How many bottles of milk did/does your 13 month old have a day? advice needed please

[Charlee]

Ok so we have just moved to New Zealand and DS was obviously unsettled for a while but seems to be settling in now, except...........

He always used to take several drinks of juice (has never drunk water) from a soft spout cup (tesco) it was the ONLY one he would take, He then used to sleep thorugh the night no problem.

Now however he refuses to drink during the day out of his cup, he only is having 3 milk bottles a day for naps and bed time. and will only take a bottle either of juice or milk in the day he refuses a cup, so as a result he wakes about 4-5 times a night for a drink then wee's so much its soaking everything the sheets, his pj's ect. resulting in him having to get up while is change his bedding or coming in our bed when he decides since hes up he can play!

I have tried every other cup i an get my hands on and straws sports bottles ect but he resuses all of them.

Anyway im not sure weather i should

a. give him a bottle in the day and undo all the progress i made with a cup, and also give him juice ina bottle shock horror!

or

b. Be strong and work at the cup thing and make him go cold turkey at night qith bottles but then hes only having the fluid from the 3 milk bottles a day he has at nap times.

what do you think.

b!
when my ds was 13mths old he only had am and pm milk. maybe cut out the day bottle and see if that encourages him.
i would think 2 bottles is adequate now.
i might be wrong

Ds only had morning and night time milk at 13 months as well. I'd be tempted to try cutting the milk down and seeing if he drinks more then. Have you tried a straw? Have a feeling ds loved a straw at that age.

Hey Charlee, welcome to New Zealand. Where abouts in NZ are you? When did you get here? Are you an NZer returning from overseas, or a newbie here?(I am in Wellington)

When you say he wakes 3 or 4 times a night "for a drink" - are you giving him a bottle of milk then? I found the best thing to stop night time demands for milk/juice was to put water in a bottle and tell my ds (from about 10 months onwards) that there is "only water" to drink at night. They very quickly learn to stop waking at night (because water is just not worth waking up for). I also left a bottle of water in ds's bed and told him to help himself if he wanted some in the night. I still do this (at 2.5yo) and I sometimes come through and find him having a drink of his own accord. Although this only happens if he has a cold, and he only drinks a little.

So I guess, I'd do "b" with a modification that he can have a bottle at night, but only of water. He can choose to either have water or nothing. He will kick up a fuss over this, but for me I found that "water only at night" really did help ds start sleeping through. The bonus is that if your ds does not like water he will probably either drink none or only a little, so remove the bedwetting problem. Also, this might encourage him to drink a bit of water.

Good luck