Reducing bottle feeds after 1?

[Ruibies]

My little one turned 1 a few weeks ago, and I'm getting antsy about how much milk he still has from a bottle. He will take sips of water from a sippy cup, but has refused milk from a cup each time I've tried. He absolutely hoovers up milk in a bottle and I think the suck/swallow/breathe combo is very different in a cup, and so he finds it frustrating when all he wants is to get the milk down him quickly.

He has 7oz milk at 7am, 1pm, 5pm and a little top up of 5oz at 6.30 before bed at 7. The top up only came into play a few weeks ago as he was waking at 5am, and I thought I'll just see if he's waking hungry. Since we introduced the top up he sleeps til 7 or later, so I think he was hungry. Anyway it means he's over 1yo and still on 26oz milk, from 4x a day bottles.

Is this normal? The HV at his 10-12m check said I really need to be working on getting him off bottles. And that she 'only just managed to get hers onto a cup at 16m which was quite late' but I'm panicking because that's just over 3m away and he's showing no signs of stopping?

I don't really know what to do or how to go about it. My NCT friends' babies have all cut down to a morning and night feed themselves. My baby also puts solids away with no problem so I don't feel like the milk is hindering that. I'm more concerned about the bottle and his teeth - he has 6 at the mo. Any advice gratefully received!

Is he particularly tall @Ruibies?

If it makes you feel any better my 20 month old still has 2 bottles of milk a day, morning and evening. Only 2 months ago she was having a bottle before her afternoon nap too but she dropped that on her own. I have tried every cup to get her to drink her milk from that but no luck. She is also going through a phase of not wanting her teeth brushed so it’s not a good time for her teeth at the moment. My HV told me after her bottles of milk to dip your finger in water and wipe it over her teeth so at least some of the milk is wiped off. I’ve done what I can and to be honest it’s quite nice at the moment giving her a bottle before bed because she then goes straight to sleep. No idea how I will manage when she drops that bottle. I’ve stopped worrying about it now and she will drop them when she’s ready. My parents were telling me when me and my sister were little we were walking around with bottles of apple juice until we were 4!! My teeth are fine btw. I remember feeling the exact same way, you do what you can and try not to be too hard on yourself and compare, all kids are different.

Mine still had two bottles of milk a day - first thing in the morning and bedtime (before bath/ teeth clean/ storey) until he was at least 2. I suspect it was partly a comfort thing, he got a cuddle whilst having his milk from the bottle. I didn't care. I didn't bother with HV service, or have much to do with other mums with kids the same age. So tended to just get on with what was right for him/ us and not fret. He was eating food and gradually started drinking from a cup. We just made sure we had a plastic beaker with fresh water out at all times. He's 6 now. Eats like a horse (using cutlery/ fingers), drinks like a fish (from a glass or drinks bottle). Just do what feels right for you and your circumstances. As long as snacks/ food and water is made available. They'll work it out in their own time.

Have you been giving his zippy cup at regular intervals throughout the day? I’d make sure you are doing that

There are heaps on the market to choose from

Also consider after you have give him lunch instead of then giving him a bottle of milk give him a bottle of water

Sippy!!!

Have you been giving his zippy cup at regular intervals throughout the day? I’d make sure you are doing that

Have you seen a Zippy Cup? It might terrify the baby!

My 15mo DD still has milk at bedtime and one in the night. She's has water in the day but out of a longer 'milk' bottle as sippy cups she refuses to drink out of but in a bottle she will drink plenty. I'm probably not meant to do that but it works for my DD and means she's getting water and not just milk. Maybe try swapping one of the milks out for a bottle of water and see what happens but I wouldn't worry all babies are different and do things at their own pace x

That's a lot of milk. My 8 month old has 2 bottles a day 7oz at 8am and 7oz at 7pm. Drinks lots of water from sippy cup throughout the day.

Have you tried watering bottles down one at a time or offering water instead of one bottle consistently?

I don't think there is a hard and fast rule but our HV was insistent we cut back after DS turned 1 and once he was on 3 solid meals. Not sure if would work as ours was only on formula as he will not drink normal milk at all and think formula is easier to water down. But we started with one and reduced the amount down/watered it down and then swapped it for water and the early morning and before bed ones stopped completely and he happily switched to water in his waking time.

He will cut it out when he is ready. My son went from having three a day when he turned one to two a day and then to one for a while and then none. He did it himself and cut the bedtime one out last. I was really surprised because he loved his bottle but one day decided he wasn't having it anymore, I tried three consecutive days and he refused and that was that. He was one in the march and off all bottles by August. I wouldn't worry as all our babies are different. He is now four and I would love him to drink milk but he prefers just water.

