How many bottles at 15 mths?

[deni]

Hi all,

My 15 mth old is now on cow's milk, and he takes solids reasonably well (the usual Toddler ups and downs with food), but I'm wondering if I should be reducing how much milk he's having, as he also has yoghurt and cheese. He absolutely loves his bottles, currently has 3 a day approx 180-200ml. Today I tried to skip the afternoon bottle but he was onto it.

Admittedly I've kept the sleep association with bottles as we travel by air a lot, and I find he's more likely to sleep for a bit on the plane after a warm bottle.

Just was wondering, for the weaned babies of this age, when did you start dropping bottles, and in what order? My DS has 1 day sleep, so has a morning bottle, then bottle before his noon sleep and before bedtime at night. (he also drinks water and juice by cup and straw, i but i've kept to bottles for milk as he seems to find it soothing)

[MantaRay]

Deni, there is no "right" way to do it. From 12 months, the dietary guidelines are that kids have no more than 3 cups (a cup being around 250 ml) of cows' milk a day. Your DS's three bottles are about that amount, so the amount of milk he is getting is fine.

Is your question about replacing the bottle with a cup, or cutting down the milk?

[widdly]

At 10 months I dropped DS down from 3 bottles to 2. I stopped giving him his afternoon bottle.

At 12 months he only had his bedtime bottle

At 13 months I stopped giving him any bottles and he didnt seem to miss them

[rufalina]

Long time no see hun. Hi... Was wondering how you were getting on the other day, then here you are...Hope you guys are going well.

Anyway, at around 15m DS was having 3 bottles just like your DS, and he uses them as a wind down for sleep to. But the morning bottle was no longer needed for sleep at about 15m so I stopped it around that time... Basically, I just stopped offering it, and if he asked he got one, but I made it small and eventually he stopped asking.

We now (20m) still have two bottles around 180ml, one for lunch nap and one before bed. I am going to try to cut down the lunch one soon, but not entirely sure how to do that... And if he has had a big meal before the bottle, I make it smaller infact most nights we are making less...

I personally dont think that much milk is a bad thing at his age, especially with the amount of energy he expends during the day. However, I am working on the sippy cup for milk drinking and I think that may slow his milk intake...

[studymum]

The recommendation I was given by a paed dietician is from roughly 12 to 18mths, and roughly 600mls of milk or milk equivalants (so yoghurt, cheese etc and includes milk on cereal) but preferably a minimum of 400mls. She said it is still one of the most important parts of their diet up until about they age of 2 as the calcium is required for the growing/setting of the bones and joints and it actually is a major contributor to their weight gain.

As with everything its only a guide and each individual child will do it differently. I just went with what DD wanted (she hasnt had a night feed since 11mths), saw no point upsetting her over it, and she slowly dropped her bottles herself during the day. At 21mths she still demands about 400mls of warm milk in the evening while winding down watching tv with me, and has a cup with lunch, plus a tub of yoghurt and cheese. To much certainly isnt going to hurt.

[MantaRay]

Actually too much can hurt, which is why the recommendation is a maximum amount rather than a minimum amount But 600 mls is right at the upper end of the recommended amount so is ok. Dairy is not a particularly healthy food as such, but is an easy way to get calcium with an average diet. There are heaps of other sources of calcium though, and too much milk particularly can interfere with eating enough solids, which provide all the other nutrients babies need, especially iron and zinc.