bottles out at 12 months?

[wiosna]

You're supposed to drop all bottles at 12 months. my DD had no problem, drank from an open cup at that stage. My DS however (will be 1 in 2 weeks) is having none of it. Sips of water/milk form a cup, beaker, straw contraption - but no way will he actually manage full bottle (200 ml) at bedtime. Any suggestions?

PS he's sp fat that HV suggested cutting milk down to 350 ml/day. Gets 150ml before/after lunchtime nap and 200 before bedtime

Have Ou tried beaker with soft spout? I have an advent one where you can change the teat for flow.
Otherwise cups that you still have to suck, ie non spill ones? Try boots own.

Think your HV is actually right on this one. From 12 months the recommendation is 300 ml of milk per day so I'd start swapping his daytime milk for a a snack and a drink of water from a sippy cup.

Can't do any links as I'm at work but if you google NHS drinks and cups there is a bit on there about getting them to drink from cups.

Agree with ItWas that the avent cups with a soft spout are good and you could try a juice spout with the bottle instead of a teat.

DS will drink from a Tomme Tippee soft spouted beaker. It's a silicone cup suitable from four months onwards and he took to it very quickly.

I hadn't realised that bottles weren't recommended after twelve months. Do you know why?

Its to do with mouth formation and tooth decay.

I believe it's to do with tooth decay as well. But there are concerns that no spill cups are no better. As the worry is about baby's teeth sitting in sugary liquid for a prolonged period of time. Have a look at

www.nct.org.uk/parenting/what-does-your-baby-need-drink

However, if you manage to brush their teeth after the bedtime milk, would that make it ok?

PS. I don't like blindly following advice without understanding the why!

The link

www.nct.org.uk/parenting/what-does-your-baby-need-drink

i think one bottle of bed at say naptime and bedtime is fine as long as you limit the amount, ie my ds4 i cut him down to 4oz at each feed, eventually he just had 4oz before bed and you MUST clean their teeth afterwards.

having a bottle is a comfort, my ds4 only ever had it for milk, he drank water happily from a cup throughout the day, i used those tommee tippee ones that are easy to drink from.

two of mine bfed till three years old, one was actually nearly four, so imo/ime sitting and having a cuddle and a bottle of milk before bed was the same in comfort terms as my others having a bfeed so i let them do so, dd is 15mths and has 4oz morning, lunchtime and bedtime, so the recomended 12oz a day and she enjoys those cuddle times. i just make sure to clean her teeth.

That's interesting, thank you.

OP, could you start by introducing part of the feed in an open cup and gradually increasing the amount?

scrivette my DD is bf but has a cup of milk for her morning snack in a free flow cup. I think bf mums are generally more pushy in introducing the cup as we don't want to be tied to the baby forever. In my NCT group, the ff mums are still giving day time bottles (we are 12mo). But all the bf mums have switched to cups for day feeds, and have been really pushing the cups since 6mo.

So I don't see why you can't start introducing some of their milk intake in an open cup first. Just like us bf mums. You can't just switch in one day after all.

A friend of mine who ff her son still has a bottle first thing in the morning at 3. Like 5madthings says, it's a comfort thing and it's very hard for them to drop the morning and evening bottles. As long as you remember to brush their teeth, you'll be ok.

Btw, in case you wonder, bf doesn't pool milk behind the teeth supposedly. They are spurted out to the back of the throat.