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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

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Original poster

When to phase out the bottle for milk?

14 replies

Jennisaurus · 23/06/2004 22:17

My daughter is 7mths, and nursery is really pushing us to use her sippy cups for milk now as well. She does great with them for juice and water already she adapted really quickly...but 7mths seems so young to move her over for milk? We tried her with a sippy cup for milk and she was fine, did not seem to mind either way. Is she too young, or should I do it now and get it out of the way?

She is on formula by the way !

This is the most boring question I have ever asked sorry

OP posts:

clary · 23/06/2004 22:24

Jennisaurus, nothing wrong with introducing a cup from 6 months, for milk, juice or water. If she can handle it and drink out of it then great. I don't like to see very big children with bottles but that's a personal thing. There are issues with "nursing bottle caries" and the advice in many places is no bottles after 1yr. I say, the sooner you ditch them the better!

cuppy · 23/06/2004 22:24

Hello.

I think cups are encouraged asap for dental reasons. I dont think a child can be too young for a cup - as long as shes not drinking any less because its a cup.

IME , the older they are when you try to get rid of the bottle , the harder it is. A child I know is 3 and still has a bedtinme bottle.

However - with my dd who is 4 months - I will probably put milk in her cup at about 10 months. I enjoy giving her her bottle and wouldnt want to give it up so soon! hth.

codswallop · 23/06/2004 22:30

I laways bin them a t a year

kids never seem to mind or notice

xoz · 23/06/2004 22:50

dd1 had a bottle until 2.5 because she wouldn't take milk from a cup at all. I think that this was my mistake because I weaned her from breat to bottle at 12mths - should have gonme straight to cup! We took away her dummy at 13 mths and it only took a couple of days for her to adjust to that, but for some reason it never occurrd to me to change over the milk. The result of this is that she now (age 3.5) won't drink any milk at all... am just starting to convince her to drink it if its loaded with Nesquik!!! which is really not preferable but at least that way she's getting some and will gradually cut down the sugar content.
dd2 on the other hand wouldn't take a bottle and loves her milk. She's had it from a cup since 12 months.
IME I would recommend doing it earlier rather than later, but don't let the nursery bully you either...

bunnyrabbit · 24/06/2004 11:09

Can I barge in on this thread?

DS is 9 months and drinks water from a cup, but I still give him Milk in a bottle, which he only has morning and bedtime now.

I know he will drink milk from a cup, but he doesn't seem to drink much, only a few sips at a time a few ounces in total, so I haven't scrapped the bottles as I am worried about his daily milk intake.

Am I being silly? Any suggestions?

zubb · 24/06/2004 11:17

xoz, I have a similar situation with ds1. He's 2.5 and won't take milk from anything other than a bottle - and I have tried, believe me! With your dd did you just stop giving her milk at 2.5? With ds2 he's not going near a bottle, will go straight from breast to cup

elliott · 24/06/2004 11:23

BR when I made the switch with ds1 he only took a little milk from the cup at first, but once all the bottles were gone his milk consumption went up again. I did it over about a month when he was around a year old, dropping one bottle at a time (he was on four a day). Was worried about his milk intake but just held my nerve and I'm glad I did! I think they do tend to drink less from a cup (maybe only 4-6 oz) than from a bottle, but since ds1 continued drinking milk about 4 times a day, he would be getting about a pint altogether. If you're worried why not wait a couple more months - then you can also go straight to cow's milk.

muminlondon · 24/06/2004 11:55

Try getting a special beaker for milk to distinguish from water (we have used a light blue one from Boots since 7 months - it's only got a small hole in the spout so probably no healthier but quicker to clean than a bottle).

Bagpuss30 · 24/06/2004 12:04

I always did the same as Coddy, although dd went from breast to cup. I think it works better when they can hold it themselves and drink larger amounts from the cup. The Avent magic spouts are a good compromise.

Kayleigh · 24/06/2004 12:14

hiya, my ds2 was 3 last week and we had talked and talked about switching from bottle to cup at this point for his milk which both my boys still have first thing in the morning and a smaller amount just before bed. His big brother (5) drinks milk from a normal cup so we thought the transistion would be easy. But oh no. He drunk two sips then said he didn't like it. Persevered for two mornings, but still won't drink it. This morning I tried his old kidz on the go cup which he said would be ok. But he still didn't like it. When I tipped the lot back into his bottle he drank it.

I would rather he drank the milk than didn't so I give up !! He'll move over when he is ready just like every thing else. I refuse to stress over these things (Except now it means we have to pack a bloody bottle for holiday next week !)

Jennisaurus, if your dd is happy with the cup then don't worry about it. The main point is that they are drinking their milk.

bunnyrabbit · 24/06/2004 14:00

Thanks guys,
I might leave it a while then..... may be till the next bank holiday when I'll have a few days in a row with him.....

Tah,
BR

Original poster

Jennisaurus · 24/06/2004 23:19

I think a lot of it is about me. I don't spend much time with her on the days I work, but I always give her a bottle in the morning and in the night and I love the closeness when I feed her. I might leave it for a few months, I want my baby for a little while yet, and sippy cups seem such a toddler thing

OP posts:

Angeliz · 24/06/2004 23:24

I'm with Kayleigh!!

My dd is 3.4 and STIL has a bottle full of milk on a morning and we snuggle up with me and my coffee.
If she had a cup, she wouldn't drink milk(i,ve tried), so when i weigh it up- the bottle isn't harming her and the milk is doing her good!

Everything else is cups though!

Just re-read your original message though Jennisaurus and if she's fine with the change then i guess you may as well go with it

xoz · 24/06/2004 23:28

JS - I think that was why I let dd1 go on with it for so long too. we both really enjoyed the cuddle... dd2 is so much more independant, doesn't like being held at all otherwise I would have let her have a bottle too...

zubb - yes after trying for a while to get her to drink the milk I just gave up altogether. But I have made it up as best as I can in cheese, yoghurt, ice cream, etc, things that she likes. The important thing is the calcium intake and that can come from a variety of sources.

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