My 13 month old drank no water at all until we got her a Tum Tum weighted straw cup, and she drinks loads now. She absolutely loves that thing (wish I hadn’t bought literally every other bloody cup going before we landed on that one 🤦🏼‍♀️) once she drank a decent amount of water we got down to one bottle before bed with no issues at all. She has always eaten well so it was just hydration I was worried about.

Thanks for all the replies everyone! So interesting to see what others' babies are doing at different ages and tbh also reinforces the 'they all do things in their own time' thing.

@SiouxsieSiouxStiletto he's not particularly tall, he's 75thC weight, 50thC height. He doesn't look overly chubby or out of proportion though.

I have noticed in the last few days he's not finishing bottles, so I think I am going to ask nursery to cut down to 6oz and see how we go. Also on my day off with him I held off giving him the 5pm bottle and he was fine to just have one closer to bedtime.

If I'm honest, I'm probably not as on it with the cup drinking as I should be. He can drink from his sippy cup, he knows how, but he often just bats it away if I bring it near him. We also have a doidy cup which he thinks is hilarious but doesn't really swallow the water, just takes it in his mouth and then smiles and lets it all drip out. I tried with a weighted straw cup (though not tum tum brand) and it seemed that he had to suck so hard to get anywhere that he gave up.

I try to keep the sippy cup with us during the day but I probably need to be offering it more, I know nursery say they offer it consistently. I think I will also offer water from a bottle and maybe as suggested do that instead of the middle of the day milk, and see how we get on. Thanks again everyone!

I’d give him rice pudding or porridge last thing just before bed to make sure he’s full.

Make sure the sippy cup of water is there at every meal and every snack if you’re not already.

I was mean and just started giving formula in a cup. DS wasn’t that interested in drinking it from a cup so he just kind of stopped. I offered cows milk in a cup too but he wasn’t interested. He was getting lots of milk from his breakfast and rice pudding at night though so I thought that was okay.

It took me forever to find a cup DS liked to drink out of. We ended up with one like this

https://www.tommeetippee.com/en-gb/product/superstar-sipper-training-cup#527=19680

Before moving onto the 360° type cups that vacuum seal themselves. Keep trying different cups, one of them will be a good bottle replacement for him

At this age if milk is his only source of calcium (which would be rare) then he needs 300 ml a day which is 10.5 oz. Your son is having 33oz. Is he on 3 meals and 2 snacks a day?

@Summerishereagain he's on around 26oz not 33, and he's on 3 meals plus 1-2 snacks. He generally misses his morning snack at nursery because he's napping but has the afternoon one. I'm more flexible with snacks when he's with me so will usually have 2. He eats well, if he wasn't eating much food I'd definitely be more concerned about cutting down milk more quickly. As it is, I'm less concerned about the volume of milk and more concerned about the drinking from a bottle and impact on his teeth.

As mentioned I'm going to try to cut down the volume per feed anyway plus try to get more water down him.

@TeddyBeans thank you I will have a look at this cup!

Sorry I read that as 4 x 7oz bottles plus a top up.

My DDs were reluctant drinks and I found playing with water in a tea set helped.

From what I remember they kind of lost interest in the day time ones as they naturally became more mobile and into other things but it was a while before I dropped the morning and bedtime one, and the one when they woke up from their long afternoon nap. The bedtime one was last to go and mine still had it in a bottle until after 2yo (3 at granny’s 🙄). I think you shouldn’t give the last one at 5pm, fine to have it later after bath during story maybe.

Mine had a lunch and nighttime bottle until about 16m, then just night until about 20m, then it gradually eased off and they’re 2 now and have no bottles at all. We switched to the hard nuby bottle for night. Morning feeds were easier to drop as they woke up around 0730 and were at nursery having breakfast by 0830. Mine wouldn’t take milk in a cup at all. They get their dairy from cheese and yoghurt and are doing fine. We occasionally do. Milk nuby bottle if we are desperate for them to have a nap, but they don’t tend to drink much. Nursery were really good and slowly dropped the lunch one. We don’t have a bottle at nursery anymore.

I breastfed/expressed but two of my 3 would not take sippy cups. So with dc1 I went cold turkey in the day and just offered breast/bottle morning and night. Then at 14 months just offered milk in a sippy cup and having spent 2 months being offered water and milk in a sippy cup accepted it after a day or so. I used distraction and offering solids. I also made sure there was plenty of dairy/water in their diet to compensate if dc didn't take much.
Dc3 I didn't do cold turkey but pushed the bottles further apart then when we'd got to two feeds swapped to milk in sippy cup only at about 13 months.
Both times nursery were really helpful so try discussing with them to see what they'd suggest.
Each child's different and its also trial and error to what works in each circumstance.