Switching from bottle to beaker/ cup for morning and bedtime milk - advice please

[cloudberry]

My Dd - she's 18 months old - has a 9oz bottle of milk every morning and same again every evening before bed. The rest of the day she just drinks water from a beaker with a spout. If I give her milk at any other time she's not really interested. I've been thinking that perhaps I should get her off her bottle and onto milk from a beaker instead but Ds was born 8 weeks ago and I didn't want to introduce too many changes all at once. She's 18 months today and I'm thinking maybe I should go for it now. Is this way overdue? We've tried giving her her milk from a beaker last night, this morning and tonight and she hardly drank anything. I don't really know how much milk she should be drinking now. She has a yoghurt a day and cheesey sauces etc and is a good doer. I can't help thinking that the morning and particularly bedtime bottles are for comfort as much as anything else - does that make sense? This probably all sounds ridiculous, but our hv has just left for another job and I'd rather get advice here if possible.

My dd is 17m and still has to large bottles of milk a day. I have tried her on a beaker previously and although she didn't complain she drank very little. I still give her a bottle as she much prefers it. My ds is 2.5 and only just switched from bottle to beaker for his milk, after I managed to persuade him that we'd given his bottles to the baby animals (recent farm visit). I let him choose his new beaker. Much more pleasant experience than a battle of wills I think. As for how much they should drink, I'm not sure. If they drink it then thats a good thing, surely? Its part of my kids routine and they love it!

Should have min of 11oz a day including what's used in cooking, yoghurts etc...
You will notice a decrease in milk consumption when introducing beaker, but go with it - it soon goes up again and they don't need masses any more if they have good diet.
Drinking excessive amounts of milk can mean fussiness with food, but if that's not an issue then I have found they drink what they want - counting ozs is something we rely on...

DS has two beakers a day, one with breakfast and one before bedtime. Weaned him off bottles at 12 months. Very reluctant to take the beakers at first so I started with the beaker and then put what he wouldnt drink into the bottle. Gradually took more from beaker than bottle. Bit of extra washing up for a few weeks but it worked.

We use a beaker with a straw which he seems to find easiest to drink from. Made by Mothercare.

Managed to get ds1 onto beaker at 7m as sick of bottles and he never looked back. Still at 2.9 guzzles 3 beakers of mild at night before bed. he loves it!

Ds2 another issue. Now nearly 13m I decided it was time for him to change. He is happy to have water from a beaker but not milk. I will persist though. I know he is only little but I am just not keen on toddlers having a bottle. Long term though makes no difference at all. Non of them will be on bottles at 18!

"Still at 2.9 guzzles 3 beakers of mild at night before bed"

Either you meant to type milk or he's got a serious drink problem.

I could have written this post. DS is 21 months and have just got him off his bottle of milk onto a beaker at night, althought he still has his morning milk in a bottle. I figure one usage of a bottle a day can't hurt and it guarantees he drinks at least the 6 ozs a day.

He was resistant to the bottle being taken away at night, cos it was so built into our routine, he could lie down with it in my arms for a goodnight cuddle and it suited us, but now I give it to him in a cup before he goes up for hi bath when he is watching bed time hour on CBeebies, and that way it means I can brush his teeth after his milk too. Also, to show him it was still his milk not water in a beaker I took the lid off to show him, and let him drink a few sips with me helping him, before putting the lid back on and he seemed to accept that.

HTH.

my dd is 21/2 and still has one bottle of milk a day at bedtime. Again she wont drink milk from her usual cup that she has water from and as she isn't a big drinker anyway i've stuck with the bottle to ensure she gets enough fluid. I think her dairy intake is good though with milk on cereal, yoghurts and cheese etc. Again it is part of the bedtime routine where she cuddles up drink her bottle and has a book - although i am keen to get her to stop using the bottle - difficult situation! How do you get them to drink from an open cup as well - my dd just throws the cup around and everyone and everything ends up soaking wet!!!

3 out of 4 of my children went to bed without a drink of anything at bedtime. TBH I do not think a drink of milk at bedtime is necessary. I would just stop the bottles altogether since she drinks out of a beaker the rest of the time.

My son still has two a day at 2.4 yrs, tho I ditched the morning in favour of milky cereal which he spoons up readily enough, I then got rid of the afternoon and reduced the night one to 6 oz, then I got worried that he didn't have enough milk so give him 4 oz at naptime.

We tried switching to beaker and he will drink water and a little milk from a cup or glass but nothing like 6 oz so I've kept it going for now, he gets a bit upset if I "forget" and his word for milk is bott

ds is 3.5 and still has a bottle a night time

wouldn't worry at all
I am mortified to admit this but my DS (4.5) still drinks warm milk out of a Avent beaker with a spout morning and night.
I went through so much stress about it and bought every beaker and cup on the market but now I've decided to stop worrying about it. he's perfectly capable of drinking out of a cup but just prefers to drink his nice warm milk out of a beaker - a comfort thing I guess

Thanks guys. It's so reassuring to hear your views and experiences. I think Mumsnet is FAB, very addictive. So often I read things that are exactly what I've been thinking or worrying about and it really helps - I don't feel as though I'm the only one ...!

Just reading your replies has meant that I've chilled out about dd and her milk dilemma and will let her dictate the pace. So thank you very much to you all for responding. The next thing to worry about is ds (10wks) who won't let me put him down during the day - it's driving me BONKERS!!!

Hi cloudberry. I have a 2.6yr little girl (new to this and don't yet know the DD stuff?!!!!) who hardly ever drinks more than 2oz milk per day. I just threw her bottles away at 14mths and she had a drinking cup and at two we switched to ordinary cups.I think its about the amount of calcium they receive from their diet. My daughter loves cheese, yoghurt, milk on cereals and milky puddings so I ensure she eats 2 portions a day at least. Try milshakes and smoothies that way you get calcium from milk or yoghurt and a portion or two of fruit too. My little girl loves them.