I need help, how do I get my almost 1yo off formula and bottles??

[NoHeavenNoMore]

Pulling my hair out.

Title says it all really... our daughter is coming up to 1 and I keep reading/hearing that she should be on cows milk from one and not to drink from bottles anymore.

I just need help 😞 I've been trying her with cows milk during the day, and giving formula morning and before bed. The other night, we ran out of formula (for the first time ever) and I thought "she'll be okay, she can have cows milk instead"... how wrong I was, she cried ALL night for her bottle and I just felt absolutely awful and I haven't really recovered from it since. Just feel like a failure. I feel like there's no way she's going to transition over?

Also I don't know what to do about bottles.. I've read she shouldn't be using bottles from the age of one. She will drink water through a sippy cup absolutely no problem, but if I put milk in it it gets flung across the room. I've got several types of straw bottles, silicone ones etc, and she just chews the straw and won't drink from it.

What do I do 😞please can you give me some tips or advice on what worked for you and your little ones?

Thank you!

My son had his bottle for bed until he was 2. He loved it.
As others you don't have to change over bang on her birthday.
Some kids like it cold, others warm. I found this out the hard way 😂 he was distraught at cold milk.

My daughter drank her morning and evening milk from a bottle until she was 5. It caused no problems and was very comforting to her. She eventually realised she looked a bit daft and stopped. I always brushed her teeth afterwards.

Possibly helped that he loves ice cream, I didn't see the point in buying a formula for a few days.

Ds2 had severe reflux and was on a prescription formula. We tried both cow's milk and goat's milk, follow on milk but his formula didn't taste like normal formula so basically he remained on the prescription formula until he was 15 months. We then stopped that but he still wouldn't drink milk so we just made sure he had yoghurt and cheese every day for his calcium needs. He finally drank milk when he went to preschool as he was handed a carton of milk and everyone else was drinking it. He finally had cereal with milk in the bowl, rather than as a drink when he was almost 4.

Don't sweat the at X they must be doing Y. Everyone is different and each child has their own way of doing things. Try mixing the formula with cow's milk and gradually increasing it. Ds2 is now a strapping 5'10" 16 year old.

Thank you all for being kind and reassuring.
Today I've been mixing the formula with cows milk like suggested and it's gone down okay. She had 1oz cows milk with 7oz formula this morning, then tonight she's had 2oz cows milk with 6oz formula. In nursery today she just had 2 x 5oz formula.
I will stick with 2+6 I think over the next couple of days and then 3+5 etc etc.

I was definitely stressing over the bottles but you know what it's like when you're a FTM, you're constantly being made to feel like you're doing something wrong and damaging your child in some way! Now I know that's not the case I am much much calmer about it all. Thanks again

Pleased she took it and your plan sounds good!

My Ds was the same would only take his milk out his bottle.
I tried this and it was a game changer.
It has the soft rubber teat like a dummy but it’s free flowing.
Once he’s been on it for a few months and forgot how to suckle we slowly moved him over to a hard spouts. A few friends have tried it and had great success also.
This is a two pack, the definitely used to do singles but amazon don’t seem to have them at the moment.

My son found thevtransution from formula to cows milk easy, I literally just gave him cows milk one day and he didnt bat an eyelid and drank it all. Bottles is a whole other thing though, he is 20 months and still drinking from a bottle. I've tried introducing cups etc in the morning but he has one mouthful and then gets upset or flings it. He isn't the worlds best eater so I feel it's more important that he gets his calories from the milk so I've carried on giving him a bottle. I will keep making attempts to get him off it but gave up stressing about it a long time ago. Happy and fed baby is more important!

Don’t stress. I’d always advise having some formula in for when they aren’t well and off food, it’s full of goodness! My little girl is nearly two but not a great eater so I make formula before bed sometimes to make sure she’s getting something more nutritious in

They all get there.
DS (14m) was easy to get off a bottle - decided himself at 10m.

Cows milk on the other hand - he's having a hard time with that. It makes him fart ridiculously. I've never heard wind like it - seriously. He's not fussed about milk really so we fist give him formula on his cereal and up his other dairy in the day.

You just kind of have to accept that they won't drink cows milk in the same quantities that they guzzle formula.

I did the transition at an ounce a time in the baby bottles. Then once they were OK with 100% cows milk I put it in a sippy cup instead of a bottle. They stopped drinking as much until they gradually stopped completely in the space of a few weeks.

