To just let ds keep his bottles?

[Babysafari]

I'll be honest I'm blatantly posting for traffic.

Ds is almost 12 months old. He has 3 meals and 3 bottles of milk each day. His bottles are at snack time and before bed.

He's a bit funny, he drinks water from an normal adult open beaker or mug, but he won't drink milk from one. He won't drink anything from a lidded cup, I've tried all different types.

He'll be starting nursery soon and I wanted to start replacing some of his milk with snacks and trying to get him to take his daytime milk from a cup because that's what they'll do there. He's having 3x8oz of milk so I was just going to cut it down a little bit.

He's not having any of it he doesn't seem to want anything in a cup apart from water and he just hates lidded sippy cups.

Any advice? Or shall I just let him have the bottles but half the milk and give him snacks.

This morning he got so upset at his milk being in a cup he wouldn't eat or drink anything in the end.

[mygorgeousmilo]

Hello!

[mygorgeousmilo]

I would wait until he actually starts nursery. I think that when he sees all the other children having snack time and drinking from cups, he'll feel a natural desire to join in with his peers :-)

[scampimom]

To my mind, if he's getting his milk it makes no difference what the delivery system is! He'll not still be on a bottle when he goes to university, so just let him come to it in his own time

[mygorgeousmilo]

Sorry just to add, 3x8oz is tonnes! Reduce it down an ounce or even two ounces per bottle to wean him off. Sorry for drip feeding, I seem to have just realised I'm not on whatsapp

[tinymeteor]

I honestly don't think it's a big deal to still use bottles after 12 months.

DD wouldn't take milk from a sippy cup at that age either. I decided the risk of tooth decay from using a bottle was less than the risk of a calcium deficiency when I couldn't get milk into her any other way.

Also if the bottle is for specific drinks, which he knocks back in one sitting, I'd have though the tooth decay risk was minimal. The problems arise when people use bottles for juice or sweet drinks and let the child sip from them all day.

[Laiste]

I would let him have his milk at the beginning and end of the day in his bottle and ask the nursery to give him water from a cup while he is there.

DD4 is 2 and a half and still has her milk on my lap from a bottle before i lay her down at night and it's fine. It wont go on forever. My SIL has tied herself in knots with her DS - trying to get him to give up his bed time bottle completely (he's just 40) tears on both sides, and i just don't know why.

[Laiste]

4. He's 4, not 40

[Strokethefurrywall]

Really don't worry about it. DS1 had a bedtime bottle until he was 2 1/2 and he self weaned after DS2 was born.
DS2 gave up bottles at 12 months but still has a pacifier now he's nearly 2 1/2.
I'll break him out of it after we move house but these are those small things that really don't make a difference long term

[NeedACleverNN]

My ds is 15 months and still has bottle. Up till about 8 weeks ago he used to have one in the morning and one just before bed. Now he has dropped the morning I've and just has a bed time bottle. No hurry. No rush

Dd gave hers up at 13 months because she didn't want them anymore

[Babysafari]

Thanks, makes me feel loads better. It's just they say to wean them off the bottle. Ds1 was happy to give them up and drink from a cup.

Oh by the way, even though I prepare 3x8oz bottles he rarely finishes them. He usually drinks about 5-6oz. He does have snacks usually bits of whatever I'm eating, but milk is still kind of his main snack, so I know I need to switch that round. He eats his meals really well too.

My plan was to give him a small cup of cows milk with a snack.

[Babysafari]

Mygorgeous I did think nursery might help.

Laiste that made me lol, I'd be in knots if my 40 year old still needed the bottle

How much milk would you give him at this age? I can't really remember what I did with ds1. I'm sure he had a cup of milk morning and night and maybe one cup at nursery in the afternoon.

[Hopelass]

DS at 2.7 still has a bottle at night. I haven't got the energy to fight with him. He loves it and I clean his teeth afterwards. His speech is excellent so I see no reason to stop until he's ready. DS2 is due in October so he might give up himself once he sees the bottles as a baby thing but I'm not worrying about it.

[HiddenMeaning]

I stopped my DCs bottles at 12 months cold turkey. They cried a bit for a day or two at bedtime then got over it. I did the same for all four kids. I stopped BF at the same time also cold turkey. I didn't realize that so many people think it's a cruel way of doing it until I joined MumsNet but I'm still glad I did it my way. All kids got over it so quickly I'm sure it's less stressful than gradually cutting down.

Three bottles a day sounds like a faff and a lot of milk.

[Babysafari]

Hidden did they still have some milk in a cup? What happened did they just accept the cup in the end?

[JsOtherHalf]

A HV I saw said whilst dentists like them off bottle at 12 months, the children usually decided 18 months was more reasonable :D.

Certainly this was the case for DS.

[Ffion3107]

Keep the bottles! DD's 2 and has just started drinking cold milk from a cup with breakfast and tea. She has about 4oz each time. She has cold milk in a cup at nursery since she was 12months, so don't worry about him refusing it at nursery, he'll do whatever the other kids do I'm sure

[NapQueen]

I'd do a bottle of cows milk on waking and one before bed. Nursery cam offer milk or water with meals and he may or may not take it but it's no biggie.

And yeah just stick to the bottles till he is more willing to accept an alternative.

[namechangeparents]

My son used a bottle until he was 2. It's not the end of the world if they have a bottle for longer than "they" say.

[coco1810]

I am going to really provoke some people on here now. My DS was four when he got rid of his bottle. He only had it at night and would drink all through the day out of a normal cup. He just wanted that comfort at night. He decided to stop himself before going to big school. He can talk perfectly well, has no issues with his adult teeth. No one died in the process, do what's best for you and your ds x

[minipie]

If you brush his teeth afterwards and if he's learning to use a cup at other times I can't see the issue.

Yes you might want to cut down the quantity of milk a bit as it can affect eg iron absorption, but that can be done gradually.

I thought the issue re teeth was when they are sucking on a bottle all day or all night.

[StarryIllusion]

What about one of those bottles with the swirly straw? If not I wouldn't sweat it. He'll grow out of them eventually.

[minipie]

We also have one of these which is quite an "easy" transition to a cup from a bottle. It still has a rubbery teat just more of a beaker shape than a nipple shape.

[HiddenMeaning]

Hidden Did they still have some milk in a cup? What happened did they just accept the cup in the end?


To be honest I forget which kid did what but I seem to remember their milk consumption dropped a lot when we dropped their bottles but that they began eating a lot more. They could get calcium from yoghurt, cheese and fortified cereals etc so I wasn't too concerned if they didn't drink lots of milk. One of my DS's didn't take to milk in a cup at all so I had to keep a closer eye on his food but the others would just drink some with a meal.

I didn't give them sippy cups as I swear they end up more messy than normal cups. I didn't want them wandering around slowly sipping milk for comfort.

It was amazing how quickly they forgot their evening ritual of a bottle of milk. It literally only took a few days.