When do I drop a bottle?

[lauradj]

My DS is almost 14 months and he's still taking two 8oz bottles a day, one as soon as he wakes and one right before bed.  He eats three meals a day and two smallish snacks and generally sinks both bottles.  Should I start cutting back on his bottles?  He's not the biggest kid, he never has been so I don't want to deprive him of any fat and calories but I wasn't sure when I should stop giving him bottles.

[amayzie]

Hi hon- the general advice is that you drop the bottle at 12 months, but may offer milk in a sippy cup or other cup after that. As far as intake though you don't NEED to give them milk after they are one other than part of a balanced diet- if they are getting calories and calcium from other sources (full fat cheese, yoghurt etc) then they can just have a cup of milk as part of that. I would suggest perhaps dropping or moving the bed time milk as it can lead to tooth decay if you don't brush after, and having a whole drink before bed will impact on toilet training and night time dryness down the track. The morning milk might be a nice way to delay breakfast and have a sleepy cuddle while he drinks it with you.

[lauradj]

Ok, sounds like a plan!  I think I'll have to slowly wean him off that one as he quite likes it but he's also so pooped by bedtime that he really may not care at all!  Do you do a story instead or just bath, jammies and into bed?

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

We have not gotten rid of our bedtime milk yet, but it now precedes bathtime. We do stories, but only because big sisters are and E really loves books. Plus if bath ends quickly we have something to pass the time until bed. I think soon milk will be a drink at supper.

[creations]

I think I'll have to slowly wean him off that one as he quite likes it but he's also so pooped by bedtime that he really may not care at all!  Do you do a story instead or just bath, jammies and into bed?

I did slow wean at 12 months which turned out to be fast
What I did:
- introduced a 'supper' after dinner but before bath, small solid snack and a sippy cup of milk (as much as He wanted but it was a small amount)
- took 2 bottles up to bed, 1 with milk (1oz less than usual), the other with water as a back up if LO is not happy about the reduced milk
- do all BT routine as normal offering milk bottle when you usually do and only offer water bottle if needed (never was here but I felt safe with it)
- subsequent nights my 'rules' were to reduce by 1 oz every 3 days AND if LO took less than the full bottle offered then the next night this was the max offered, this way the oz go down a bit faster
- LO may refuse bottle at BT before the wean is over
- After last oz has been weaned do BT routine as normal but offer water in bottle only
- when comfortable switch to sippy cup of water taken up to bed to be offered in place of bottle

When I say do BT routine as normal, I never saw the need to take out any cuddles or add in any reading or change anything other than the milk.  Whilst time giving the bottle reduces once it's been had just use the remaining time for cuddles and your usual song or whatever, follow LOs lead on when they'd like to get into bed, they might want a full length cuddle or might want to get straight in.
Whole process was tear free and complete in less than 2 weeks.
(we do stories pre bath, in bath and plenty of other times in the day but BT is a time he likes to just have 1 cuddle with 1 song and that's it, into bed and sleep. If you want to introduce stories at BT there is no harm but it's not a requirement either).

Hope this helps some. FWIW the morning bottle was harder to switch, we used a straw and tried for a few weeks, gone by 13 months. This remains his big milk drink of the day which he now has in a cup.

[*happy*]

Was just coming to post this creations! I followed your advice with DD1 and it worked a treat so will be doing the same with DD2  when the time comes. Xxx

[lauradj]

Thanks Creations!  That's enormously helpful.  The whole idea seems to HUGE to me that it's nice to have a process all laid out, neat and tidy! 

[creations]

No problem   I know it feels overwhelming making changes, it all felt pretty huge to me too but I just knew I had to do it (for us it was teeth, I needed to either drop or move the BT bottle to pre teeth brushing, the routine *had to* change), of course typing it out makes it look like I was incredibly calm about it all - I wasn't - but I do have total faith in the wean method having done it
How's it going (of you started that is)?

[lauradj]

I have started and we're currently down to 4 oz.  We were making really steady progress, then he started teething AGAIN and wasn't eating much at all.  We wanted to keep the bottle just to ensure he was getting something in him between snack and breakfast.  It looks like we're almost through the teething and we're going to keep dropping an ounce every few days because when he does eat a decent dinner, he refuses the bottle completely.  If only he was a chubby monkey, I wouldn't worry so much!

[creations]

Sounds like you're on your way to dropping it if he is sometimes refusing anyway