dropping bedtime bottle

[Gracesmum]

hi all, my daughter is 15 months, i read that bedtime bottle should be stopped by 18m because of tooth decay. has anyone done this, do i replace with something else, do i then give her extra milk during the day?????? help.

Just do the bottle before you clean the teeth and it's fine.

DS (20mths) still had 'bedtime bottle' but in a beaker, all bottles had stopped by 14mths.

I am about to drop the bedtime bottle too (ds is one tomorrow!) I plan to give him the same amount of milk but divided between two beakers so he will get half at 5.00 with his tea and then the other half at 6.45ish before he goes to bed.

thanks ladies, all good suggestions, will give them a try. just need to wean off dummy next (smile)

Windermere - you're brave! Jess is nearly 13 months and is no where near ready to give up her bottles! Onlt just managed to get her to take a tommy tippee 4month+ cup!

THat on top of the fact she still has at least 3 7oz bottles milk a day!!!

I didnt wait till dd was ready to give up the bottle, I did it for her!!

She only had 2 bottles a day when she reached 1 year. I got rid of the morning bottle first and replaced it with a drink of milk from a sippy cup along with her breakfast. Once she was ok with that I replaced the bedtime bottle with the sippy cup too. Her intake dropped for a few nights but picked back up again. She was finished with bottles by 14 months.

Now (at 21 months), she has an open top beaker with a couple of ounces of either milk or fresh orange with her breakfast and a small avent magic cup of milk before bed. She doesnt have any other milk and the rest of her intake is made up from milk on cereal, yoghurts, cheese, etc

The minimum milk intake from 1 year is only 300/350mls per day (around 12 ounces) so I dont worry about the amount that my dd takes as she was never a big milk drinker.

Ds 19 months loves his bottle of milk. He used to have 4 times a day but now i have reduced it to 3. My first target is to reduce it during the day so the bedtime bottle has a long way.

wow.Seona1973 you are so organised, my dd is very adaptable and doesnt resist change too much (thank god) so think i will try your suggestions. she only has that 1 bottle a day, otherwise has yogurt, cheese etc like your dd. thanks for the advice.

started dd on cup for bedtime milk, battled for 6 nights, then on 7th night breakthrough. doesnt drink as much as when having bottle but not worried cos gets lots of calcium in other ways.