Coming off the bottle and onto the cup for milk

[islandbaby]

Hi all

my 13 month old drinks a big bottle of milk in the morning, and one before bed. During the day he has water in a sippy cup.

I'm being nagged (by my mother) that he really ought to be off the bottle by now.

So I'm trying. If I give him milk in a sippy cup in the morning/night he will totally refuse it. If I give it to him in place of water he'll have a few sips (like he does with water). I just can't see him drinking the same amount of milk from a sippy cup.

So... do I just carry on letting him have his milk in the morning/night from a bottle? Or do I try to make him learn that unless he starts to drink it from the sippy cup he's just not going to get any milk....

Advice PLEASE!

I didn't manage to get my DD off a bottle until she was 16 months, and she still at 23 months refuses to drink milk from sippy cups and only drinks milk from nuby straw cups, it took a week in total until she was happy without bottles (the first two days were filled with tears). I think its very difficult for some children to come off the bottle without tears, and the longer you wait will either mean a longer teary time, or the ability to reason with the child (depending how long you wait). I think alot of people on mumsnet will say there is no need to wean from a bottle at this stage, just general guidelines say by 12 months I think.

There is absolutely no reason why he shouldn't have bottle night and morning. Ignore your mother.

The guidelines say 12 months, but that's so people don't let toddlers wander round all day with bottles which is bad for teeth and speech, or suck on a bottle on and off all night, which is bad for teeth.

I tried to take DD's bottle away at 12 mo and stopped as it was upsetting her. Considering she was bf she has become quite attached to it!

She is 16mo now, and has a bottle am/bed and milk from a sippy cup some afternoons as part of her snack and is happy with that, but not if I change her am/bed milk to a cup.

I am just now starting to take the morning bottle away and replace it with a cup and that is going ok (since monday so not a definitive success yet). I am going to let her have the bed time bottle for a while longer yet.

Pick your battles! If it is not doing any harm why distress them IMHO.

Ok, all good advice, thanks. I haven't listened to most of my mum's 'advice' this far, so I won't stress too much about this one.

I saw those nuby straw cups in the supermarket the other day. He does like to drink from a straw. Would that be preferable over a bottle as far as teeth go?

Don't worry for a second qbout two bottles a day! Let him have what suits him and makes him happy. The mlqst thingbyou wqntto do is screw up his sleep for the sake of a bottle!

I started giving DD her morning milk in a beaker, and her bedtime milk in a bottle.

Then at 14mo (she would take the milk in the morning from her beaker at this point though) I swapped her bedtime bottle for a beaker, refused it, and she didn't bother with a bedtime drink again.

I think the straw cups are preferable over a bottle (except for my DD as she has mastered the art of drinking without holding the bottle, so just dangles the straw from her teeth).

Dd1 was bf until 8 months, then had a bottle for 2 months before I changed the afternoon avent bottle to a beaker. It only took,3 days and she was converted. I wanted to do it early so she was still having afternoon milk and it seemed an easier age.

With ds1 I don't know why, but if left it until he, was over 1 yr to try. I had no success despite numerous attempts. When he was over 2 I decided he definitely shouldn't have a bottle and tried again with the beaker. I succeeded in turning ds off milk altogether .

Dd2 is 8 months and visit intend to try again early with her.

There's no right age, and so long as he doesn't have a bottle in his mouth constantly, do what you think is best!

Started offering DD milk in a beaker first thing in the morning at 17mths. Refused it completely,but happy to have water in same beaker with breakfast. Am about to start the bedtime swapover. I'm thinking that it will be everso slightly painful and no more milk at bedtime...

I tried to give DS (14 months) a beaker of milk last night and he was most offended. Think I'll leave it for now and try again later. I can't see any harm in a bottle of milk before bed - he drinks it in about 5 minutes flat, so there isn't much time to do too much harm IMO.

My DS is 16 months and I have tried a number of times to swap his morning bottle for a beaker - and have tried lots of different beakers/cups. However, he isn't having any of it and would rather do without. He won't take anything other than water from a sippy cup or his doidy cup so I have decided not to worry about it and carry on with the bottle for now. He is happy and I suppose thats the main thing. xx

That is exactly what happened with my ds when I left it until after he was 1 to try - he decided he'd rather go without, and now doesn't like milk.

Determin ed to try dc3 soon as I'm sure it'll be easier.

DS (21 months) has been happily drinking water from a sippy cup with handles since he was about 9 months old. At 15 months we started giving him a hard spouted one with no handles and he'll happily drink water from that. However, he will NOT drink milk from anything other than a bottle. As he only gets it in the morning and at bedtime, I've decided to let it carry on for the moment as he will often drink 200ml of milk morning and night and I don't want him to stop just because I take the bottle away. DC 2 is due in May, so I have put it on my list of things to tackle in the next few months...