Weaning from the Bottle! - Canton,OH

Hi J.! I am almost in the same boat that you are in, but I do have a piece of advice that might help with the cup situation. My daughter is 10 months, and I've been trying to slowly switch her over to the sippy cup. I found a cup at Wal-Mart by Nuby that has a silicone top to suck from. The top is shaped just like the harder plastic sippy cups, but it is made of soft silicone. She has had no problems at all sucking from it. She also has a sippy cup with the hard plastic top, and has a difficult time with it. Try the Nuby cups... Kaelyn loves them!!

Hi J.,
My daughter is getting close to the year mark too and we are making some of the same decisions. She has been drinking from a sippy cup since about 7 months (apple juice for constipation) so that is not a problem for us. We use the Nuby cups with the straw. She didn't have any problems at all with it. She can now drink from a regular straw and cup. Just keep introducing it. He will get it!
Just this week we took away her middle of the day bottle so she is down to morning and night time. I just increased her food intake and added a little snack in the afternoon and she didn't even realize the bottle was gone. I am going to give it a few weeks and take away the morning bottle next. I will just substitute regular food in its place. I have no idea if what we are doing is right, but so far it has worked ok for us. :) I will probably wait until her one year appt. to take away the night time bottle just so I can ask a few more questions. Good luck! Isn't this age so much fun?!!

We introduced sippy cups with milk when my son was around 12 months and then about a month later we just dropped bottles all together and substituted the sippys. We only used sippys with straws for a while because Finn did not grasp that the cups needed to be tilted back for any liquid to flow through :) But he had and still has his pacifiers so they were a GREAT buffer to not have a bottle.

Now he'll probably have those until he's 16... but that's another post. Good luck!

We were told to switch to whole milk at 1 year. Our daughter's both have given indications as to whether or not to continue with the bottle. We'd offer a sippy cup first, and if that didn't work, we'd revert to the bottle. With our oldest, we started saying, "Do you want 'good stuff' or water?" (We kept 8 oz. bottles of water in a dorm fridge in our laundry room) and one night, she asked for water, and that was it.

With our youngest, she still likes to have a bottle at bedtime, but she'll take sippy cups or drink through a straw the rest of the time.

With both of them, we just switched over from formula to milk and didn't have any issues, but have heard of people who did. They ended up doing "half-and-half" for a while.

Some of those sippy cups are very hard to drink out of, especially if they have a valve or some other mechanism to keep them "spill proof". I do have 2 "dr. browns" sippy cups that work VERY well with our toddler - we have 2 of them.

And yes, it is normal at first for him to just play with it and only take a few sips at first. Once he gets used to it, it'll get better.

Good luck!

At my son's 9 months well-check, the Dr. provided me with a few guidelines.

1) Start with the smallest feeding per day, and switch from bottle to cup. As the child becomes accustomed to the feeding, switch over the next feeding. In my case, my son's favorite feeding is his early morning feeding, so that will be the last to go. In the case of my oldest, his favorite was his bed-time feed, so that was his last.
2) Dillute formula with cows milk - start three parts to one, gradually move to half and half and then one part to three. It's easiest on their systems.
3) I found that my oldest did best with a sippy cup that had a straw spout. Once he became comfortable with it, I was able to introduce other cups. My youngest has done really well with the Nuk brand sippy cups - he took to drinking from it like a champ.
4) Each kid is a little different - my oldest was really resistant to having his "bottle" drinks placed into a cup, so after giving him a half cows milk, half breastmilk bottle, I gave him a sippy cup with just cows milk and he was okay. My youngest - he'll drink anything, from anything.

I hope this helps - I was able to get my oldest off all bottles before his first birthday. I'm exclusively nursing my youngest, so I've accustomed him to using sippy cups but I'm not pushing the issue.

I don't know if this will help, but I'll tell you our experience with our now 22 month old. Our pediatrician told me at her 12 month checkup that she wanted her weaned off of the bottle by the time she was 15 months. I didn't think she was ready until she was about 14 months, so we waited a bit. Then she went cold turkey. She had been using sippy cups for awhile so I just subsituted the sippy cups for the bottles. I switched her to whole milk off of formula cold turkey as well. She didn't seem to mind. We always made sure that she had a sippy cup of milk just before bed. She's never looked back. And didn't miss the bottle at all. Now I know that not everyones' story are like this, but this was our experience. So hopefully it will be yours too! Good luck!

