Stopping the bottle

[AbbysMom]

My ped has been after me since my DD2 turned one to get rid of her bottle (she's 18 months now). With my older DD, we stopped after she was 2 and she never touched milk again until she was over 3!

How do I do it? Did you phase it out? Or stop slowly? She has bottles when she first wakes up, after her nap and before bed. She loves it. She also does not drink milk if it's in another cup.

[AnnieW625]

We used Avent bottles so we went from the classic nipple to the sipper top. It worked great for DD. DD is 4 and still has a cup of milk in the morning when she wakes up. I think we stopped milk at night right around 18 mos. old, but I really don't remember. She now gets it in the late afternoon or with dinner.

My sister is almost 23 yrs. old and hasn't had milk on a regular daily basis since she stopped using a bottle at 2+. She just doesn't care for it. Our family doctor told our mom that it was completely acceptable as long as she still ate lots of leafy greens and broccoli (which happened to be one of her favorite foods), and still ate cheese or yogurt. Now she did have to start taking a calcium supplement at around 12 IIRC, but other than she hasn't had any adverse issues besides some lactose intolerance if she eats too much dairy (which my mom has anyways so who knows that's probably genetic too) because she doesn't drink milk at all.

[arivecchi]

We started using take and toss sippy cups when DS2 was about 11 months. After the 12 month appointment, DS was already good with the sippy cup, so we stopped using the bottle cold turkey.

[peanut520]

I'm in the same boat. dd is 14 months old and refuses to drink milk in anything but her bottle. i have tried most sippy cups on the market and she doesnt want them as soon and just keeps asking for her milk even after she tastes the milk in the sippy. Her doctor said to cut her off cold turkey now but it will be hard the longer we let her have the bottle. We actually use the advent bottle and i forgot about the sippy tops! i'm going to go get some tonight! do you recommend the soft spouts and or the harder toddler spouts.

i am cringing at the thought of cutting her off cold turkey since she looks forward to her bottle in the morning. we have been pretty successful of distancing her last bottle away from her bedtime by distracting her. we let her play during the time she would have her bottle.

[arivecchi]

We love these: cheap and easy to use:

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index...ductId=2793344

DH sometimes pokes bigger holes in the spout if the kids are having trouble.

[peanut520]

We love these: cheap and easy to use:

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index...ductId=2793344

DH sometimes pokes bigger holes in the spout if the kids are having trouble.

thanks, but we've tired those already. i dont think it is the sippy, but the bottle. she is attached to her bottle still wants her milk in her bottle.

[TwinFoxes]

We love these: cheap and easy to use:

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index...ductId=2793344

DH sometimes pokes bigger holes in the spout if the kids are having trouble.

We got rid of bottles pretty close to cold turkey, because despite my live and let live attitude toward Suri Cruise, I soooo didn't want to deal with preschoolers walking around drinking from bottles! I nannied for a girl who drank from a bottle at 4, and it drove her mom bonkers (she took it away cold turkey, so hard at that age!) We stopped giving them bottles except for at dinner, and then that went away quickly. Of course I was still BFing, so that probably made it easier. DH was surprised I was so gung-ho about getting rid of the bottle, I think he wanted to "baby" them a bit more. They stopped doing bottles by 14 months at the very latest. For some people that's late, my SIL (who I pretty much disagree with about everything re: childrearing) had her daughter on all solid foods, no bottle by 9 months. She likes to brag about it, like her daughter's some sort of prodigy.

[egoldber]

With my older DD I gradually replaced one bottle with a sippy cup/straw cup. That made me more relaxed about it because I was concerned about her liquid intake dropping. And it did drop for awhile, but then it recovered. Over the course of a month she went from 4-5 bottles a day to none.

I also started letting her drink from a straw cup in restaurants, which she thought was really fun.

[AbbysMom]

Thanks to everyone for responding. We went cold turkey and the poor kid is angry about it. Today is the first day she wasn't yelling as much for her bubba. She's on a complete milk strike. We've tried all the cups we have, straw, caps, no caps and it's just a no go. I did feel cruel after the Suri Cruise thread for taking it away so early!

[choopi]

Will you please let me know how it goes? My DD is 12 1/2 months and refused to take cow's milk from a sippy cup. After a few days, her babysitter and I decided to first transition her to cow's milk in a bottle. She just decided that she'll drink it. Now, the plan will be to transition her to cow's milk in a sippy cup. I'm terrified!

Thanks to everyone for responding. We went cold turkey and the poor kid is angry about it. Today is the first day she wasn't yelling as much for her bubba. She's on a complete milk strike. We've tried all the cups we have, straw, caps, no caps and it's just a no go. I did feel cruel after the Suri Cruise thread for taking it away so early!