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...............

We tried with dd1 to stop her having bottles but she would cry and cry. It was only when she felt like a big girl that she was ready to make the decision herself. I am taking the same approach with dd2, but hopefully we can get ds off them soon so they can do it together.

Well you all gave me some courage and we cut out the morning bottle and had a big breakfast instead. So far so good! We will keep her other twobottles for now and I'm going to look around for a special milk cup to swap to and then continue with a mid morning milk and before bed milk.

Hope you got some answers too OP!

:) a big breakfast is fab, it's my DDs fave meal of the day.

The last couple of nights Dd has only drunk about 100mls of her bottle. Tonight I even went back in after 10 mins and tried to give her more but she wouldn't take it. Maybe she's going to wean herself off the bottle and all my worry is for nothing! Lol

lol, I still struggle to get any meal bar breakfast into my DD. She hooks into it!

I am pleased to report that today was a bottle free day in our household :) For her after lunch milk feed, I decided to bite the bullet and give her the milk in the straw cup but without the handles so she couldn't grab it and throw it away. She was fine! In fact, it was so successful that I decided to try and give her the before bed milk in the straw cup too. I put her in the cot and she sat up and drank the milk, then handed it back to me, lay down, grabbed her toy and rolled away from me. I almost had to laugh. Seriously, it was too easy. I've been worried about this day for WEEKS and it was just way too easy. We'll of course see how the next few days go and then the rest of the week, tomorrow is another day but for today - I am celebrating the first bottle free day. Yay!

woohoo! awesome work! It looks like she was ready and you were stressing for nothing. Now just make sure you don't give them back

DD's only vice now is her dummy... I think that's going to be a present for Santa this year...

well done!! so proud of your DD!!!! and you of course!

Thanks ladies!! I am so thrilled. I am considering packing up the bottles so that we don't cave...............but I'm wondering about daycare. How will they heat the cows milk because they use a bottle warmer and the straw cup might not fit. Might have to send the milk in a bottle with a cap and get them to heat that and pour it into the straw cup? I don't really want them to microwave because we have never done that at home.........

Yayyaya, can't believe how excited I am about this :)

hmmm, I think we're going to have to start too ...

you've inspired me!

Well done hun what a huge achievment for you both!!!!!!!!!!!

FWIW I'm not even considering weaning DS off the bottle. He only self-weaned from the breast just over a month ago. If he hadn't weaned I would still be BFing morning and night so I figure he can have the bottle a little while longer.

That being said, some mornings he wakes late and he just gets breakfast - no bottle. I'm letting him lead me and not following the "rules".

Also, he's been sick this week and honestly, I don't know what we would have done without the bottle as he's refusing all food and the doc said, give him as many bottles as he wants!!

Cass - I think you raise some really good points and I also share some of your thoughts. We are still giving DD milk - just not through a bottle. She's drinking the cows milk through a straw cup so still getting milk, I am totally not ready to stop giving her milk, I think it's very important. The main reason behind my wanting to give up bottles is because it is recommended as bottles can cause some dental issues whereas drinking milk from a straw, sippy cup, normal cup or even better the breast doesn't have any effects at all.

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Cass - I think you raise some really good points and I also share some of your thoughts. We are still giving DD milk - just not through a bottle. She's drinking the cows milk through a straw cup so still getting milk, I am totally not ready to stop giving her milk, I think it's very important. The main reason behind my wanting to give up bottles is because it is recommended as bottles can cause some dental issues whereas drinking milk from a straw, sippy cup, normal cup or even better the breast doesn't have any effects at all.

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Darn it! Parenthood is hard!! He won't actually drink milk from a sippy cup - he'll have a little bit then throw it (he throws everything when he's finished with it - it was cute for about 2 minutes hehehe!).

To be honest I'm probably more than a little um, lazy in trying to get him to resettle through the night without the bottle AND and he probably would but there's also a part of me that is holding onto those night-time cuddles and feeds for as long as I can. I don't let him fall to sleep with the bottle in his mouth and he's always awake - though sometimes drowsy - when we put him to bed so I figured he wasn't falling asleep with the milk in his mouth as such......

Aaah, maybe I should harden up and let my baby grow up and become a toddler :redface:

Hahah - I don't think it's about hardening up, I think it's just about being ready - you AND him. I was ready to give up the bottles, I fell pregnant when DD was 6 months old and she rejected the breast so I was expressing full time for 4 months until I stopped at 10 months. DH is SAHD too so she's been having bottles since week 2 and we were totally over the whole bottle washing, making up formula stuff. We were also a bit selfish, we really wanted her off bottles by the time bub #2 arrives, I don't think we could handle 2 kids with bottles at the same time!! LOL But that said, if she'd hated the sippy cup, I would have gone running straight back to the bottle.

I think because it's been 6 months without the boob, she was ready if that makes sense?? The bottles were frustrating her because they were slower than when she drinks water out of the straw cup and often she'd chuck the bottle away in frustration. Such a little miss that she is.....not sure where she gets that from!!! :rofl: