Cutting bottles after 12 months

[EgremontRusset]

DS is 11 months. He eats fairly well at nursery, more erratic at home, and still has four bottles a day. I know that after 12 months they don’t need formula and can have just food/water/cow’s milk, but how do I make that transition? And how do I keep his calorie intake up?
I was thinking of gradually making his 11am and 3pm bottles smaller, or should I be changing the times so they’re after rather than before food?

hopeful bump

If I were you I’d drop the 11am bottle completely (replace with a snack and a drink in a sippy cup) then when he’s used to that, drop the 3pm bottle (again replace with a snack and drink). Then switch the morning and bedtime milk from a bottle to a sippy cup.
I just did a straight swap to cows milk with no problems, but some people milk cows milk with formula for a while to get them used to the taste.

Hi there - my DS is just turned 12 months. At around 10 months he was still drinking 4 big bottles a day. I couldn’t get my head round how he was supposed to drop to NO bottles at 12 months, especially as he’s rubbish at drinking from his sippy cup. At around 10.5 months we dipped the 3pm feed and replaced with a decent snack and he was fine. A couple of weeks ago we dropped the pre lunch bottle and replaced with a snack depending on how big a breakfast/how early lunch was. Yesterday we dropped the morning bottle and gave him breakfast when he wakes up and offered cows milk in an open cup. Next week I plan to drop the night bottle. I had the exact same concerns as you but he doesn’t seem to miss the bottles and I fill him up with plain yoghurt after his meals. There are only about 60 calories per 100ml of formula so you can easily replace this with a bit of full fat yoghurt or milk or things like avocado or oat cakes with nut butter. I also think that babies appetite for milk does seem to drop quickly around 12 months

I should add that we dropped the 3pm bottle first as that was the one he sometimes didn’t finish. He always guzzled his 11am bottle!

Thanks guys that’s really helpful. mydailymailhell I kept reading when we were first weaning about how solids were less calorie-dense than milk, but 140cals in a 200ml bottle is definitely manageable to replace with a bit of Greek yoghurt and peanut butter.

Definitely want to drop the night bottle last - don’t want to disrupt sleep!

soydora he is just starting to get the hang of a sippy cup which is good. I remember when I started to mix feed I was all set to mix bm and formula then was a bit insulted he liked the formula just as much!

Honestly, I tried cutting bottles during the day at that age but it just made them wake up more in the night for milk. I was so stressed as they were having more than 3x the recommended amount for 12 months plus. In the end they just dropped it on their own. The HV was really stressing me out about it but I kept giving them milk when they wanted it as I always had done. They’re 18 months old now and they have a bottle first and last thing, and for their afternoon nap or during the night they just have water.

At 11 months he shouldn't need daytime bottles at all as long as he's eating well and having cows milk in porridge etc and a good amount of dairy etc in his snacks.

Does he have milk in a sippy cup or actually in a bottle?

In a bottle - he is just starting to get the hang of a sippy cup. We use that for water not milk.
Eating is pretty variable particularly when he’s under the weather - which is a lot of the time with nursery germs!
Maybe I’ll start by making his two daytime bottles smaller and see if he ups his food.

It's tough isn't it. I think it's just as much for the benefit of their teeth growing properly as well as needing more calories from milk than food that they recommend cutting the bottles by 1.