A mish mash of questions!

[LindaB]

The first question is about dropping bottles! Isabella (22 months old) LOVES her milk...in fact, she ONLY loves her milk in bottles. She'll drink water from a cup, she's not a fan of juice at all, but she loves her milk in a bottle. She's still drinking 4-6 full bottles of milk (7 ounces at least) a day (24 hour period). She's using the Avent bottles still and has the #4 nipple, which is the 6+ month one. She sucks SO hard it makes squeaking sounds. It's obviously not flowing fast enough.

I need some advice here. I don't mind her having the bottle before bed, and unfortunately, when she wakes at night, but I'd really like to cut out the morning bottle (anytime between 5am-7am) and the 10am and 2pm bottles. I've tried by cutting out the 10am and 2pm ones and offering in different cups and straw drink boxes, she wants NO part of it. She'll point to the bottle and say "milk, milk, milk"

I'm really at a loss...do I look for a different bottle? Do I just start dropping one of the bottles (the 2pm one is probably the easiest to start) and only give it to her if she asks? I'm not sure how to approach this....

The next question(s) have to do with what she's eating and whether it's too much or not enough...

She was sick last month, before this last virus she was sleeping through the night from about 8pm to 5:30am. Since she got sick (June 4) she's still waking nightly and needing a bottle of milk to go back to sleep even though her full appetite is back and she's eating like she was before.

Here's what she typically eats in a day:

Between 5-6am - 6 ounces of milk
between 7:45-8:00am - breakfast, cereal or scrambled eggs, or waffle
9:30am - yogurt
10:15am- 6 ounces of milk
between 11:30 am and noon - lunch, a bowl of soup, fruit
nap after lunch, anywhere from 1.5-2 hours
2:30pm- 6 ounces of milk
3:30 pm - afternoon snack, fruit or goldfish crackers or cheese or yogurt
5:30 pm - dinner - a FULL bowl of baby pastina, sometimes veggies
7:30 pm - 7 ounces of milk before bed

What do you think? By the way, she's 22 months old, weighs about 32 pounds and is VERY tall!

Thanks!
Linda

[taygensmom]

Boy, sounds like you have a good eater and drinker!!! My first thought is that the milk intake is alot for her age. She really only needs a max of 16-20 oz. to get the calcium she needs, or less is she is eating foods containing calcium. Sounds to me like she may be drinking the milk not so much to fill up on it but because of the bottle association/comfort factor.

As far as decreasing the number of bottles, you have quite a few options. Some moms either cut the top of the nipple off the bottle (this often decreases the desire for it as it negates the whole "sucking" for comfort thing) or switch to the slowest flow nipple so that it is harder for her to get the milk out. You would have to experiment to see which would work better. You could also consider just offering milk in the moring and at night, and water with meals (or milk in a sippy). If you really want to get rid of the bottle completely, I would just eliminate it from the house and offer the milk in a cup/sippy. Just make sure for the first week or so to give extra foods with calcium to make up for the initial decreased milk intake you will see. It sounds like if you want to do this you could, since she knows how to drink from a cup, just chooses not to with the milk. If you do cut the milk during the day, and she asks for some, I would either just offer in the sippy cup or offer water instead. If she truly appears hungry you could offer a snack instead until she gets over the initial "hump" of not having that bottle. You will likely see tantrums/tears at first, but just patiently help her through it and she will be fine.

The milk at night sounds very unnecessary, and again sounds like more of a comfort request. If you want to eliminate this, which would give both you and her a better night's rest, you could try watering it down or just cutting it out completely and doing WI/WO for a few nights until she is sleeping through.

As far as what she is eating solid wise, it sounds appropriate and fine as far as amount and variety!

[camorrissette]

We had the same problem in our house.  I weened our son off the bottle but getting rid of all bottles in the house.  I replaced them with the sippy cups with the soft top (nibby cups).  At first he refused them, but he soon realized that this was all he was going to get.  Now we just give him milk at meals and snack time in a sippy cup.  He does ask sometime for the milk at bedtime and we say no.  We offer him some milk or water (small amount) before bed, sitting up but only if he asks.

[Katet]

Sounds like she is a big girl with a hearty appetite my 2yo is very tall & 34lb, but there is no way he eats that much
At 22months old I'd be considering getting rid of bottles totally, that much milk being sucked past her teeth isn't a good idea (bottle teats aren't good for teeth)
I agree with taygensMom, 16-20oz of dairy is all a 22mo needs so that would include milk, yogurt, cheese
I'd say that because she is waking at night & wanting a bottle to go back & it is a new thing the bottle is her "comfort item" the sucking is her comfort thing, which will make it hard to do.
I know with both my children (the 4yo more than the 2yo) changing a "habit" has been hard but actually in someways harder mentally before than it was in reality. Personally with a 22mo I'd be going "cold turkey" & telling her that all her bottles are broken (teat cut) & showing her & rolling with the crying etc that goes on... just comforting her with "Yes I know you liked your bottles but they are broken as you are too old for them". From my experience with a friend who was still giving her 2.5y bottles, they actually kind of like the faster flow... also between  2 & 4 is often the hardest time to change habits like bottles as they become more & more attached, so the sooner you stop the easier it will probably be on you.