Question for the mums

Tofumonkey · August 2011

When did you / do you plan to stop using bottles? Ours are a year on Tuesday ( OMG! )- should they be off bottles completely at this point? They are still on formula ( Level 3 toddler formula ) 2 or 3x / day. How should we be going about this?

brainie · August 2011

I'm not going to be much help, because we never gave Beth bottles. She's always had sippy cups, and we have a doidy cup we give her sometimes - when we arent too worried about mess. I remember reading that about a year is when it's recommended to transition from bottles, but I'm not sure why that would be. What if you gave them both? Maybe a cup first, then follow with a bottle if they still need it? Or maybe give them a cup with water so they get used to it, and then you could switch to milk later? I don't think there is one right way to do it. Maybe the other ladies would have better ideas though.

brainie · August 2011

Oh and you can start giving babies whole milk to drink at a year too.

brainie · August 2011

And I can't believe they are one already!!!!!!!!!!!!

brainie · August 2011

Or did you mean how to switch from formula to milk? What if you gave them whole milk and see how they do? Could always mix the two together for awhile if they need to get used to it.

amwallace · August 2011

I'm a little behind you... and I BF, so I'm going to be pretty useless. What we'll do is introduce Whole Cow's Milk during meal times (you can mix half and half until your LOs get used to it) and maybe before bed. My LO takes sippy cups and knows how to hold them and use them, but right now its just water in them. The cup she likes is a Tommee Tippee cup with handles and she does great with it.

BlushingMama · August 2011

Tofu, we used a 'bottle' from Boots and I know Tesco's sell them too. Its got a soft teat, but is shaped like a 'cup teat', but the teat is slightly bigger and has 2 handles. Its called a bottle to cup training bottle or something like that. I am trying to find it online, but not having any success, but I know boots still stock them because I saw them in the week. Maybe look at giving those a try.

ExpatFamily06 · August 2011

Leo was on whole milk by a year and he had his last bottle at I *believe* 14 months. We gradually got rid of them, so by that time it was just getting him off of a night bottle. Through out the day he was already weaned on to sippy cups.

Bananas0827 · August 2011

When we started transitioning from formula, it was 1 oz to 7 oz. I upped the ratio of milk vs formula every few days. I think it took almost 2 weeks to have him weaned off of formula.

I started giving him sippy cups at around 7 months, but he hated every one that we tried. I gave him a straw sippy at around a year, and he did quite well. The only ones he'll take right now are the Nuby straw sippy, that I cut the no drip part out of the straw. It's quite difficult to use as a no drip cup (I could barely suck milk through it). But once I cut out the silicone part, D has had no problems at all.

We use these ones:

http://nuby.com/en/nuby/cups-spouts/9901/

FayeD · August 2011

We knew we were supposed to at 12 months, but that was when I was in the middle of travelling back home. BabyD was really resistant to sippy cups for some reason but I spent our travel time giving him bottles for formula and sippy cups for everything else. Once we got home and I saw that he used real (miniture) cups without lids at school, I just flat out got rid of the bottles. He figured it out and was fine once I removed the option of a bottle.

We still give him a sippy cup for the milk he drinks in the car in the am and if he's having a drink in the living room. At meals we're phasing out the lids. Varying degrees of messy but usually it's dinner so he's getting a bath and the clothes are going into the laundry right afterwards.

hamilton.ja · August 2011

Try a soft spouted sippy first if theyve never had anything but a bottle. Nubby brand in the uk is good, so is tommee tippee. I would probably change one feeding at a time. But I would do the milk and sippy transition at the same time. Say the midday bottle I'd move to 50/50 milk/formula and put it in a sippy cup for a while, then move the morning one and last the evening. I know people who go cold turkey as well at a year, no more bottles and no more formula but if you have some to use up you might as well.

welshgirl · August 2011

hamilton.ja:
Try a soft spouted sippy first if theyve never had anything but a bottle. Nubby brand in the uk is good, so is tommee tippee. I would probably change one feeding at a time. .

We did this. W only had one bottle a day, but the soft Nuby one made a gradual and easy transition... Though for what it's worth, he still demands straws to drink from.

ashleynicoles · August 2011

Our plan for milk is to see where she's at around 10 months and start giving her 1 bottle per day from a sippy cup, then 2, and then all. Then at the 1 year marker mix whole milk in until she gets used to it all together.

C also isn't a huge fan of a sippy cup yet either. If she's really thirsty we can get her to do a juice with little problem, but with water she gags and spits it out. She also won't eat her baby ceral in the morning from a bowl/spoon yet, she insists on it going in a bottle still.

Good luck with the girls! Congratulations on them turning 1!

cakenbake · August 2011

Jonathan weaned himself from nursing at not quite 10 months, so I started then giving him whole milk. The pedi still wanted him on formula until 1 year (because of the iron), so I gave him formula for his morning feeding, and his before-bed feeding. Meal times were whole milk.

I tried sippy cups then, but he was resistant, so I held off. Around 11 months, I started giving him day time feedings in a sippy cup (there were many times he only drank 1/3 because he wanted the bottle instead, but I held strong), and bottles at night. Around a year, I gave him sippy cups at night too, and he did just fine since he was already used to them.

Jonathan never has been super interested in milk (even nursing as an infant), so I think that's why it took him a bit longer than Jeffery (he never cared what it came out of, as long as it was milk). Even now, he rarely finishes his evening milk before bed.

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