If he is having trouble sucking hard enough to get something from the sippys, remove the thingy in the lid that is making it hard. It means anytime he tips his sippy upside down the liquid will come out, but will make it easier to get. When we transistioned to cow's milk, we just gave them the whole milk, no mixing. No problems. For the night time bottle, you could dilute it with water until it becomes just a bottle of water at bedtime. Makes that bottle less appealing. Definitely at meal time during the day offer just the sippy for his liquids. That will get him used to a sippy. good luck!

Jen: I am finishing up weaning my 15 mo old DS from the bottle. It just takes time and patience. My 2 older DDs weaned quickly by 12 mo but he has been attached to that bottle. Here's a few ideas that worked for me: 1) Don't stress - he won't be on the bottle forever & if he isn't going to sleep with it the problems with tooth decay are limited. 2) Try different sippys until you find one that he likes & will work with. My DS also played with his at first. I tried juice & water & just had milk in his bottle but that has backfired a bit because now he has a hard time drinking milk out of a cup. 3) I switched straight to milk (he takes soy because of milk allergies) but I think it depends on what your son can handle or will be willing to handle. And 4) DON'T WORRY, DON'T WORRY, DON'T WORRY - he won't be on the bottle forever.

My daughter was addicted to her night time bottle until she was about 16 months old. Around the 4th of July we were just so busy that she would fall asleep with out it. We never looked back! It was so much easier than I thought it would be. I was so not looking forward to the struggle, but she just decided she didn't need it anymore. Granted, she was just getting one bottle at that point. We started her on the sippy at 9 months. I took away all bottles except for naptime and night time. At about 14 months she quit taking a naptime bottle. Offer the sippy cup throughout the day just to get him used to it. Then take away the mealtime bottles, then the naptime bottles, then the nighttime bottles. Kids are really resiliant. After a few days of no bottle, he'll forget all about it.

Hi J.,
First of all, I think all of your own suggestions in your request were great ones-go with it! My daughter started refusing a bottle at 9 months because she only wanted to breastfeed, but I was on my way to weaning her. So I started trying the cup at 9 months because she wouldn't take the bottle. Well she refused the cup too. I tried everything, water, breastmilk, formula, juice. She wouldn't do it. So, I finally just gave it to her at every meal and let her do whatever with it. She FINALLY began drinking from it and honestly it took several months before she was drinking from it regularly. So, I think they will just get the hang of it on their own when they are ready. Just keep giving it to him.
In regards to weaning. I did what you suggested cutting out one bottle, then two, etc. Also, I know of a lot of people who mixed the formula or breastmilk with the whole milk to get the child used to it. My daughter didn't want anything in the cup, so it didn't matter. I just went right to whole milk as soon as she was one.
Good luck, you are on the right track.

The best thing to think about is this: don't sweat it! It won't matter if he's off at 12 or 14 or (like mine) even 24 months. You and your son are the ONLY ones that can make the final decision. By all means, listen to the advice, but don't get it in your head that there's anything wrong if he's not off at a certain time. I found that there are certain things that I don't even tell my doctor. Like the fact that we co-sleep or that my daughter is still on a bottle. To me, these things are not medical issues, and all the doctor is going to do is tell me to stop. Which I wouldn't do anyway. Yes, I highly value her medical expertise. But, when it comes to parenting, she doesn't live with me, and doesn't make those decisions. So, just relax.
As for the practical side of actually doing it, as I said, my daughter is 21 months and still takes her bottle of milk at night. When she started drinking from a sippy at around 7 months, that was when we started transitioning. She still got a bottle of breastmilk whenever she needed it, but I used the sippy for juice or water. As she started getting close to 1 year, I just started using the sippy for milk and juice. We also just transition to whole milk by gradually reducing my last supply of BM until that was gone. Just keep giving him the cup and he'll get it.
So, good luck.

I was petrified to drop the bottles at 12 months. I thought, oh man what kind of major adjustments, screaming, crying, transitions will I have to go through. I was dreading it like you would not believe.

To prepare for the process, we started using a sippy at snack (water) and meals (milk). He still got the bottle too, but at least he got the hang on what a sippy cup was, and what it was there for. If your son is taking a few sips from the cup, then he may be WELL on his way to success!

