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Stopping bottle usage?
So I had an email in my inbox last night that said most pedi's recommend weaning babies off the bottle by 12 months...For whatever reason (and maybe it's my lack of experience here) I'm really taken aback to this and this is the first I've seen something like this in the developmental stuff. I guess I knew it was coming up, but thought it was a little later than that.
I've been giving G a sippy cup with meals of water, but I'm not quite sure how to transition her off the bottle. I'm thinking by 12 months probably isn't realistic to completely transition off (although maybe it will be easier than I think), but I'm not quite sure the right way to go about doing this.
Does this sound right/realistic to people to transition off by 12 months?
Also, should I just start trying to give her her milk in sippy cups verses bottles at daycare? I'm trying to get rid of bottle #2 for daycare by slowly reducing the size of it - maybe I should also have it switched to a sippy vs the bottle? I just don't want her walking around for hours slowly sipping from a sippy cup either...I'm so confused...I don't own too many sippy cups and would love for her to not be using those for too long and to go to a regular cup.
My goal is to ultimately get it to where she doesn't need breast milk during the day at daycare and only nurses at night and in the AM, so I know as she gets close to a 12 months old I can start giving her cow's milk as a substitute. I'm really getting worn down pumping at work, so I'd love to get to where I no longer need to do that, but still nurse at night and in the AM for a while longer.
Sorry this is probably a long jumbled mess...teething baby = little to no sleep for mom.
Re: Stopping bottle usage?
I'm interested in people's thoughts here too...
At our 15 month appointment our pedi said we should get her off the bottle. We do the same as you, water in a sippy but her milk is still in a bottle. She absolutely refuses to drink milk out of anything but her bottle. I wouldn't worry too much about it, but the pedi also said it is very important that she be drinking a lot of whole milk to get her weight up, so I've been continuing with the bottle because it's the only way to get her to drink milk (more important than ditching the bottle in my opinion). So I'd love some tips on how to transition from bottle to sippy for milk too!
Here are my thoughts and experiences with ben:
1. He took a bottle until he was about 13 months old. he drank water out of sippies before that, but when we switched to milk he was still on bottles. Then about a month after the milk switch over I just started giving him only sippies and he was fine.
2. As for sippies - Ben still uses one for milk, but uses straw cups or squeezable water bottles for water. He gets a sippy or valve-protected straw cup in the car. at the table he gets a regular cup or a big boy straw cup (no valve etc). I know people like to rush to regular cups but a) I can't use them for long road trips b/c I don't want the kids or the car soaked; and b) I'd rather he drink fluids all day than worry about what they are in. We are working now, at not quite 2.5 to get rid of sippies and he's doing fine with it. For me the sippies and their spill-proof nature are a life saver around the house.
For Maddy - she hates the sippies I already had for Ben, so hers are more leaky-type. Not sure what we'll do. She takes a little water out of it now but doesn't hold it herself yet. She HATES bottles so she basically never gets one since I'm a SAHM anyway. My plan for her will just be to put her on milk in sippies since she doesn't use a bottle anyway. Then around 2 I'll start weaning from sippy like I have with Ben.
"It's not a sprint, it's a marathon." - Alex & Ani bracelet
My blog: Dodging Acorns
my pedi wanted the girls weaned off bottles by 15 months, so i would ask your pedi what he/she recommends.
it was a little while ago that i did this, but i'm pretty sure i weaned the 10ish bottle first and replaced it with a snack... then i did the early afternoon bottle and replaced that with a snack too. the first in the am i gave her bfast right away. the one that was the hardest was right before bed. but i slowly just limited the amount she drank and then went cold turkey.
oh, and as far as sippy cups - both of mine still use them, so i don't really know when they are able to use a real cup without spilling
Oh, and as for how to transition when your kid won't drink milk from a sippy?
Honestly - the only way is cold turkey. If the only way they are going to get their beloved milk is in a sippy, they will do it. Ben only wanted milk in his bottle but after one day of just cold turkey, he was fine with the sippies.
Might sound harsh but if you keep offering them another method they will hold out for it.
"It's not a sprint, it's a marathon." - Alex & Ani bracelet
My blog: Dodging Acorns
We use the Nuby sippy cups they are closest to the bottle. I found that if we still warmed her milk she drinks all of it as opposed to if its cold she takes sips at a time. For the transition at daycare i gave them one bottle with milk and one sippy with milk and also an empty bottle in case they needed it if she didnt drink the milk in her sippy.
Thanks ladies - maybe I'm just panicking a little too much - sounds like I'm doing things close to right by already having introduced the sippy cup and that 12 months might still be attainable.
Maybe I should just try to send the sippy cup to daycare for her mid-day bottle or something and work from there.
Thanks!
eh. i wouldn't stress about it. cass wasn't fully off the bottle until maybe 22 months and she's just fine.
when we introduced whole milk in addition to BM we used sippies during the day, a bottle before nap at daycare, and i BF before bed. for us, the reason we took so long to get rid of bottles is that it was the only way i knew how to get her to sleep. she hasn't used a paci since she got teeth. and the bottle was just so easy. i also BF until around 20 months, so when i stopped that i didn't know how to get her to sleep without giving her a bottle. eventually she took a sippy of milk to fall asleep and then just dropped that on her own.
BUT, saying all of that, my daughter is a milk fiend and couldn't have cared less how she got her milk at any other time.
cass also does awesome with a regular cup, that's all they use at daycare. so she often gets one of those at the table, but a sippy if we're playing in the living room or something like that.
At a year, when they can drink cows milk, I weaned both kids off bottles during the day but kept the night time bottle. Our routine is that upon wakening (after 12 months), my kids get 4 oz. of juice diluted in a sippy cup or a cup with a straw. I did more sippy cups with Christian but Gianna really like straw cups b/c she sees her brother using them. Really I give them both straw cups b/c I don't want spills. After that diluted juice is gone, there is no more juice. Just water btw. meals and milk with lunch and dinner. Once they are drinking milk with dinner I found that they didn't drink any milk before bed; they were full. So it was easy to take away the night time bottle. Christian was 18 mos before I took away his night time bottle(!) and Gianna was 15 months.
I can't add anything to how this changes with BFing as I "got fired" by both kids relatively early on. But I do know that I personally would have stopped at a year.