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Weaning

Find weaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Weaning forum. Use our child development calendar for more information.

Original poster

My 15mo is still drinking SO much milk...

29 replies

cordiality · 29/05/2012 12:42

Can anyone give me some advice, or at least tell me if this is totally abnormal?

My 15.5mo DD has always loved her milk, and was slow to start eating solids. We did BLW in the end, and she now eats three good meals a day, and snacks, so I'm happy with her food intake. However, she still has four bottles of milk a day, of at least 200ml, she often drinks nearly a litre (!!) of milk a day, sometimes more if she won't go to bed for some reason and has a small bottle at around 10pm.

Is this insane?! She's chubby but not overweight, 50-75th centile for weight compared to 20-50th for height. She still has two big naps a day, and a bottle before each one, and then a bottle at bedtime and one when she wakes up.

I've tried giving her a snack before her naps instead, but she just freaks out and gets frantic until the adored bottle is produced.

Do I definitely need to start cutting back? Should I make the bottles smaller? Give her water in a bottle? Just cut out one of the daytime ones and deal with the tantrum? Or is it OK and I should just stop worrying?!

All advice/experience gratefully received!

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MoaningMicroraptorRoarsAgain · 29/05/2012 12:47

That does sound an awful lot of milk. I found that when we swapped to a beaker they took a lot less, maybe try swapping at least some of the bottles for a beaker or cup with straw?

Offer some water as well in case it is thirst?

Moshlingmummy · 29/05/2012 12:55

Can you get rid of the bottles, make it more of an effort for her to drink. Leave the night one til last tho.

Or just start reducing the milk amount she gets, dropping half an oz per bottle per day or something. I would also offer more water throughout the dy.

Original poster
cordiality · 29/05/2012 14:25

Thanks for the replies. S I need to get tough and sor

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OneLittleBabyTerror · 29/05/2012 14:40

I don't see why it's a problem if she's drinking a lot of milk? As long as she's not overweight, isn't it?

OneLittleBabyTerror · 29/05/2012 14:41

Or underweight. And is fit and healthy.

Original poster
cordiality · 29/05/2012 14:43

Sorry don't know what happened to my post! Sounds like I need to get tough and make her cut down, I will make the reduce the amount of milk I the bottles and see if she'll drink it out of a beaker.

Looks like nap times are going to be much less of a breeze than they are at the mo!

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Kikithecat · 29/05/2012 14:45

My DS was the same at that age - but he was getting noticeably overweight. We started mixing water in the milk. He didn't seem to notice and soon went back to normal weight-wise.

Original poster
cordiality · 29/05/2012 14:45

I'm not really sure why it's not good for her, it just seems that no others kids her age are drinking that much! She is very active, running around and dancing and generally being a loon, so maybe she needs the calories, but possibly she'd be better off getting them from more food at this point?

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Original poster
cordiality · 29/05/2012 14:46

How old was he when he cut down on bottles then Kiti? I'm assuming there aren't any 13 year olds out there still doing this?!

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OneLittleBabyTerror · 29/05/2012 14:51

Cordiality. Exactly. You won't find a 13yo out there still drinking 1L of milk from a bottle. (Though you might find one that drinks a 1L a day Grin). I'm sure your DD knows what's good for her. As long as she's active, healthy, following her growth chart within 2 centile lines, then I don't think there's anything to worry about. Just let her have whatever she wants. It's not like she demands 1L of icecream a day is it? I really don't think there needs to be a battle fought over the amount of milk taken a day.

Kikithecat · 29/05/2012 14:52

Funnily enough he is thirteen now and doesn't have a bottle! He adored bottle-drinking and went on way beyond other kids - though he didn't have a dummy so maybe that's why. In the end he was just drinking water from the bottle and when he hit three we ditched the bottles.

5madthings · 29/05/2012 14:57

my ds4 was like this! would drink 9oz bottles of milk and at that age he still had 3 if not 4 bottles a day, i cut down the amount in them, very gradually and then cut down to three a day, you may find when she goes down to one nap a day rather than 2 you can cut one of the bottles out fairly painlessly. anyway he is now 4 and absolutely fine, 2 of mine bfed until age 3 and ds2 imparticular was a big mummy milk fine and was predominanly bfed til almost 18mtsh as he wasnt that interested in solids, he is now 9 and a great eater, it didnt do him any harm!

i wouldnt worry about it too much tbh, cut down on the amount milk in the bottle if you want to, but its obviously still a big comfort to her and its important to let her have taht :)

Original poster
cordiality · 29/05/2012 14:57

Thanks onelittle that's sort of the way I've been feeling about it until now. I've sort of chosen my battles and wasn't sure if this was one that needed to be fought. It was the health visitor that got me all worried with her tutting and vague warnings about rotting teeth and 'too much dairy'.

