Author Topic: Bottle Weaning for a 1 Year Old  (Read 3402 times)

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Offline shoeaholicanon

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Bottle Weaning for a 1 Year Old
« on: January 26, 2016, 17:12:18 pm »
Hello Everyone!

So, My son is nearly 13 months old and I'd love to wean him off the bottle. At least his morning & afternoon and keep bed time for now which is OK but he refuses to drink milk from a cup. He spits it out. He will drink water no problem but milk needs to be in a cup. And he will have a full blown tantrum if I don't get him the bottle instead.
I don't even know where to start! Help!!!

Thanks :)

Offline ~*Nicole*~

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Re: Bottle Weaning for a 1 Year Old
« Reply #1 on: January 26, 2016, 17:20:35 pm »
I just kept offering milk in a cup and if they didn't take it I just put it aside and went about our day. Then when they wanted a drink I offered milk in a cup again. Here is a thread about the switch from awhile back:

Re: Do you want to chat about transitioning to a sippy cup??







Offline shoeaholicanon

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Re: Bottle Weaning for a 1 Year Old
« Reply #2 on: January 26, 2016, 21:34:51 pm »
HI Nicole,

Thank you - I'll check out the link.
I did try what you're saying but I caved quickly because the tears. And I have to get him ready for daycare & me work so not a lot of time to deal with that I guess.
Maybe I should try on the weekend and see but I just hate seeing him in distress over it!

Cheers!

Offline ~*Nicole*~

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Re: Bottle Weaning for a 1 Year Old
« Reply #3 on: January 29, 2016, 01:38:05 am »
I know what you mean about the tears. :(

Best of luck!







Offline creations

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Re: Bottle Weaning for a 1 Year Old
« Reply #4 on: January 29, 2016, 14:28:55 pm »
Perhaps the afternoon bottle you can now switch to a solids snack with a drink of water in a cup instead of a bottle.  Most LOs are down to 2 milks by this age, if you feel he needs the dairy it could be a yoghurt or cheese snack perhaps?
I found the mid morning and mid afternoon the easiest bottles to drop as it was just the switch to a solids snack which my DS was fine with and that was before 12 months.

At 12 months I dropped the BT bottle and at 13 months the WU bottle. It was the WU bottle that was hardest here. DS needed the milk, and he was very hungry, both of these factors mean that he needs to be able to drink it rapidly so of course the bottle was the easiest was to guzzle his milk.  It took a couple of weeks of trying, I actually switched to a straw (wide one with the bendy bit) in a bottle first and initially he would refuse and cry so I'd quickly put the bottle teat on and let him have his guzzle.  It helped here to snip the top off the teat (I didn't think back then if this was safe or not, I'm not 100% sure tbh, but it was for a very short time and I inspected the teat for 'bits', there seemed no choke hazard to me) so that he took the milk in an upright position on my knee rather than leaning/laying backwards in arms, this got him used to the sitting aspect.  Then daily I tried the straw but having the bottle teat by me for back up.  We also had practise at other meal times to use a straw to drink with.  It did take perseverance on my part, trying it every day when I knew he'd reject it, but the daily trial made him more comfortable with it as time went on.  I also *needed* him to keep his WU milk as my DS took so little milk anyway I couldn't let the amount drop which is why I wouldn't have gone cold turkey on that bottle.
So you could try a straw, or a colourful straw bottle might be more of an attraction?
I got a lovely couple of straw bottles for mine, he loved the colours and animals, but I found the straw impossible to fully clean so they didn't really work well for us in that sense. I used the bottle but with a disposable straw instead...and the used straws we washed out and kept for crafts at a later date (we have lots and still use them!).
hope this helps!

Just a mention about BT bottles, it needs to come before teeth brushing if you don't already do so. This was one of the reasons I dropped the BT bottle because we brushed teeth then gave the milk which wasn't good for his teeth.


Offline shoeaholicanon

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Re: Bottle Weaning for a 1 Year Old
« Reply #5 on: February 03, 2016, 19:36:45 pm »
LO loves straw cups but it can't be milk in it LOL. Perhaps what I could do is offer milk in a sippy at lunch time and he can choose to take it or not.
He can get other forms of dairy, absolutely!
As for fun straws, that's a possibility as well. He definitely needs the milk still so we'll see.
My son doesn't have teeth just yet but I know the rule. I think I need to wait longer with BT bottle because there has been too many changes and stuff going on in the last month in his life.

Thanks so much for everyone's efforts and suggestions!