When to stop bottles?

My DD is 11 months old and is now formula fed. She is having 3 milk feeds a day via bottle, one after bfast about 120mls, one at lunch about 200mls and one at dinner which is 200mls but she won't often drink all of that. I recall the MCHN explaining to me that by 12 months ideally she would be down to 2 feeds per day. I think this is doable because she isn't a massive fan of the breakfast milk feed but was thinking to give her the breakfast milk feed in her sippy cup instead. She drinks from a cup with a straw.

So I had this in the back of my mind but then a girlfriend was telling me that her friend totally got rid of bottles by 12 months. I thought this sounded extremely early but then looked in the book that came with our red book (Qld version) and it also says to try and get rid of bottles by 12 months!

What did you guys all do and what are your thoughts about this? I just figure if I was still BFing then I'd be feeding on demand and this wouldn't be a problem.......... :(

By 12 months child should be encouraged to drink from a sippy cup rather than a bottle, you can also at 12 months wean onto cows milk (full cream milk) start by having a bottle 1/2 formula 1/2 cows milk and slowly decrease formula and increase cows milk.

Thanks Feeb :) So you think I should be stopping all 3 bottles and giving them to her in the sippy cup? I was planning to do the formula/cows milk swap over at that time but for some reason feel nervous about the shift from bottles.......

Start with 1 at a time if she drinks that well yes find swap all if she doesnt keep perserving with same 1 each day until she is drinking good amounts from cup and then you can change others over as well. As you would hate for her not to be drinking good amounts.

Okay, got it. Thanks so much for your advice. I will start her breakfast bottle in the next week or so. We currently use a cup with a straw but I might look for a bit more of a sippy cup which is a mix between the bottle and the straw cup to start with.

Not a worry, Glad I could help, try and avoid a straw cup for milk as they straws can be very hard to clean properly and you dont want festy milk in a straw.

Some people also find that kids are better to have diff cups for milk and water as they then know what sort of drink they are getting when they see a certain cup.

With DD it was about 15 months old I got rid of the bottle completely but she really wasn't ready prior. I waited until she could comprehend she was a big girl and didn't need them anymore. It was definately a comfort thing for her I still give her a cup of warm milk of a night. I use a nuby brand sippy cup. These seem to be the ones that she will drink the most water/milk out of because she has a rather petite face and the other brands were hitting her nose too much. Out of all of the cups we have tried they seem to be the easiest and the best lasting (except when the puppy gets them and chews the tops). I just throw them through the dishwasher on the top rack to keep them clean.

HTH

Thanks CL. I guess I am a bit worried about her not being ready but we are having another baby when DD is 15 months so I sort of feel like if I don't do it now then we'll be waiting quite a while to do it. I will look at those nuby brand ones, I am keen to do a separate cup for milk..............ooooh I hope she reacts okay.

no worries hun. The tops are all silicone so it's not a rough transition from a bottle and I like that I can see right inside the cup while I'm out in case an ant or insect has managed to crawl in too. I skipped the straw after a month because it was summer and after even 3 hours the water smelt funny to me. I am iffy about straws in general for cleaning purposes. DD is on the sports sipper one or an actual cup (also nuby brand because she likes the shape) now. The sports sippers are for out and about of a drink in the middle of the night and the normal cups are for general use.

my bub is just over 1 now, 13 months in 2 weeks, the nurse told me she doesnt even need milk now , if she doesnt want it from a sippy cup dont force but dont cave and give back a bottle either, she was having 2 x 200mls since she was about 10.5 months old, at her 12 months check the nurse said nahh give her milk in a cup, i said i had tried but she wasnt finishing it so i gave it back, nurse said dont give it back, just let her drink what she wants from a cup, if she only drinks half thats fine as most there food now is meant to be from food not milk and milk fills u up so u dont want anymore food, i dunno i think its bit weird lol as im worried about her bones, when my oldest was a 1 , they told me 600mls of dairy a day, from milks, yoghurts, cheeses and stuff like that, sorry hope this helps, i havent given back her bottle and i just give her weetbix warmed in morning and offer her some milk after it, but she usually isnt interested at all, and then again at night after dinner i offer more, be lucky if she has a full cup a day, these are biggish sippy cups though,

I am worried about this also but mainly because my DD LOVES her milk bottles and I don't want to make her give them up yet! She is 13.5 months do we will give it another month and then see what happens.

