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.

[Bishybishybarnabee]

My DS is 14months and still has milk first thing in the morning, one mid afternoon and one just before bed. When he turned 1 he was also having a mid morning one but dropped that (led by him) when he started nursery. He doesn't always take his afternoon one so I think we'll be dropping that soon. We've started to move over to a cup with a straw for the morning milk, but the bottle is still very much part of bedtime. I think once the afternoon one is gone, and any morning milk is in a cup we'll start moving the bedtime one to a cup but I don't feel a massive hurry to do it at this stage:

[SpiceLinerandHoneyLove]

DS is 3 in August and still has a bottle of warm milk just before bed. We also leave a bottle of milk in his bedroom at night. He doesn't always drink it. It's just a comfort thing.
During the day he drinks from an adult cup or glass, speaks beautifully, uses cutlery etc. His bottle is only for night time. Don't be too hasty to get rid of their 'babyness'. As a PP said, he won't got to university with a bottle!

[minipie]

Ah ok, sounds like it may be an emotional attachment to the bottle of milk then rather than a physical preference

In your shoes I would probably keep giving the one at bedtime (brush teeth after) for as long as he wants, and switch to water plus snack (cheese or yog if worried abour dairy) for the snack time ones.

[MrsDoylesTeaParty]

My 2.2 year old still had 2 bottles at night, I didn't know this was a thing! He loves it and I clean his teeth well. He is quite chubby though , is this a reason? He drinks just water from a cup with a straw through the day.

[Dangermouse80]

My son kept having milk in a bottle till 2 and a half. Lots at nursery did the same. Perhaps just reduce milk to morning and evening.

[NeedACleverNN]

Like I said my ds just has a bottle for bed now and has juice in a beaker during the day.

As long as he gets calcium in his food don't worry about milk during the day. Milk before bed is mainly a comfort thing after 1 anywayb

[MrsJayy]

Id cut the middle bottle of milk and just have morning and night when he goes to nursery 16oz of milk is fine for a year old just give him a beaker for during the day, my dds had milk in bottles at 1 just morning and night

[Doreta2G]

I agree with those who say don't worry about it. My DD1 gave up her bottle before bed at the same time as dd2. I think they were about 1and 3 at the time. I remember being under quite a lot of pressure for her to drop it. I was surprise how many people were shocked when I said she still had it! In my head, she loved it before bed and full tummy = good night sleep for all!! Win/win!

She had her afternoon bottle until she was almost 2. She only gave up because she wanted to be grown up like mummy! I was on mat mat leave and she and I would jump into bed after lunch with a cup of milk each before our nap - happy times!! Then number 2 "the non sleeper" arrived and bang went our sleepy afternoons!

[SelinaMeyerVP]

I can't remember how old my DD was but she LOVED her warm bottle of milk before bedtime and was always a really good sleeper. It was just part of bedtime.

If he enjoys it why stop? Maybe cut down to morning and bedtime??

[Babysafari]

Ok thanks. Minipie we have a cup nearly identical to that with a rubber teat. He hates that one the most.

He's so funny that he'll happily drink water from a beaker but not the milk.

I think you're all right about nursery. I can remember ds1 refusing a beaker at home in favour of a sippy cup, until I realised he was happily drinking from one at nursery.

[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.

[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.

[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]

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.

[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

[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.

[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.

[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

[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.

[Babysafari]

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

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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