At 12 months, we stopped using bottles entirely. I braced myself for great protest. There was none. I was in utter disbelief! And, we went straight to whole milk in a sippy (my homegrown logic was 'new drink, new cup', associating perhaps formula with the bottle and milk with the cup). We just made the sippy cup his only option, so if he wanted to drink he had to get it from the cup. He had no issues whatsoever.

We decided that all bottles would be gone at 12 months, which also meant that there would no longer be a bottle before bed. In order to help this process, I decided to treat his 'bedtime' routine like his 'naptime' routine. About 30-45 minutes before bed, we would put him in his pajamas and night diaper. When it was time for bed, we used his normal naptime routine and put him down (he never took a bottle before nap). Again, much to our surprise he didn't even skip a beat.

I think a lot of times we forget how resilient our children are, and forget that if we are positive about change then they'll follow our lead. After all, children will need to go through many, many changes in their routine and schedule throughout their development so teaching them to adapt and be flexible is so important. I was so wound up about the whole bottle thing and when he did so well with it, I decided I would be less uptight with later changes (such as dropping a nap).

We started weaning early since our ped. dentist wanted him bottle free by 1 yr. We tried sippys, and did we ever try sippys. We finally tried Nuby with the straw (it goes all the way to the bottom so there's no tipping it up) and it worked for him. It's all trial and error, but try something that is colorful or with his favorite charactor on it. Good luck!

Hi J.,
I don't think there's a certain age to wean little ones from a bottle. I know 1 person who cut her daughter off cold turkey at 9 months! Another at 12 months & others giving nap & nighttime bottles until the child was 2. I think it depends on your son & when he's ready.

With my older daughter, we started mixing whole milk with formula (an ounce at a time) at 10 months. Our younger daughter needed to be on soy formula & the dr. suggested waiting until she was a year to begin the transition, again an ounce at a time.

Our little one refused to drink from a sippy for a long time ~ we got the special ones too, with the special tops & she still refused. We put just about anything in a sippy to get her to use it & she wouldn't! Tons of special sippy's & different things in the sippy later, she finally got it. It does take some getting used to for the little ones!
Good luck!
H.

i started bottle breaking my kids at 9mo. i tossed the bottles (except for a feeder bottle i have to have for my daughter now) & got the nuby no spill sippy cups that have the soft flex straw that instead of having slits it has a small hole, so they can still suck like it's a bottle, once they've gotten accustumne to that i switch to the ones with the slits(making sure they aren't going to strangle themselves first), then it's all go from there. good luck

HI J. -

I understand your frustrations with a sippy cup. My son is almost 13 months old and just gave up his bottle about 2 weeks ago randomly. I started introducing it at 6-7 months. Although he was not reall sure what to do I helped him with it slowly and offered it about once per day. It took him a while t figure it out but once he did it was very easy. He is stuborn and would not even hold his own bottle even though he knew how. I began mixing whole (vitamin D) mild and formula about 11 1/2 - 12months. I used more formula (stopped BF about 10 months) than milk at first and gradually switched to all cows milk in about 2 weeks. I would still give him a bottle but offer him a sippy at snack time or dinner time depending on how muck milk he drank throughout the day. Once he got really good with the cup I would offer milk in the cup with meals then whatever he did not finish I would give him in a bottle. He was a bit stuborn about drinking milk out of the sippy but would drink water and juice. I use the Nuby brand sippy cup and it works great. I first bought the one with handles then once he got the idea bought a cup with no handles but it is narrower in the middle making it easy to hold. I tried to use something that was different from a nipple but the material of the spout is silocone like his bottle nipples. I was frustrated with him not using a sippy and talked with my pediatrician, she said don't rush it. One day he drank all his milk at dinner in a sippy so at bed time I gave him a cup too and from then on he has not had a bottle! Hope this helps and sorry so long winded but every piece of advice I have gotten from this site has helped me tremendously!

J. mom of 13 month old stong willed but adorable boy!

I went out and bought sippy cups and threw the bottles out. I got rid of them during the night and the next day surprise no bottles. It worked out pretty well for my first two but my youngest was tough to break of the bottle. We did not cut any we just got rid of them. As far as only taking a few sips at a time that is normal for them at first. It is something new to them so they need to adapt to it but he will and then he will drink right out of it with no problem. Some of those sippy cups are difficult for kids to drink from because they wouldn't be able to hardly anything out of it so I would try it myself and even I had a hard time with it. That is how I broke my kids of the bottle. Just took them and tossed them out.
D.

