Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Question for Toddler Moms
Claire turned a year old at the end of September. Over the past few weeks we have slowly phased out formula and transitioned to whole milk, which she seems to be doing okay with. (We were worried because of some issues with formula earlier on).
The pediatrician told me to start phasing out the bottles. Claire will take water in a sippy cup but will not take her milk in one. I've tried numerous varieties of sippy cups. She will drink every ounce of milk I give her out of a bottle, and maybe 2 or 3 sips out of a sippy if I am lucky.
I would appreciate any tips that might have worked for you. I am willing to try any and all suggestions. (I am okay with her being on a bottle for a little more, but realize the older she gets the more difficult it might be to get the bottle away from her.)
Thanks!
Re: Question for Toddler Moms
I guess what I did was gradual tough love maybe. Logan loved his bottle too and he was taking 3 a day. I first got him switched over completely on milk so I could do one battle at a time. When that was done, I started taking away one bottle at a time. He loved his morning bottle the most so I saved that for last. I took the mid-day one out first. About an hour before nap, I gave him a sippy with milk while he played and he took sips here and there and I'd put him to bed and by day 3, he would drink the whole thing. Then I did the same with the night bottle. The morning bottle went smoothly. He whined for a few minutes but drank from the sippy. Each time I took the bottle away and gave him a sippy, I didn't cave once he started whining. It was sippy or nothing and he got it. lol. Now, he only wants to drink milk which is screwing up his eating so that's another thing we're working on.
GL!
By one year he was still taking 3 bottles a day. I cut out the morning bottle first and gave him a sippy of milk. He didn't drink it down if it was not in a bottle at first either. I just let him take his little sips and then I put it in the fridge before an hour had passed. When he sat down to lunch I brought it out again and he sipped some while he ate and then he got his other two bottles for the rest of the day. Then I cut out the afternoon bottle. I didn't stop his bedtime bottle until two weeks ago (he's 17 months now) and that was really my fault because I liked feeding him at night.
Now he just uses a sippy for milk. He didn't love doing it at first but he got used to it. I also found that he liked the sippy cups that had a straw when he drank his milk. Now he'll drink it out of any sippy.
We got it down to only giving DS milk in the bottle at night. It was the only way to get him to drink all the milk.
We actually just threw out all the bottles a few months ago. One Friday I told DS that his bottles were going in the trash. He kept saying no and was sad about it....
On that Saturday I had HIM throw the bottles. To my surprise.. no problem and hasn't asked for a bottle since.
We now give him milk in a cup. He also drinks organic milk from a "juice box" type of container. We got it at BJ's. He drinks some and then we put it back in the fridge.
Thanks, Shannon. I am honestly in no hurry to get rid of her bedtime bottle, either. Lots of times, especially during the week, that is my quality time with her and I'm not really ready to give it up.
I will try yours and Val's suggestions, though, and hopefully get her to drink the milk from the cup.
We pretty much did exactly this with Charlie, except saved his night time bottle for last
Sam was super easy, she saw Charlie drinking out of sippys so she wanted them
DS 3.12.08
DD 7.11.09
DD 8.01.13
I know my kid is not quite a toddler, but have you tried a cup with a straw as opposed to a traditional sippy? My kid is still on bottles but has not taken to sippies. However, she LOVES drinking out a cup with a straw. Right now we just do water but she thinks it's neat, I think.
It's strange, Tommy loves a straw too but I can't trust him with a cup and straw. He still hurls his drinks across the room for fun. I just bought a pack of cups from IKEA for him and I put a drop of water in there for him and put it on his high chair tray when he's eating (in addition to the sippy). He loves to mimic us and I know it's still a long way off but I'm hoping it will get him used to drinking out of a cup with no lid.
Ooh, let me know. We've been using a Nuby brand sippy that has a straw and the straw itself is 3 parts! One of the parts went down the drain the other day and they're a pain to put together. All of the easier to clean ones I have found so far seem to leak or the lid pops off too easily.
Hunter loved sippie cups that had the straw in them and I did, too. They didn't spill and he took right to them. He didn't like a traditional sippie cup because I guess it was too much like a bottle, which as I mentioned before, he wouldn't take.
They were something like this:
http://www.amazon.com/ZoLi-BOT-Sippy-Cup-Orange/dp/B0031E1GEQ
or this
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000Y2GY40/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B0031E1GEQ&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0MQ241QZR9VG4THD9WPH
or this
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001QXCF0S/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_2?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B0031E1GEQ&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0MQ241QZR9VG4THD9WPH
We've been using this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Nuby-Sipper-Straw-Colors-Ounce/dp/B000LK6KOO/ref=sr_1_2?s=baby-products&ie=UTF8&qid=1317848466&sr=1-2
It's a pain in the ass. I wish I could find one without ten zillion parts.
I loved the night feeding too. I give him a sippy now but we still sit together and snuggle while he drinks it.
If the cup has a plastic stopper type thing in it take it out at first so she can figure out how the milk comes out. I also would drink a sip out of it to show Tommy what to do and I also let him drink water from my glass sometimes with a regular straw (while I was holding onto the glass) just to get him used to using a straw.