Milky time - What should i do?

[RGPargy]

DD has cow's milk in a bottle twice a day - once in the morning and once at night. It's a time when we sit down together and have a snuggle. I'm wondering tho, seeing as DD will be 2 in December, whether it's time she stopped having it in a bottle and had it from a sippy cup instead? I'm reluctant to put her bed time milk in a cup as i'm convinced it makes her sleepy and ready for bed but for the last couple of mornings she's had her morning milky in a cup - and drank hardly any of it!

What shall i do?

Thanks for this post RPGargy, I've been wondering the same, my DD is 2.3 and still has nighttime milk in a bottle, teeth brushed then bed. More worried about the dummy TBH, its a bit of a challenge!

Another thanks for the post RP. Dd is 2.2 and still has milk from a bottle in the morning and at night - before bed and then has teeth brushed. Am more concerned about thoughts of potty training tbh - buzzybee if you are still looking at this thread, can I ask how things went when you moved the nighttime bottle? Did your dc mind, as it's a major part of the routine we have before putting her to bed? Presumably it won't affect her sleep as she is on solids now? What time in the day did you move her milk to?

My DD has just turned 2 and we gave up bottles a few weeks ago. she was downing litres of the stuff a day and not eating much. Then she started to use the teat as a dummy, and almost chewed clean through one of them - she could have swallowed it. Even though she drank everything else out of sippy cups or 'open' cups, milk had to come from a bottle. I was so rattled after the chewed teat incident I vowed it was the end of the bottle in our house, so on the advice of my HV (yes, I was desparate) I went 'cold turkey'. We had a few teary days, but after a week she happily drinks from sippy cups, and is eating much better too.

I'm not for a momemt saying get her off bottles now, but it worked for us. DD dropped her milk consumption dramatically at first, but is now drinking more, and hasn't in any way affected her sleep.

BTW, reading this thread has just reminded me I forgot to brush he teeth tonight, AND dh gave her lemonade earlier [bad mummy emoticon].

My DD is 2 and still has follow-on formula from a bottle before she goes to bed
my (rather twisted) logic was that if she was BF I would do so until she was 2 (as per WHO) so I felt I was OK.
I am a bit embarrassed about the formula thing tbh but it's easier to carry around that cows milk, and it's got extra vitamins in it.
As a failed bf'er I had to either embrace formula or go mad, so please no-one tell me there's anything wrong with it!

both my dss had their milk ( morning and evening) in a bottle until THEY stopped wanting it in a bottle.. i tried offering in a cup and neither wanted it so went back to bottle. both bypassed sippy cups pretty much and ds4 now drinks plenty of milk ( er with nesquik) from a glass. the little one 2.5 still has a bottle am and pm but always drinks water or juice from cups and glasses. i just decided it was one thing i could afford not get fussed about!! HTH

I so want to start a thread about this thread iykwim as if this was all about bfing at 2 there would be some posters who would be very strongly opinionated that it should be stopped.

I think there isnt anything wrong with the bottle continuing for all this little tots who are bottle fed just like i dont see there is a problem with the bfing continuing either. And the dummy is just a replacement boob so dont see a huge problem there either. Though ds1 (9) still has a quick suck of his thumb at bed, this is starting to tail off a bit. Ds2 sucks neither thumb nor dummy.. but does love bfing still morning, naptime and bedtime and sometimes inbetween too ..

Anyway, do i start another thread or is that definately bad netiquette?

Wow thank you for all your replies, ladies!!

I am no longer worried about her milk time now. I think 6oz twice a day is absolutely fine and she does eat well when she's not teething (although she is going through a fussy phase atm).

I think i am more concerned about her dummy addiction than her two bottles of milk a day, having read all your replies.

extremelychocolately DD1 was 3.5 when we stopped the bedtime milk and was quite keen to be out of nappies at night. I just explained that she could no longer have a drink after 6pm and she was completely accepting. We also added a pretty rigid teeth and toilet routine before bed and she was dry at night very quickly - far quicker than I'd hoped/expected. So it worked!! We still continued bedtime stories on the sofa (warmer by far than her room) so no loss of snuggles either.

Thanks very much buzzybee.

squiglet i think if you start another thread it will only go one way and it won't be pretty.

i entirely agree with you although suspect the people who are posting so reasonably here aren't the ones who are anti ebf.

SarfEasticated - my DD will probably be on fomula till she is 2. She has had intolerance problems with cows milk but is starting to grow out of it now (17mo). Her paed thinks using formula is fine.

RGP - my DD is completely incapable of falling asleep without a dummy. I found that having them out of sight and out of reach during the day stops her wanting one at other times. I don't see the dummy for sleep as a problem - it is less likely to damage teeth than a thumb and at least it can be thrown away eventually.

fishie, i think you're right any enough of that on other thread i am on anyway

my ds (2.5)loves his bottle but by pure chance he had his night time milk out of a sippy beaker (ordered some from tescos thinking that they were watertight for trips out) and he loves it, drinking it all up when he wouldn't out of a normal cup. The bottles have been put away!!

I thought we'd cracked the dummy today. She went without it from about 9am right round until bedtime at 7pm. She did ask for it twice but i think it was more out of habit than need. At bedtime tho she did actually NEED it, bless her. I'm happy for her to have it at bed/nap times.

Squiglet, I agree with what you are saying which is why I don't want to stop my dd's bottle yet, especially as she has no thumb/dummy other comforter. My ds stopped bf like my dd at 11 mths and went off bottles at 13 mths (his decision). He did have a dummy however and like you say, some kids are still bf at this (I don't think there is anything wrong in this). We have just managed to get him off the dummy at age 3, because by my reasoning, children I've known who were 'extended' bf'ers gave up at around 3 and tbh he made less of a fuss as I he knew it was time. They'll do it when they are ready, what's wrong with having a bit of comfort, they are only babies imo.