it needn't be a long time spent in the high chair, couple of mins. If you prefer you could set up snack sat on the floor. We were often at mum and baby groups for snack so it was either sitting on the floor or on my knee, or at a kiddie table with the other kids. 5 mins max.

Switching to cows milk from formula, I just switched in one go. He'd had cows milk in cooking so I knew there were no issues but he hadn't had it as a drink. tbh frank I switched at 11.5 months as I couldn’t' find our formula in any of the shops throughout our town and I didn't see the point in switching to a different formula (which could have caused issues itself) for the sake of 2 weeks. DS didn't bat an eye, but of course some LOs would like the switch to go a bit slower. I would just put cows milk in the bottle and see how it goes, if it's rejected you could pour 1oz into a formula bottle to begin a slower switch over.

You might find this thread interesting
morning bottle still needed?
It covers a gentle wean of the BT bottle, I describe the way I did it and you can also follow Happy's successful wean of the BT bottle too.