We've cut out the breakfast bottle and are offering milk in a straw cup. She drinks some of this every morning but rarely all. We're offering about 120mls. Still going with the lunch and night bottles but she is 12 months next week so we'll be transitioning her lunchtime bottle into half straw cup and half bottle for a month or so gradually weaning her off the bottle. I am undecided about the night bottle, I am thinking to keep that one for a fair while since we have another bub due in September and DD sleeps so well now I am hesitant to break her routine.

DD still has two milk drinks a day and she's 20 months. The evening one (after dinner and her bath) is still in a bottle, and the mid morning one varies depending on her mood.

Our health care nurse told us (my mothers group) the same thing but my personal opinion is 12 months is still so young! All 5 of us in our mums group chose to ignore our MCHN and just go with our instincts. I think even at 20 months DD is still so little and if she enjoys her bottle, why should we take it off her?

Each to their own but we aren't in any great hurry to do away with the bottles. We'll tackle it if it becomes a problem or when we think DD is old enough to understand our reasoning for ditching the bottles.

In my experience as a mum so far, everything that could have been a potential worry (or were things others said to me were 'habits') have worked themselves out without any worry at all. We're just enjoying our little girl, our baby, for as long as we can. She has made some big decisions and changes all by herself and that's been a lot easier for all of us.

Just my two cents about not stressing too much about the so called 'rules' of parenting ;)

PS: DD was on two bottles at 12 months. One was mid morning, after breakfast, and the other was right before bed.

Dd1 only stopped when we moved so six months ago at 3.5, dd2 still has two before her naps. In think it's been harder with always having a younger one having bottles here, they all want to do the same. The girls have no problems drinking out of cups. I just don't tell the mchn but I don't see the problem it's before bed and it's a comfort for them.

Thanks for bringing this up. I have been wondering the same thing. My DD is just over 1 & is still having 3 x 280mls bottles per day (& finishing them all each time). She is eating a ton too though. Ok, so maybe I should just try to move her across to sippy cups instead of the bottles. Thanks again for all your thoughts on the issue.

we did the sippy cup at 6months, our nurse advised this and both DS and DD are doing well. DS had formula +BF, and he was fine with formula in a sippy cup. At 12 months I switched to cow's milk and he was ok too. Our nurse suggested if he didnt, mix formula and cow's and slowly increase cow's milk. i tried cow's milk first and he was ok so didn't bother with the mix. DD is 9 months and is fully bf-ed but is now taking water in a sippy cup. We started at 6 months too.
The main reason for switching from bottles to cup is because of teeth, bottles are not good for their teeth, and the earlier we switch it's easier to wean them.
At 1, DS was having 3 milk feeds (I can't remember the amount, we just filled up the sippy cup) and he also had a bf first thing in the morning and at night.
hope this helps.

I was told and had it comfirmed by our dentist 12 months is a good age to go to a cup to prevent tooth decay as babies tend to fall asleep with a bottle in their mouth my boys were happy with a sippy cup from 12 months.

This is so interesting, thank you all so much for your thoughts and input. So far, the whole sippy cup thing is going well for bfast and to be honest, it's probably more about ME than DD for the lunchtime feed. I just need to bite the bullet and try her on the straw cup for the lunchtime milk, I am pretty sure she'd be okay. I guess she does still seem so little, she's not even walking yet.

That's a great point though Black_rose, I hadn't even thought about DD seeing the new bubba with a bottle and wanting one too. DH is SAHD and I will be BFing and expressing for as long as I can (got to 10 months with DD) so there will be lots of bottle happening...............