Getting my son off bottles

[user1499167024]

Hello

Looking for advice as tons of stuff comes up on a search.
My son is 1 year old this month and he's still on four bottles a day. Me and my wife have been great at monitoring his progression and doing things when advised but seemed to have missed info regarding children being weened from bottles by 12 months.

As well as bottles, he has water from a cup with a straw, which he has to bite to open the valve to drink.

I'm confused to what it all means. So, he cant have bottles or 'sippy cups' by 12 months. What is a sippy cup, the straw I mentioned, that a sippy cup.

Anyways, we've just bought another cup/straw combo but without a valve. Is this okay? Or should he be using a cup.

Hope all that makes sense, and thank you in advance.

Chris

The advice re. stopping bottles at 12 months is only guidance, you don't need to worry too much about it.

Sippy cups of any kind with straws etc. are fine, you just want to avoid a teat.

If you can easily wean him onto a cup, then do. Don't stress about it though. Lots and lots of children continue to use bottles for longer.

A normal sippy cup is a cup with a lid, the lid had a spout not a teat. A free flow sippy cup has no plastic valve inside and so water can flow out if it's tipped up. They're the easiest cups for children to learn to drink from. Tommee Tippee is probably the one that's most common:

http://www.toysrus.co.uk/mobile/babiesrus/tommee-tippee-essentials-first-cup/TRUP1446300001/CF0001?utmsource=google&utmmmedium=cpc&utmcampaign=shopping&utmmcontent=mobile&camp=CA:google:MCF:mobile&gclid=CNXG3ruu9dQCFQMo0woddSsPwg

There are lots of similar ones.

The idea is to swap to a cup like that for milk as well as water. From 12 months he can have whole cows milk instead of formula.

Hi

Cheers for the help. Even though its a guide line, it did make me worry. Don't want to damage his teeth.

Thanks for the links, didnt know if those should be avoided too. Glad to see not.
So is a straw okay, as they've got to create a vacuum to get the fluid out.

You just want to avoid prolonged periods with milk pooling in their mouths, so allowing them to fall asleep with a bottle in their mouths. Or having a bottle with them constantly that they sip from all the time. If you give milk at specific times, then take it away and clean teeth twice a day you should be fine.

Right, okay. He has his bottles at roughly the same time. Drinks it in one go, as he is a hungry baby. Its never left with him, so thats good news.

My ds had a bedtime bottle until he was well over 2. There are a few concerns with bottles over 1, among them are:
-Teeth. Dc shouldn't be left with milk/juice etc in bottles throughout the day as the prolonged contact can damage teeth. There is also the same issue with bottles also dummies. I discounted these because ds only had 1 bottle, which he drank in 5 minutes and we always brushed his teeth afterwards.

• Anaemia. There have been cases of dc preferring milk to food and not getting enough iron.

-Weight. Sometimes dc can gain too much weight if they're having also good diet plus lots of milk.

None of these really applied to ds so we let him carry on with his bottles! Four bottles a day does seem like quite a lot at one, are the 8 oz bottles? Could you try replacing a couple of them with snacks instead?

@InDubiousBattle
Thanks for your response.
This is where I get confused. My son has a milk allergy and has been on prescribed formula since 6 weeks. We saw a dietitian last month, who said he should be having 40oz a day.
He does have 4 bottles, at around 20oz total
He also has three meals a day plus snacks. He's a hungry lad. He's already in 1 1/2 to 2 year clothing, depending on brand.
He also has at least 6oz of water. I'd be worried to give him more food but if he wants the milk.
So you're saying he shouldn't be having milk at all at the age of one?

Or did you replace with cows milk?

My son is 8 months old and the guidance I read was that once weaning was established that they only needed 17-24oz of milk a day. He has 3 x 6oz bottles, but I'm thinking of taking out his mid morning bottle and giving him 2 x 7oz bottles and a few oz of milk in his morning cereal to make it up to 17oz.
We didn't wean off bottles until my older daughter was 2. Probably not ideal but she had 2 cows milk bottles a day and we brushed her teeth straight after.
She's almost 3 now and still has 2 x 4oz cups of warm milk a day.

At 1 years old you son only needs 8-12oz of cows milk per day. This doesn't include calcium from other sources, so if he's having yogurts, cheese etc then even less is fine.
At age 1 we gave my daughter a morning and evening bottle of 6oz each, but you could give this in a sippy cup if you want to give up the bottles.

Yes, we replaced formula with cows milk at one. Both of mine still had milk (although my dd wasn't mad keen)at one but they both had maybe 3 oz in a sippy cup (a cup with a free flow spout thing)in the morning and then 4/5oz in a bottle at bedtime.

What is your ds's weight like? Is he following his centile ok? I'm confused by the nutritionists advice tbh, 40 oz of milk is a huge amount for a one year old who is eating well and in clothes much bigger than his age. Did she give a reason for this advice?

@masterblaster2000
Ah okay. If its a case of swapping for cows milk then I'm not too fussed, due to his being medicated formula. Thank you for the info. Just need to get him on cups or a straw.

@InDubiousBattle
His centile, off the top of my head he's about 80th for his length and about 65/70 for his weight. We've seen multiple doctors since he's been born due to his milk allergy and they've all been happy with his weight. He's a big lad but not over weight, just really long.
Yeah not sure about the nutritionist though, she was rubbish tbh. She did some calc according to his weight.
He's not going on milk yet, if at all but he is being introduced to milk based products, some he reacts with okay and others, not so well.

The medicated milk has 0.6g per 100ml, so at least I dont have to worry about his teeth that way, just the teat.

Thanks again everyone! Glad I posted.