When did you have your baby off of the bottle?

[elisap4406]

Just wondering, and what are the advantages? DD is just getting her teeth and hasn't had much luck with the sippy cup. She actually does better if I hold a water bottle and she drinks out of it, but that would be a disaster with milk!

[newmomto3kids]

Lily was the only one of my kids to ever take a bottle. I had heard that pediatricians recommended getting them off a bottle by age 1. Not wanting to "mess up" I had her on a cup by 11 months. The only real advantage I see is that when she was 3 and walking around with a sippy cup, no one said "Oh my God, did you see that three year old with a sippy cup." People do comment on bottles though.
I am sure there are other advantages, but that was my main motivator :)

[schums]

My ped (whom I love and totally respect) was almost fanatical about having babies off the bottle when they turned 1. Not sure why, now that I think about it. However, she said it, and I had no reason not to wean from the bottle. We were done with formula at a year, so it seemed like a good transition point. We were easily using sippy and straw cups by 1 year, so daytime wasn't a big deal. Nighttime was the only time DC protested, but we were totally done with bottles before 13 months.

If you're having trouble with the sippy cup, try a straw cup. Sometimes they're easier for kids.

HTH,
Sarah
Mom to Alex (3/2002) and Catherine (8/2003)

[JBaxter]

Ds1 was 14 months "until" he got meningitis and was in the hospital we gave it back and it went away again at 17 months

DS2 had 1 bottle a day at 15 months and kept a bottle ( I mean the same ONE bottle) until 19 months. It was like a security item in the morning on the way to the sitter.

Ds3 was 15 months.

[jgriffin]

We started transitioning E from a bottle to sippy when he was a year old, but it wasn't until he was 13mo that he switched completely. We tried several different sippies before we found one he liked (and even then he was unhappy for a couple of days when we made a complete switch).

I don't know what the advantages are; our ped and dcp recommended 1 year as when to start transitioning.

[jodi_b]

We switched over around 13 months. DD did much better with a straw cup than a sippy. We like the Nuby straw cups with valves.

The reasoning our ped gave us for making the switch then was that developmentally around 14 months objects (including the bottle) would become possessions. It would be more difficult to make the switch if we were taking away something that was 'hers'.

That seems to make sense, but I haven't heard/read that anywhere else.

Jodi

[randomkid]

I would tend to agree with this. Before age one, DD would use any bottle I gave her - Playtex, Dr. Brown's, whatever. After a year, she would only take one type of bottle. I wasn't stressed about getting her off a bottle, so I didn't push it. Now, it has been extremely difficult trying to get her to take milk from a cup. She will drink anything else from a cup (she prefers a straw cup, BTW), but she refuses anything but the bottle for milk. I keep trying and someday we WILL get there, but I do think it would have been much easier had I made the switch at a year or shortly after a year. That being said, I do think she needed the comfort and since I was unable to nurse, my guilt allowed her to continue using that bottle. I also believe she would have used a paci more if I had forced her off the bottle, but who knows for sure? All I know is that now it has been such a challenge and someday soon I am going to have to push it and I am really not looking forward to that day!

[denna]

Hey Annie,

I asked a similar question a little while back and wanted to provide you with a link to that discussion since it did get quite a few helpful replies:

http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=86&topic_id=45187&mode=full

Also to add my $.02, we are slowly trying to transtion DS (who is 1 day younger then your DD) to a sippy/straw cup. He was doing really well with the transition until he became sick. We are trying to make the transition seamless and not try to force it to much. But we are trying.

Hope the link helps.

[elephantmeg]

have you tried the take n toss straw cups? DS doesn't do well with sippy's but loves those! We changed him to a straw cup at a year.

[zephyr]

Hi. I know this may sound kinda weird but my mom pretty much let my brothers and sisters and I use a bottle until we wanted to stop which was about 3 years old. None of us had teeth problems except for my little brother which refused his bottle very early on used a sippy cup. And I'm not against sippy cups or anything, either. Also I don't think that they took the bottles in public, more something they did at home. And they all turned out okay. I don't plan on taking DS bottle away at any specific time, it's a comfort thing for him, and I will let him decide when he will no longer want the bottle. That is just my opinion :)

[randomkid]

Thank you for putting that link in here. I went back and read my responses and now I'm feeling better. Of course, DD wasn't 2yo yet when that was posted and I figured she'd be off the bottle by now. She did take her milk in a cup this morning with breakfast, but it's still primarily the bottle. I guess I'm just tired of washing those stinkin' things!

Once again, I feel like it was the right thing to let DD continue with the bottle after re-reading that thread (I was beginning to have my doubts about that decision). However, I do think it is going to be much harder to get her off the bottle since she has used it so long. I guess my stance would be to go ahead and try at 12 months since it would be easier and if it's going well to go for it. If it's too stressful, I wouldn't push it.

[vkmom]

I think the younger they are the better. We didn't force any of our children, but as they get older, they are a bit more attached.

DD1 Weaned off the bottle around 1 year, but was addicted to sipper for bedtime till 18 months!

DD2 Weaned off the bottle at 6 months old. I nursed her the most and longest so she really wasn't too accustomed to the bottle anyway.

DS Weaned a few months after 1. He got a stomach virus, so we didn't give him the bottle beacause he wanted milk in it. So-we just put his water in a sippy.

Each child is very different.

HTH

:) VKMOM

[Tondi G]

I totally agree with you! My older DS was breastfed and took an occasional bottle till he was around a year... then he transitioned to a sippy cup for everything else. He nursed till he self weaned at 2 years 2 months! He had his comfort with nursing and I let him go till he quit on his own. My little guy is almost 2 and he is still using a bottle. I tried to make him quit cold turkey and his milk intake as a whole went down... from 20 or so ounces a day to maybe 8 ounces. He got sick and started crying for his bottle, I gave him back the bottle and I let it go. I felt like I allowed my older DS have his comfort/nursing till he was ready to let it go.... I should let my little guy have the same. One thing I can say is that he is very attached to his bottle and he is not happy when he asks for his bottle and a sippy cup appears in it's place!

Good Luck

~Tondi
Mommy to Mason 7/8/01 and Aidan 5/4/05

[melbb]

I EP'd for DD, so she has had bottles her whole life. I tried weaning her around 11 months, and she just screamed. I took a break and tried again a couple months later. Same response. I tried again recently, more screaming. I figure she will give it up when she is ready. Right now, she would starve herself rather than give up the bottle. And since she isn't the greatest solids eater, I don't want to push it. I am not happy about it, but don't know what else I can do. She takes water fine in a sippy and straw cup. She only gets 3 bottles a day. I still use the Haberman Feeder which requires sucking for milk to come out. I don't let her walk arouond with the bottle. She eats and I take it away. And I brush her teeth every night. So I don't worry about teeth issues. I figure, if I were BFing I would let her do that as long as she wanted, so why not the bottle?

[Radosti]

So, I have no leg to stand on...

DS could have cared less about bottles until 10 months b/c he was nursing all the time. At 10 months, he went to daycare and got bottles of EBM. We finished the pumping and going through the freezer stash at 14 months. But he hasn't wanted to give up his whole milk in a bottle. He gets very upset if I take it away or don't give it to him when he thinks he should have it. He also insists on nursing 2-3 times a night. We are daytime weaned.