I definitely need to stop her wandering around vaguely sucking on a bottle, which I think is a dummy replacement (we took hers away at 10mos), and it would be good if she didn't NEED a bottle to go to sleep, but maybe I shouldn't be f

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Original poster
cordiality · 29/05/2012 14:58

Ugh. Shouldn't be too drastic. I just don't know!

I'm sure she must have impressively strong teeth and bones by now!!!

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Original poster
cordiality · 29/05/2012 15:02

Haha Kiki I must have just been able to sense the age of your son from your post!

Thank you 5mad I think I was secretly hoping to hear that someone else had one like this and it was all fine in the end!

Strictly no more than 6oz bottles from now on and maybe that'll do for the time being. Defo agree that she'll drop one when she drops a nap (... but please let that not happen for a while!)

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5madthings · 29/05/2012 15:02

when she has aher milk make her sit down, my dd is 17mths and sits in my lap for her bottle and has a cuddle or i sit her on the sofa with cushions so she can lean back a bit. if she walking around with a bottle of milk a lot, rather than just drinking it all in one go that wont be great for her teeth tbh.

so i would make milk something she has when sitting down, and reduce the quantity in the bottle little by little but my dd is 17mths and has 2 or 3 bottles a day but only 4oz in each bottle, she is happy with that.

5madthings · 29/05/2012 15:04

it is fine but l did always make mine sit down as in my first 3 were all bfed so when the others had bottles i sat down with them in the same was as wehn i bfed.

she will probably move to one nap fairly soon, my dd is 17mths and has one nap a day for about 2hrs after lunch, she has been like that for ages.

just make the bottles with an ounce less, she probably wont even notice :)

FunnyLovesTheJubilee · 29/05/2012 15:06

DS2 has always drank loads of milk. He is 2.4 and still has at least 600ml a day if not more. I don't see why you should cut it down if your DD is healthy and not over weight. Oh and he has 200ml bottles, and I know he's not supposed to have bottles either, but he does! I am still feeding on demandGrin

Rubirosa · 29/05/2012 15:07

Bottles are bad for their teeth, and having a bottle in her mouth a lot will interfere with her speech and teeth development.

The milk isn't so bad so long as you are brushing her teeth after milk at bedtime?

I would ditch the bottles and give her milk in a cup, but not worry about the quantities personally.

OneLittleBabyTerror · 29/05/2012 15:16

I agree with 5madthings about having her sit down on your lap and drink from the bottle. It's bad for their teeth if they are allowed to suck one for long periods of time. If you think about it, bf babies would not be allowed to wander around, nipple in mouth for hours at a time. (At least most bf mums wouldn't be happy about it). We'll be sitting down, cuddling and feeding instead. This lasts at most 10-15min.

5madthings · 29/05/2012 15:22

that was my logic as well onelittlebabyterror my bfed ones couldnt walk around and nurse so my two that bottlefed had to sit down and have their milk as well, it never occured to me to let them wander around with a bottle tbh, if they sit down for a quick cuddle its done in ten mins or so, but if they wander around with a bottle in and out of their mouth for a long period of time that isnt good for their teeth and yes clean teeth before bed!

Original poster
cordiality · 29/05/2012 15:28

No that bit's fine, three of her bottles are just before her sleeps and she has them on my lap in her nursery. I've always been careful to make them as much like bfing as poss since I stopped that at 4 months.

It's just her morning bottle that she has in bed with me, she always wants to get up halfway through and wander round my bedroom destroying investigating things, so I'll put an end to that.

Also today for example we were late for her morning nap because we were in the park, but she really wanted her milk, so I gave her some but she wouldn't stay on my lap. I'll make sure I don't do that again either.

So many resolutions!!!

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FunnyLovesTheJubilee · 29/05/2012 15:28

Agree about cuddling them while they have their bottle of milk. It is one of the only times DS2 will sit still and be cuddled, so I'm enjoying it while it lasts!

5madthings · 29/05/2012 15:32

well if she wont stay in your lap then she doesnt 'really' want the milk! i dont think there is an issue then, you could cut down the amount gradually but her getting up and walking off sounds like she is getting ready to cut down on the milk anyway tbh :)

a snuggly cuddle and milk in the morning at naptime and bedtime is perfectly reasonable i think, exaclty what i do with my dd tho she only has the 4oz, thats her choice tho tbh as she has never been a big milk drinker unlike my boys who loved it!

Original poster
cordiality · 29/05/2012 15:41

Do you know, it simply hadn't occurred to me that her walking off meant that she wasn't that interested in the milk! I feel like I've just had some sort of epiphany!

Strangely, that means that the bottle she's least interested in is her morning one, which I thought would be the last to go, but I'll try to pay more attention to her cues and simply take the bottle away when she loses focus, rather than letting her 'snack' on it.

Also, teeth brushing at night as well as morning is a very good idea for us esp as she's drinking all this milk.

Thanks so much for all the great advice, can't wait to tell my DH all the stuff I've learnt! (I hope he at least feigns interest...)

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