Taking 1 Year Old off the Bottle/formula?

Hi...
My first daughter who is now three took a bottle until she was two (at night and the occasional morning bottle), she also took a paci until she was two. I know everyone says you should stop, but I decided to pick my own battles. She has had two dentist appointments and the dentist says her teeth look great (which was the main thing I worried about) with having her on the bottle and paci for so long. I may be in the minority, but I don't see a problem with keeping them on it if that's what they want. This is just my opinion and I'm sure other mom's have had success taking their children off them when they are supposed to.
Hope this helps!
D.

I don't think it is the end of the world if you take a little time and gradually decrease use of the bottle. I did pretty abruptly stop formula (actually mine was still breast feeding so I think that is harder) and went straight to whole milk. My daughter didn't have a problem with this at all. We weaned her to just her night time bottle pretty quickly, but if it had taken a little longer, we would have dealt with it. I was so afraid to take away the night time bottle, but we went to the store and she picked out "big girl" cups and we started giving her that at night and she didn't miss a beat. We didn't rush her to be on our doctor's schedule, but it was actually a quicker process than I imagined. But, she wasn't fully off her night time bottle until about 17 months.

i agree with the other posters, and i don't think going cold turkey is the wisest course...some kids might be okay with it, but what i did was started subsituting milk, first with his formula (mixed), and in his cereal, then eventually just went with more and more milk. i also didn't take the bottle away cold turkey, but started offering him a sippy cup (and these days you can find tips that are much like a bottle, rubbbery and with a slow flow) for snacks and meals. the last bottles to go were the first morning one and the last one before bed. eventually he only got a milk bottle last thing at night, then i switched that to a sippy cup. just read his cues and make it a "no pressure" kind of thing, i'm sure he'll be fine. everyone told me a year, and i vowed not to use "their" schedule, but i started switching slowly and he was fine with it, so by thirteen months he was almost completely off the bottle. good luck and remember, you're on "his" schedule, not anyone else's! (my son never took a paci - thank goodness! - so i have no advice about that, sorry!)

We started by gradually giving her milk in her bottles with the formula. We did 25/75 (milk/formula) for a few days, then 50/50, then 25/75 and finally 100%. It took us a little bit longer because our daughter has acid reflux and I did not want to upset her stomach. Be prepared with some gas drops because milk products can upset their stomach especially if they had soy formula.

As far as the pacifier, McKenzie only had hers at bedtime and naptime as well. We have just started trying to eliminate at naptime and we have tried bedtime as well. It has worked successfully except for when she wakes up in the middle of the night. So, we are doing it gradually and that is what seems to work for her. She had too many other changes going on for me to do it cold turkey. Good luck!

It was very simple for both my girls. I started my doing a half bottle of formula and half of milk. And slowly over the course of a week or two transitioned to all milk. I did this in a sippy cup.
I just "lost" the paci and had baby help me look all over for it. They both cried a night or two, and were fine. I would do one thing first ( milk/bottle) and then do the paci to follow.
Good luck!

I just did this last weekend. I did the same gradual change to milk from formula and Friday was the first day that it was all milk - which was also the last day she had a bottle. I wanted her to associate the formula with the bottle and the milk with a cup. The only thing we had trouble with is her going to bed at night, but I think it just turned out to be bad timing. She was teething (molars) and having some major separation anxiety. So we had a couple of rough nights Thursday - Saturday but she did great last night and seems to be just fine. Since she had so much going on I'm going to wait til this weekend to drop the binkie. I wanted to do them all at the same time because I didn't want her to get more attached to the binkie when we took everything else away, but with all she had going on I felt like that would just be mean. She also only gets hers at nap/bedtime and I've been making sure to give her her blanket and bunny when I give her the binkie so hopefully having those lovies will make the transition easier. Crossing my fingers. The bottle really wasn't that hard, but maybe we were just lucky. Good luck!!

I agree with Stephanie W. My ped. told us that we could introduce whole milk when the twins turned 1, however we did the gradual "cocktail"...formula/whole milk until it was straight whole milk...100%. As far as the pacifier, the ped. did recommend taking the pacifier, but the girls kept their pacifiers until they were almost 3!!!!

Your pediatrician is probably making the recommendation to stop the bottle and take away the pacifier because it can be more challenging if you wait until later. Some also believe leaving a bottle/paci in their mouth at night can lead to teeth issues. But you have to do what works for your child and you. My youngest daughter is now 14 months old and she still has the pacifier at naptime and bedtime. She does still nurse and takes all cow's milk and water from the sippy cup now. I have 4 children and my oldest 2 are already in elementary school and they have never taken a bottle or pacifier with them to school...point being...you'll work it out when the time is right to take it away and kids grow up just fine. None of my children have had a single cavity to this point and none of them are buck-toothed either. You don't have to be rigid about it or cut your baby off cold turkey. That will just be stressful for you and for your son.

As for switching from formula, that's a standard thing and my only advice is to be willing to try 2% chocolate milk if your child doesn't like white milk. I have given all 4 of my kids chocolate milk at 1 year of age because I exclusively breastfeed, which naturally tastes sweeter, and so my kids never would take the white whole milk. None of my children bounce off the walls any more than normal and none of them are overweight either. Instead of formula, your little person should be getting plenty of nutrients now from the foods he eats anyway.

I would also check into another pediatrician if you're not comfortable with your current one. If you frequently question his advice, don't trust him or don't like the way he speaks to you or handles your child then it's time for a different Dr. I do think your Dr. was ultimately trying to help and give you sound advice but it's always best to go with your motherly instinct. I trust my pediatrician with matters of health, nutrition, vaccines, etc. but knowing what my baby likes and what makes her comforted is something only a loving Mommy knows best. So for now...we are keeping the pacifier and I'll just limit it for use during bedtime/naptime. Best wishes!

My son will be one in 10 days and we started weaning him from the bottle and formula early since he was on soy formula. I basically made it a point to never put milk in the bottle or formula in the sippy cup. We actually ran out of formula this weekend and didn't want to buy any more because we knew the pediatrician would tell us to stop using it, so he just went the whole weekend with no bottle or formula. Now before bed he has a drink of milk (warmed up just a little), I rock him for a few minutes and put him to bed. The transition was much easier and faster than I thought it would be, but I didn't try the cold turkey method. Good luck!

B., I think it is harsh to just stop everything cold turkey. Try giving him his only bottle at nighttime because he is attached to that one. I'd just put milk in it, you can warm it if that's what he's used to. I think I would wait a little while on taking the paci. Honestly, it just plain seems mean to take everything away from him at once.

Good Luck, M.