How important is it to drop using a bottle entirely at 12m? And how to do it?

[Maebe]

12mo has 3 bottle feeds of milk a day - 6oz morning and night, 4oz in the afternoon. At my 1 year check the other day the HV went on and on about how essential it was to stop using bottles completely at 12m, making me feel quite bad.

I've tried milk in very kind of beaker going but DD just won't take it. She'll drink water from any kind of beaker offered, gallons of the stuff, but as far as she is concerned milk = bottle, water = beaker, and that's that. I think we would be alright if the afternoon beaker was something she'd just sip from over an hour or two, but at the moment she is transitioning between 2 naps and just 1. If she has one nap, she goes down not long after lunch and will sleep fine without a bottle. If she has 2 naps, though, it's later in the afternoon and she's hungry enough to want milk. Getting a banana down her half an hour before the nap doesn't seem take the edge of it, sadly!

Today I tried offering her milk before her nap in a beaker and she had absolute hysterics, she couldn't work out that it was milk even when I did manage to her to taste it, and wouldn't take the beaker because she wasn't 'thirsty'. I gave in and put it in a bottle, which she happily drank and went to sleep. I think it's still a comfort thing at her age.

Do I really need to push this quickly? I was under the impression that I could slowly phase out the bottles as we gradually dropped the afternoon milk, moved the solid breakfast before the milk one etc. But the HV has me worried now...

[forevergreek]

its to do with teeth/jaw etc.. if you are feeding bottle and taking away/not letting her fall asleep with it, and cleaning teeth after bottle before bedtime etc then i see no problem.

( 3 year old still has one here.... morning and night, but is a case of drinks, and cleans teeth after. younger sibling still has and i see no reason to make him upset over some milk by denying him some. same thing as you, with milk from a beaker he hardly touches it. btw he drinks water all day from a glass/ normal cup now so isnt exactly hindering development)

[ellangirl]

I just stopped giving bottle and only offered milk in a beaker. Say 1 he wouldn't drink any, day 2 he drank the lot. At the end if the day, you know your kids and if you don't want to take bottles away yet, don't. Just be aware of potential dental issues and never put juice in a bottle

[Whydobabiescry]

Bottles are not good after 12 months and it looks awful to see toddlers using them. My DS didn't want to use a cup and I was reluctant to push him, but a friend said I need to stick to it and so we went cold turkey, day one he didn't use the cup at all, day two we managed a bit of milk, day three onwards he was fine. So stick with it it's worth it.

[Maebe]

I guess I'm trying to weigh up how much of an issue it is if we're having hysterics over it. I do clean her teeth after breakfast and again after the bottle before bed, and she doesn't fall asleep on the bottle. Phasing out slowly seems like it might be easier than stopping overnight, but obviously that's what is 'easier' rather than best

What kind of beakers did your DC use? DD has her water from these] which are great and on-spill, but I think they need quite a bit of sucking to get the milk out. Yet something like [[http://www.tommeetippee.co.uk/product/tip-it-up-cup/ this ended up with a flow too fast. Not mastered the straw yet, though we're trying with those cups with straw for water.

[forevergreek]

The non spill can be off putting as harder to get water from. I would recommend a doidy cup ( which actually has no lid but great), or te tommie tippee basic beaker with lid that aren't non spill

As I said we still give a bottle am and pm. We also go abroad a lot to hot countries and I would rather they had more liquid to prevent dehydration overnight.

It's up to you as a parent to make decisions.

[seeker]

3 bottles a day isn't going to do her any harm. If you're going to try and get rid of one of them go for the daytime one- for your sanity, rather than any other reason!

[forevergreek]

Also babies/ children change and adapt v quickly. Atm she may be reluctant to do something but a month or two later it might come naturally.

Some children walk early, some give up a buggy sooner, some potty train quicker, some bottles etc..

[EnglishGirlApproximately]

Are you giving formula or cows milk? Ds is 11 months so I wanted to gradually shop using a bottle. He wouldn't touch any kind if cup with formula in so I put cows milk in one and he drank all if it. My new plan is to wait until 12 months then replace 1 bottle if formula with 1 cup if milk until he's replaced all 3.

[5madthings]

As long as they arent walking around all day with a bottle in their mouth, or drinking juice from.it etc i think a bottle morning and night is fine. Its comforting for them.

Just clean teeth after the bottle before bed.


The lunchtime one will be the one to drop first, thrn the morning and eve. My dd is 26mths and has 5oz morning and night. We sit and have a cuddle and its just a part of her routine. We clean her teeth, she eats well etc but her 'milkies' are a comfort to her, she will grow out of it.