I am 31 and have been married for almost 12 yrs. My husband and I have 3 boys ages 10,7, and 4.

Hi J., I just took my daughter off of the bottle cold turkey! BUT, she didnt even fuss one time for "a bottle" when she fussed I gave her the sippy cup, that she had already been using at her meals. She turns one on the 27th of this month and she has not had a bottle in 2 days. I know a lot of people that cut out 1 bottle at a time and that works well too. With both of my girls they were off the bottle at about 11 1/2 months and both were cold turkey. I do give her the next step formula one sippy a day and the rest is cows milk. Its hard but sometimes you have to stand firm and most of the time it will happen on its own. Best of luck to you.

With my two and a half yr old it was easy! We just increased her jar food intake at like 10 or 11 mths and if she was still hungry let her finish with a bottle. By the middle of her 11th month she was eating enough jar food to where we just gave her one in the morning and one at night. Then, We gave her cereal (with the formula in it) and took away that bottle. Then on her 1 yr bday the bottle was gone! She didn't cry. My 18mth old was sick when he turned one. So we actually waited until 2 weeks after his birthday. But we were down to a bottle a day. The important key is to make sure they are satisfied. Don't over feed them though. If you want him off on his birthday the key is to feed him like an hour and a half before you lay him down and give him milk. his belly will still be full to sleep all night! If he does now! It would be a good idea to start letting him eat dinner with you now. Mashed potatoes and stuff. That will get him ready to be a big boy and eat what mommy and daddy eat and not want the bottle. If you need anything else feel free to e-mail me. It is hard to list EVERYTHING and every step. But those are the basics we did for both!good luck

Hi, the best advice I can give on this is to tell you what worked for both of my children.
- I switched directly to whole milk
- Only give juice in milk from a cup
- Just like bottles, every sippy cup is different. Try different ones until you find one he can suck it out of. I wouldn't use the one with the nipple b/c it's just like giving a bottle.
- Only give water in the bottle except for a bed time milk bottle
- The bedtime bottle is okay to have a little longer but try to take it away around 18 months so it deosn't become impossible to do.
- Eventually replace the bedtime bottle with a cup
- My niece took a bottle at bedtime until she was almost 5-years-old. You don't want that to happen.

Your child is not going to like this at first and may refuse to drink from the cup but once they are thirsty enough, they will do it. I was able to tell my daughter that her new cousin needed the bottles. You might want to try something like that.
Good luck!

Hi J.! I realize that this was posted on Friday and it is now Thursday, but I read the responses and thought I could add one more suggestion. I found with my daughter, now 16 months, that she would only take the take-n-toss style sippies. First Years and Playschool both make similar versions. I figured why after about a week. Her bottles had the size 4 nipples which flow without much resistance. The sippies we were trying all had stoppers in them, which requires more sucking power than the nipples, and why should she want to try harder? The only thing to watch for with the disposables (which I only tossed when they were all scuffed with teeth marks) is that they do drip a little bit. Now, she will take any type sipppy, with or without a stopper. Good Luck!
~A.

My son made a very easy transition from bottle to sippy cup, but my daughter was more attached to her bottle. With her, I just took away the time of day she was less attached to and then continued (making a new transition once a week) until she was done. Her night time bottle was last and she did cry for it for a couple of days and then seemed to move on.

If you want to, just wait until after your son's 1 year check-up and get more advice from your doctor. It'd be great though, to start introducing and trying out different sippy cups.

I made the switch from bottle to sippy as soon as my kids could hold their own bottle. I didn't want to face any attachment issues with the bottle. I just got the nuby soft top cups and the nuby with the straw in it (love this one). Both of my boys did just fine with this process. We started whole milk before the one year mark with the blessing of our doc. My oldest is 9 and my youngest almost 2. You'll be happy to know that neither of them were permanently scarred from this experience. haha I didn't do anything gradually. The bottles were just gone and the cups appeared. I did see something on tv where they had the child help to put pacis in a baggie and said they were going to give them to the babies now because these children were "big kids". My boys were young enough that I didn't have to do much with it but it sounds like something that could work. Good luck M., Shannon G.

Both my kids were off the bottle (haha) at around 15 months. We just give them a sippy cup during the day around 12 months and as soon as they can use it, we cut out the bottles during the day. As soon as we have a free weekend we wean off of the nightly bottle.

Good luck - every kid does it in their own time as long as you give them the tools.