Hello Again All,
My daughter will be 14 months old next week and I was wondering when is a good time to get rid of the bottle. She drinks out of a sippy cop most of the time but still takes a bottle first thing in the morning and before we put her to bed (she doesn't take the bottle to bed with her). She doesn't seem to care what her milk comes in so I don't think she will be "traumatized" by the loss of a bottle but I am just not sure when the apporpriate time is. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Well after taking everyone's advice and knowing my daughter I decided that we would go cold turkey on the bottle. So last night before she went to bed we did the same things we do every night except I gave her a sippy cup rather than a bottle and she didn't seem to care. This morning again, when I got her up, I gave her a sippy cup instead of a bottle. She wasn't so sure about it at first but I think she was too thirsty to put up a fight about it. Hopefully we are done with the bottle! Thanks for all of your great advice. I know I can always count on Mamasource for good advice!
My ped. told me to quit the bottle by the first birthday. We found a great sippy cup at walmart with a soft "nipple" that made the transition a breeze.
Good Luck.
Mine son is 12 1/2 months and was off the bottle at 10 1/2 months. Dr. recomends to start at 12 months. He still likes his regular milk warm though.
My first child I weaned at 11 months with no problems at all. My second child is 16 months old now and she still takes one at night, only. I think she would be fine if I took it away, but I know she enjoys it so I am going against better judgement. But, my point is that every kid is different and just do what your gut says. The typical recommended age is 12 months. Give or take.
I have 4 children and when they could drink out of a sipping cup the bottle was gone. And when I took it, I got rid of them all, so there was none to be seen. Only one complained and I told him that the trash man needed it. Then the next time the trash man came I took him to the door and said see there goes your bottle the trash man got it. He never ask again for it. If you think it will be hard then wait till Easter and have her put it out for the easter bunny and tell here she has to give it to him in order for her to get something. I had to do that with a pacificer and the pacificer was my girls life but it worked.
I would say now would be good. I took all mine off the bottle at 12 months, but I would say whenever they seem ready. But if she isn't too attached to it then weaning her should be pretty painless for all of you
My Dr.'s always said to get rid of the bottle at 12 months. My daughter is 11 months and I'm already trying to get her use to the sippy cup. IMO there's no reason to keep her on the bottle at all. If she can use a sippy cup then you need to get rid of your bottles. She won't be traumatized by it. If she's thirsty she will drink out of the sippy cup, morning or night. You're just going to make it harder to get rid of it if you continue to let her drink out of them.
S.
D.,
My pediatrician was pretty adamant with my first son (now 4), that he be off of the bottle by around his first birthday. (He told me at his 9mo checkup to start weaning him off). It sounds like you have done a great job of introducing the sippy cup so I would say that now is the time to throw out the bottles. I am a fan of the full out cut off. Just throw them all away-I wouldn't take the morning bottle away and then in a few days the evening one, just throw them all out. If your daughter seems to want them try cutting the nipples and telling her they are "broken" or something like that. If she is used to having a bottle before bed she may have a little trouble with getting ready for bed, but that will only last a couple of days. Good luck!
~L.
Hey There D. K:
That's always a hard one! I'm a Mother of 5. My first 3 girls gave up the bottle and took the sippy cup the very day of their first B-Day. That's usually when pediatricians suggest it.
My last two boys are really having issues. They are 1 and 2. I just got scolded at their last well-baby appt. for the their bottle attachement. So this week we decided bottles only at night and at nap time, sippies during the day. Then next week we'll move to all sippies all the time:)
I hate the crying and whining, but deep down I know that it will only be a matter of days before they switch over and not really a big deal.
So you will probably have 2-3 nights of bottle crying to start with and then you'll be OK. Good luck...and wish me luck too:)
PS - yes I'm a bad Mommy...I let them take the bottle to bed. We'll have to break that habbit next month:) We all do what we have to to survive:)
It doesn't sound like she has issues with her bottle, so just replace her morning and night ones and see what happens. If she ends up being upset about it, try half and half. Half in the bottle first, then the rest in the sippy cup, and wean her that way. But it doesn't sound as if she'll really care much! lol Let us know what happens! :-)
She sound like you can get rid of the bottle now. My doctor also told me to stop using the bottle at him 1 year appointment.
Good luck,
Mel
Hi D.,
If she is drinking out of a sippy cup then you should be putting away the bottles. My son did this same thing. Try giving her a sippy cup in the morning instead of her bottle and see how that goes. I would still give her bottle at night. Then if she does well with that then give her a sippy cup at night and see what she does. You have to gradually wean her off or it won't work. Just keep giving her sippy cups even if she throw a fit because she will eventually get thirsty and drink out of it and she will get use to it. Maybe reward her somehow if she does it without throwing a fit.
D.,
My pediatrician told me to stop the bottle around 12 months. I continued until my daughter was 15 months because she refused to drink milk out of a sippy cup and I was worried that she wouldn't get enough calcium. At my daugther's 15 month checkup my pediatrician told me to immediately take her off the bottle because the sucking motion starts to deform the babies mouth and that can cause all sorts of dental problems later on.
I say now is good. If it won't be traumatic then just get rid of them. Good Luck.
My sons' pediatrician recommended they be weaned off the bottle by 15 months. At their one year check-ups, she would ask me to try to have them weaned from the bottle by their 15 month check-up. I also breast-fed them both (my 1st one for 9 months and my second for 11 months) so neither of them was very attached to the bottle. It wasn't a hard process, I just took away one every couple of weeks, until the night time one was left (like you, I held them at night with the bottle) and around 14 months, I quit giving them the night-time one. Some good advice she gave me early on, was to never let my children hold their own bottle, because as they get older, they will be tired of being held and will associate the bottle with "down time." If they wanted a bottle, they could not play while drinking it. That seemed to hold true for both of them (although, now that they are 6 and 2, I still hold them, just without a bottle :-) Good luck!
Hello D.-
Well with my son, I started to cut off the bottle around 1 year. He really didn't care what he drank out of, so it really wasn't a big deal. I just kept giving him sippy cups and he took to them with no problem. The avent bottle can turn into a sippy cup and I think that's a good start. The top part of the cup is a rubbery type, so it's good for them to chew on! Best of luck!
Hi D.,
I cut off my daughter's bottle at 8 months of age, but she was also ready to give it up. Instead of giving her a bottle first thing in the morning and at night try giving her a sippy cup and tell her thats what big girl's drink. I wiped out the bottle completly, i didn't give her a chance to want the bottle, try that and see if it works and good luck!
Our pediatrician recommended that our kids be off the bottle right around their first birthday.
Good luck!
Well, babies have a very, very strong and innate need to suck, and this lasts for well beyond the first 12-18 months. You can certainly try to phase out the bottle, but just know that sucking often helps them organize themselves, soothe & comfort themselves, etc. So the best is to be mindful that the need to suck is developmentally quite normal for a 14 month old AND to follow your daughter's signs - meaning, if you decide you want to try to take the bottle away, see how your daughter responds. If she seems to get really clingy, to regress, to take it hard, etc., consider backing off and going with a more gentle, gradual weaning over a month or so. Just two ideas for gradual weaning (though there are many creative ways to do this) include:
* shorten the bottle/nursing times (you can have the bottle for the length of 2 rounds of the ABC song, gradually reducing that to 1, to half the song, etc.)
* phase out the morning bottle/nursing gradually, then later the evening one
Every child has a different personality, and you can't go wrong if you honor that unique personality. If your child responds well to an abrupt removal of the bottle, that's great. If your child needs more of a gradual transition, that's great too. Just watch her and you will know what's best! :)