[Franup]

As long as there is no juice in the bottle and the milk is drunk in a one-er, it is fine for your dd to have a bottle still. It isn't just about having a drink, it is also about the sucking and the comfort.

My eldest was able to use a beaker from 18ms for milk. The middle one was the same but she was bf to 20ms and only an occasional milk drinker after she stopped. Ds bf until 2.5 years! So still had a comfort feed a day.

So I am very relaxed about this and promise that in the next couple of years the bottles will go but there is no rush. And I hate to think of what are really young babies not having their comfort drinks .

Don't get why it is awful to see a toddler drinking from a bottle and guess by that stage she will mainly have them at home anyway.

[Maebe]

5, same thing, it's the comfort thing of the bottle too, I think. She's never been a cuddly baby and we've been lucky that she self-settles, but a nice 'baby' cuddle with her bottle is now her cue to get ready for sleep. Until I saw the HV it hadn't even crossed my mind that 12mo was apparently too old for that

I'll try and find one of those basic beakers today and try that. She does drink from a doidy cup but sadly not at the speed that makes her happy for milk, though if the basic cup doesn't work I'll try that again. Then maybe I'll try changing the breakfast bottle to a beaker in a week or two if sh gets the hang of it in the afternoon. I suspect the bedtime bottle might be a difficult one to get rid of!

Now I just need to work out how to clean her teeth after the bottle - stupid downstairs bathroom and upstairs bedrooms!

But thanks everyone - it is reassuring to hear I'm not the only one still on bottles, but good to hear the reasons for pushing changing over to beakers as soon as DD will let me.

[AThingInYourLife]

I don't think toddlers look terrible with bottles

My two eldest both really loved their bottles. They seemed to find them comforting.

They were both still breastfed at 1 and loved bottles too.

With DD1 I got all worried about this but second time around I didn't bother trying to take away the beloved bottle until I had a 2 year old I could reason with.

Upsetting a small toddler and struggling to get them to have the milk they need seems pointless to me.

[Maebe]

Yes, I have to say when DD was beside herself yesterday I wasn't entirely sure I could see why I was forcing a beaker when the bottle would be in her mouth for about three minutes. It just seemed so sad to force it and take away some comfort.

[DontmindifIdo]

I wish I'd done this at 1 - DS is 3 and will only drink milk from a bottle. He'll have juice, water or squash from a glass or use a straw, but has a bit of a mental block when it comes to milk. He only has it 2 x a day and does clean his teeth afterwards so it's not that bad. Not sure what we're going to do about it...

[AThingInYourLife]

When I stopped bottles at 2, they both drank very little milk for a while.

But it doesn't matter so much as they get older.

Gradually they both came back around to drinking milk.

[whyno]

I felt 12 months was far too young to drop all bottles. At 18 months he's down to one at night that both he and I love. I'd say don't stress about it and take it slowly.

[5madthings]

My elder children rarely drink milk, but they do eat cheese, yog etc. At a yr they need 12oz oif milk a day, that can be made up with dairy products as well.

But I don't seethe point if taking away a comfort that they will grow out if, two of mine breast fed till three yrs old so ds4 and dd having bottle of milk before bed was just the same IMO.

Ds4 gave his bottle up at 3yrs 4mths, we went on holiday and 'forgot' it, he was offered a special buzzlightyear cup but want interested. There were no tears or upset as he was ready to give it up. I will do similar with dd at some point when she seems ready.

[poodletip]

My DD was similar to yours. Bottles were for milk. Anything else in a cup was fine but milk had to be in a bottle. I just kept offering her milk in a cup every now and then until one morning, at about 20 months, she threw the cup around the kitchen in a tantrum for about 5 minutes (good old Anywayup cups, I miss them) then gave up and sat and drank it. DS1 I gave milk in a cup and he drank a little bit. Instead of getting used to it and drinking more though he just drank less and less until it was pointless even trying to give it to him. DS2 at 19 months still has his bottle morning and night but I just don't worry about it. It only takes him about a minute to drink it I really don't think it's a big issue.

[Lookslikerain]

Another one here with a bottle-loving 3 year old. He has it morning and before bed (teeth brushed after). He also couldn't seem to get his head round milk coming from anything other than a bottle. I don't know how we'll get him off it, but I see no harm. I'm pretty sure he won't be going to uni with his bottle packed in his case!

[Fairylea]

My dd continued her bedtime bottle until she was 3 ! It helped her to sleep and it wasn't like she was permanently attached to it. She stopped it herself .. she decided she wanted to give it to babies (??? She had no siblings then) so I wrote a note to the bottle fairy with her and they took it away for the babies :)