When do I drop the bottle(s)

[ladymugg]

Hi there

My LO is 14mo and has about 200ml of cow milk upon waking (6 am) and then again about an hour before her bedtime.  She has it in a sippy cup that is a bit bottle-like TBH.

Anyway when should I start thinking about dropping them?  She will happily have milk as a snack from a cup now at say, afternoon tea time (I just give her a splash in a big girl plastic cup to get her used to big cups).  I'm not worried about her calcium intake as she generally hoes into yogurt, cheese, butter, milk, whatever I give her that is dairy.

I was thinking maybe the morning one could go soon but how would I do that?  She generally really wants it upon waking but then that is probably habit.  Should I slowly decrease the volume given every few days by a little until the volume reduces?  She usually has breakfast around 7.30/8 am after a 6 am wake up milk.

What age was your toddler when you weaned the night bottle?  I think it currently is a nice end to the day for her, just topping up her dinner (I know it is a drink, not food, but with the protein/energy in it, it does provide some level of goodness/fuel) at around 6 pm before lights out at 6.40 pm...  but it has to be stopped at some point.  I just don't know when people usually do that!

[creations]

Hi
My DS is almost 4.5yo and still has a big milk drink in the morning, around 150 - 200ml and still takes a good breakfast.

This is from the NHS site

Children between the ages of one and three need to have around 350mg of calcium a day. About 300ml of milk (just over half a pint) would provide this.

My approach is that one good milk drink (like the 200ml your LO is having at WU) meets most of her daily dairy needs, and the rest you know will come from cheese, yoghurt etc. I actually wouldn't rush to cut the milk drinks too low as she'd need to have lots of dairy solids then to get her needs met.  If she wasn't taking a good breakfast I'd be tempted reduce or cut the morning milk but keep a milk drink somewhere else in the regular routine.
I personally think it's easier to keep either a morning or evening milk just because your' more likely to be home and have easier access to milk at those times but it's really personal preference.

I dropped the BT bottle at 12 months. Again it's personal choice and I chose to keep the WU milk.  I don't think there is a 'usual' time for dropping that milk, just whenever you or LO chooses to drop it. I would say though that you need to put teeth brushing between the milk and sleep if you are going to continue with an evening milk. This was one of the reasons I chose to drop the BT milk and keep the morning milk, I knew I had to change our routine to put teeth brushing between E and S so I introduced a sippy of milk with a solids supper before bath time (as you said, a bit of a top up after dinner) and did a gradual wean of the BT milk/bottle.

Everyone is different and for different reasons.

[ladymugg]

Thanks a lot. She has bottle at about 6pm and usually cleans her teeth in the bath around 6.30

I'm not 100% in the habit of morning teeth brushing with her yet need to remember woops!  Top parenting right here . Thankfully she only has 5 teeth, and I've got her on fluoride tablets too.

She only had half her milk bottle tonight so maybe she's dropping it herself?!   Won't call once a pattern yet.

[roseola]

Is your concern decreasing milk intake or the drinking from a bottle vs. a sippy?

[ladymugg]

I think my concern is mostly that moving from being a baby to a big girl.... The sippy cup she uses is a bit of a cross between a bottle and a sippy, maybe I should get a bit firmer on that.

I guess I just want her to be at the right stage for her age.   

[creations]

When it's their main milk drink of the day I don't think it really matters if it's a stage behind where they are at iyswim.
If she uses a sippy for her water drinks through the day it's fine to have a bottle for say one milk drink.  When she moves to an open cup for water she might move to a sippy cup for milk.
Mine has been drinking from an open cup for a good couple years but his morning milk I still hand him in a sippy as he chugs it down comfortably and is less likely to spill it...if I gave him that much milk in an open cup it would end up on the floor!

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

My 22 month old drinks her milk from a bottle-like sippy...it was an expensive thermos type one so we will keep using it as long as she likes her milk super warm. Tbh so long as they are drinking it right away and not carting it around it isn't a huge issue. We still do a morning and evening feed - the morning is always guzzled but the after supper one varies depending on how into supper she was and if she doesn't ask for it I don't make it for her.

[ladymugg]

Hmmm.... will keep thinking on it.  Last night she didn't want much of her BT bottle, she was mucking around.  And like you say, I never let her walk around with it.  She has to sit on her mini sofa until it is done.  So I'll gauge how she goes at night and morning from now on. 

I also want to start potty training so want to put her on the potty first thing in the morning.  Wonder how that will work with a bottle probably at the top of her mind. 

[ladymugg]

(I also think that she would take milk easily out of a normal cup during the day so I think she could be ready).