Mine were were onto solids by a year old and only had a bottle of formula first thing and just before bed. So they didn't need it. They had water in the day. I think for my kids it was more about routine and comfort than any dietary needs.

Thank you @santastolemycat. These look quite good. I've tried the doidy cup (throws it everywhere, fine in the kitchen but not practical elsewhere) and Tum Tum cup with silicone straw. A tomee tipee one with a hard spout and a nuby no spill cup type thing.
The only thing she'll drink from is the old fashioned sippy cups (water) or her bottle.
Like you say, that's a bit of a step between so we shall try these next!

@Pinktruffle @Ebonyhorse @Milkand2sugarsplease thank you so much, you're making me feel SO much better. And probably will help loads of others too. It's so hard feeling like you're doing it 'wrong' by the books but you're telling me that it's normal and that's good enough for me.

Yes I think you're right about it being routine. Our little girl isn't too fussed about her milk during the day, she likes it before her afternoon nap (but I don't always give it if she's just recently eaten) I reckon in the mornings soon she'll just be happy with weetabix and then nothing milk-wise til later on. I spoke to nursery today and they said if they think she needs it they will offer cows milk during the day once she turns one.
She's good with her food, and to be honest she's a big girl.. I know I shouldn't worry too much.
Thank you

The world health organisation recommends breastfeeding until two so why the rush to get them off their bottles at 12 months. It’s not just food to them, it’s comfort too. They’re just babies, quite small babies. No need to rush them. Look at their blissful little faces when they’re all snuggled in with their bottles, really, there’s no rush.

Mine were the same and had a bedtime bottle of milk.

I firmly believe that when the child is ready for the "next step"... be it weening, sleeping in a bed, potty training etc... it will happen without too much stress.

What is the issue with having formula milk in a bottle still? I actually preferred using formula as it had the vitamins added.

I really don't think you need to make this into a battle at this age.

My DS are 19yrs and 15yrs. Both have perfect teeth and speak absolutely fine.

@NoHeavenNoMore Parenting is hard - not least because you've always got "those mums" who judge absolutely everything.
Im a decade and 2 children in now and and I very much work on the idea that they all get there in their own time, with all the milestones.

What one book tells you you should be doing, another book tell you you shouldn't so you can't win.

I'm a firm believer that you know your child best and a lot of the time they will lead you. There are enough hard days with a baby (yup, I'm willing to put my head above the parapet and say that some days are just shit!!) without making them harder by forcing something they're not ready for. Both of my DS's have led me on a lot of their development. DS1 was completely attached to his bottle and there were times that I thought I'd be giving him beer in it at his 18th birthday but he literally just gave it up one day just over 1. Went to give him his bottle before his nap one Tuesday aft and it was like he'd completely forgotten how to drink from it - it was going EVERYWHERE. ended up putting him down for a nap having had very little and remember thinking it would be a short nap cos he'd be hungry but he had his full nap. I then had a repeat performance at his bedtime bottle but this time poured it into his sippy cup in front of him and offered him that - he drank the lot, went to bed happy and never had a bottle again!! From being completely attached to them to not interested in the slightest in one day!!

Keep going, the fact that you're bothered shows you're doing it right!!x

DD is nearly 3 and she has a bottle in front of the telly before she goes up to brush her teeth and get into bed. We tried her on cows milk and she didn’t like it- in fact she still doesn’t, refuses to even have it in cereal. Tried even giving her the formula in a cup and she wasn’t having it. What can I say, she’s a creature of habit.

The bottle is part of her wind-down routine, she enjoys it and the added vitamins and minerals in the formula will do her no harm. She’ll stop when she’s ready, like she did with carrying a teddy around all day at nursery or waking for a bottle in the middle of the night. There’s a lot of talk about “I’m a big girl not a baby, mummy” at the moment, so I know we’re probably coming to the end of the bottle days anyway.

My DSis has two kids slightly older than DD and took a very relaxed attitude to stuff like this. She used to say, “well he’s hardly going to be going off to uni with a dummy/bottle is he?” and right enough both her two just dropped the bottle naturally shortly after 3, no drama. Honestly, don’t be stressing about it.

@Milkand2sugarsplease that's so interesting, switching just like that in one day! I'm sure this one will let me know when she doesn't want it then.

She's onto me with the cows milk I think, she's been having it on her weetabix and porridge which has been fine. I made bottles with a mixture and went well until I tried her with 5oz formula and 3oz milk. I think she could taste it so back to 6 + 2. But we're a lot more relaxed about it now and feeling like much less of a failure so thank you all so much!!