How much milk

[Chloevalentine]

How much milk should 13.5 month old be drinking in a day?  I offer him milk in cup in the morning he might take a few oz and finish it with breakfast so about 6-8 oz then I might offer some with lunch or snack do maybe another 5 oz then he's still taking 8-9 bottle before bed. So a total of about 20 oz in day. I tried once to offer cup before bed but he got so upset it was awful. Going to try again soon though and see if he takes it.

[creations]

Milk guidance varies country to country but 20 oz per day is fine. It can depend on if he is eating his solids meals well, if he isn't taking much in the way of meals then I'd prob reduce the milk to up the solids but otherwise it's fine

If you did want to switch the BT milk to a cup I would gradually wean rather than just switch, but that's me, I never go cold turkey.  A sippy cup on milk with a snack/supper before you begin the BT routine then when you'd usually give the bottle of milk just reduce the oz over a period of nights, take a second bottle of water as back up.  Within 2 weeks you would be offering just the water at BT and it's unlikely LO would be complaining as it was a gradual process.

[Chloevalentine]

So you wouldn't just switch the milk from bottle to cup but just try to cut out the milk in general?  He has a cup of milk with dinner aroubd 5/530 and then I normally offer bottle aroubd 7/730. So if I'm offering 9 oz in bottle only offer 7 oz then 5 etc? Then one day just give him water in the bottle?

[creations]

Yes I would see it as cutting out the BT milk but it's ok if his milk increases somewhere else, say at dinner or morning WU, whenever he has a milk drink, equally though I wouldn't be too concerned if his milk didn't increase elsewhere as the milk he is having plus some dairy solids such as cheese will be enough.
If you currently offer 9 oz I would do
night 1 8oz plus bottle of water
night 3 7oz
night 5 6oz
night 7 5oz... and so on
This would take roughly 18 days which is 2.5 wks. Not very long really.
I would also notice the amount he took on any night if the bottle is not drained and off this as the max amount the night after and subsequent nights. So for instance if on night 2 he is offered 8oz but drinks only 6 and leaves 2oz then the following night you only offer 6oz (not 7).  This will likely reduce the time by a couple of days. He might even refuse the milk altogether before the 2.5wks is up and just want a sip of water instead.
If you have any questions whilst you do it I'd be happy to hold your hand and answer as best I can along the way

[Lolly]

Plenty of toddlers do keep the bed time milk for a while yet though, so if you don't want to cut or drop the bed time bottle it's fine to keep it.

From about 13 months my DD had a sippy of milk mid morning with a snack instead of a wake up milk drink as she wasn't eating her breakfast. We sometimes offered milk with meals depending on how much she drank mid morning, and then she had an 8oz bottle to go to bed. When she was about 18 months I swapped the bottle for a sippy cup and she drank that for a couple of months more (6oz sippy) then she just started leaving it so I stopped offering and only gave it if she asked for it (which I think she only did a handful of times).

My DS still had his bedtime bottle until he was 2.5 as he was very attached to it, we tried a few times to switch to a cup but he wouldn't go for it! We made sure we cleaned teeth after the milk and he always drank it quickly so it really wasn't a problem.

If you want to drop the bedtime milk then with the dairy in food they need about 12-14oz a day to get their needs met. If you prefer to keep the bedtime bottle for a while yet then that's fine too - I decided not to rush my two into dropping that bottle and it worked for us.

Laura

[Chloevalentine]

Thanks so much for the tips!