Removing bottles at 12 months

[duckling3]

My son had just turned one. I want to get rid of his bottles but not sure how to go about it. He won't drink his milk from his normal straw cup. And he flat out refuses cow milk.

Just wondering what did others do? I'm wondering whether to just take all the bottles away and maybe have a few hard days but he'll hopefully forget quite quickly. Currently he has a bottle morning and night, and occasionally in the afternoon if he's asking for it.

Or is it really so bad if he still has a couple of bottles a day for a bit longer.

Despite the advice, the vast majority of people don't actually stop giving bottles in my experience just because their child has turned 1. DS definitely still had his for a good few months after until he properly got the hang of using a cup.

I certainly wouldn't go cold turkey it will just be unnecessary stress for everyone when using a bottle is still perfectly OK.

Are you trying to stop giving formula at the same time as giving up bottles? Why not tackle one first - so give cows milk in a bottle or formula in a sippy cup (I used mix of doidy and free flow sippy (basic tommee tippee) with both of mine).

You don’t have to do it bang on one but the sooner you start transitioning the better because bottles are bad for their teeth.

You could start with one feed (eg the snack one during the day) and then if he doesn’t take it it doesn’t matter, but keep persevering every day until he does. Then when he’s used to it swap for another feed etc.

My daughter is only 6 months so we’re not at that stage yet, however we’ve started giving her water or some of her formula in a tommee tippee beaker, it has the handles but two different teets- one classic ‘bottle’ and the other like a typical sippy cup but they’re both silicone.
She loves giving herself a drink and it’s a nice transition from the bottle without having to go cold turkey!

He doesn’t need to drink cow milk. He needs 350 mg of calcium, cheese, yoghurt and forfeited breads, milk in cereal and custard all count.

We just didn’t. I think we kept bottles for milk until about 18 months, maybe longer but got a sippy cup and normal cups for water/juice. DS was only having one or two bottles of milk a day so not worth the hassle.

DD is 2 and still has her milk before bed in a bottle, once she drops milk at bed we will drop the bottle. (Whole milk). DS was the same and dropped at about 3. No issues here with letting her continue for bedtime milk!!

DS1 kept his bottle of milk before bed time until he was 3-4. It was a comforting part of the bedtime ritual for him and I wasn't in a rush to change anything

Also for cows milk- try half formula / half cows milk then gradually reduce the formula. A week later they won’t notice!

We also kept bottles until about 18 months and just brushed teeth after the bedtime bottle. One day I forgot to give him his evening bottle and he didn't notice so I didn't try again. He drinks milk at nursery now from a normal open cup (he's 2).

@Fallagain

He doesn’t need to drink cow milk. He needs 350 mg of calcium, cheese, yoghurt and forfeited breads, milk in cereal and custard all count.

I didn't realise that but it makes sense. Not sure why I thought toddlers NEED cows milk 😅

I removed bottles with both my kids between 1 and 13 months. First kid I used a tippy cup for daytime drinks, and the put warm bedtime milk in cup and gave it to her just before bed, she then transitioned to having her cup of milk downstairs before bedtime. With my second he started using a cup with a straw from about 10 months and at a year I put warm milk in that at bedtime. He is now 14 months and doesn’t always have bedtime milk, but when he does it put it in a tippy cup.
I wanted to stop bottles because they are a faff, and both my kids slept through the night by age 1. It wasn’t that hard for me. If it had been hard I would have waited like other posters suggest on here.

Maybe try and see how you get on x

Mine still has cows milk in a bottle before bed as it’s part of his routine and he won’t drink milk out of a cup. He will happily drink water through the day out of his cup but not milk! I don’t see the problem with it just once a day and we brush his teeth after his bottle too.

My son is 3½
We have just had a visit from the bottle fairy.
He was very attached to his morning bottle of milk.
I don't see the harm in carrying on longer than 12 months

DC is 3 and has 3 bottles a day! Dentist said it's fine as she has them in a one-er (gone in 2 mins).

Can't bear to take them away