Advice on Weaning from Bottle

Hi my name is V. and I am a mother of three, my youngest is going to be 4 next month. By the third one I think I finally got it. The day after her 1st birthday I literally threw out all her bottles! Ya at first I thought I was committing suicide but it will get better after two or three days at the most. But leaving ANY bottles in the house only tempts you to go back to it. If she throws her sippy cup or cries about it let her, seriously the only thing it will hurt is your ears. Don't worry she will get the nutrition she needs through her solid foods and if she is thirsty enough (which eventually she will be) she'll drink it. Lots of luck to you Vi P.S. Stick to your guns, one of the greatest and toughest thing I've learned in the past 11 years!

Hi C.!

My advice is "Just do It!" I know that sounds oversimplified, but truly, it is the mommy and daddy who have the hardest time with it. Once a few days to a week go by, they won't even remember it! My doc told us the same thing when my son turned 1 and I just came home and put all of the bottles away. They will learn how to get what they need. I know you are concerned about her getting the proper nutrition, but what you have to realize is that she is drinking more than just milk. She is now taking baby food and some solids. SO, it is just a matter of time before she gets used to having the sippy cup and not the bottle. You should expect a couple of difficult nights, but all in all, it's worth it. I have a friend who has her little child still on the bottle at 3 years old! She struggles with it most days because the child demands the milk and won't stop asking for it, whining, crying, etc. I would assume it gets harder to break the habit, the longer you wait... Let me know how it goes! Good luck to you.

Our pediatrician wanted our son weaned by 15 months because she said it just gets more difficult after that. He was never into sippy cups, but at around 14 months we introduced a straw cup from Nuby and he really took to it. At the point where 1/2 his milk was coming from the straw cup and 1/2 from the bottle (14 1/2 months), we just ended the bottle cold turkey. He didn't care at all. For about 2 days he drank less than normal, but then he picked right back up. We never used a bottle again. I think that he still enjoyed the sucking he got from the straw cup. Now he's almost 2 1/2 and will use just about any cup. Hope that helps!

M.

p.s. I think as long as she's getting her calcium from other sources during the time that she's not drinking as much milk, she'll be fine. Cheese, yogurt, etc. are great and you can always use milk to make oatmeal, mac & cheese, smoothies, etc.

Hi C., drop the bottle completely. When you give her her cup, sit her in the vhigh chair, less chance of droping it, I never let mine babies walk around with their cup. at a year old my kids had a cup of milk with lunch and a cup of milk with dinner,and either milk or juice with their snacks, and it was enough, they ate cheese, and other products with vitamin D . Their milk intake does not need to be like their foumula intake. J.

Cold turkey is definitely the way to go. Perhaps it was because my son was mostly breastfed, but he never learned how to hold a bottle or sippy cup up by himself so I ended up buying cups that used straws instead since he always enjoyed drinking out of my water bottles that use straws. He drank the milk a lot better from the straw cups than the sippy cups.

Also, my son only gets about 16 ounces of milk a day (he would drink more if I gave it to him though) and the rest is water (lately he tends to throw up a little after drinking juice, even if it's diluted). He always has soaking diapers, so I know he's getting enough liquids. I give him at least one other serving of dairy a day like yo-baby yogurt and/or cheese. He's growing fine and gets lots of other protein from meats and beans and calcium from green vegetables.

Take her to the store and have her pick out some sippy cups she likes and see if that makes a difference, also maybe the temp of the milk bothers her-is it cold or warm?

Yes, it can be a tough transition, but your pediatrician is right. She will get the hang of it... just when you become exasperated and think she will never figure it out -- she suddenly will.

I DON'T recommend going back and forth b/c she will hold out for the bottle otherwise.

If you're worried about dehydration, you can feed her a lot of fresh fruits and veggies during these days to help keep her hydrated.

There are several different types of sippy cups, so you might want to try the different ones to see which one your daughter is able to figure out the best...

Some kids like sucking, while others prefer less effort, so you just never know what will work.

Hang in there! It'll happen.