No more bottles at 15 months?

EricaOO

Hi ladies,

DD just turned a year old and at her checkup, the doctor said we should start trying to transition from the bottle and on to the sippy cup.  DD can drink from a sippy cup but still takes a bottle before bed.  The doctor said she would like DD to be off bottles by 15 months.  This seems a little young to me.  What do you think?  Are your toddlers off bottles?  At what age did that happen?  TIA!

Crequito

DD stopped using bottles at 14 months.  Our pedi also said at her 1 yr appointment that he'd like her to be off by 15 months.  We had weaned her down to 2 bottles a day, only for milk and then just went cold turkey.  I put all the bottles away and she did fine the first day until bedtime - the bottle was more of a comfort.  But I stuck to my guns and within 3 days she couldn't care less about the bottle.  She was fine drinking milk from a sippy or straw cup.  The pedi was so happy to hear at her check up the next month that she was off bottles.  Something about the mouth development.

JENandJEH

DS2 didn't take a bottle but was done nursing by 15 months.  DS1 gave up nursing early but still took a bottle until around 13 months.  After that, he was on sippy cups and we had dropped the before bed feeding.  

greyt00

DS2 was done with bottles at 11 months old.  It is the only thing I have ever done that actually impressed my pediatrician, LOL.  Even when I was on the MSPI diet to continue BFing and get rid of the blood in DS2's stool, she was more impressed with the bottles.  The diet was WAY HARDER!  Anyway, we replaced bottles with the soft spout sippy, which isn't much better than a bottle, though.  At his 1 year appointment she said to switch to hard spout.  He resisted that a little but it wasn't too bad.  After that we went to a straw.  I don't remember the timing of those transitions, though.

snysilver

We stopped bottles cold turkey at 12 months, when we switched to whole milk. DS was fine with the switch; we also used those soft-top sippy cups, which I think are probably a lot like a bottle anyway.

EricaOO

Thanks for your responses.  I'm going to try to gradually eliminate day time bottles but might not worry about the bed time bottle just yet.  Did I mention this might be more emotional on me than her? My baby is getting so big!!

Kaelynn91

My daughter stopped using bottles at 12 months. We transitioned right to a sippy with a straw. 

erinmc1

When my husband got home from deployment when our son was 12 months, he pretty much gave him a bottle every time he cried.  So our son began using it as a pacifier.  At 14 months, I said no more, and we quit cold turkey.  Within 3 days, he'd given it up entirely.

GracefulStar

I asked my doc at 12 months and she said no bottle by 2 but it was ok before then. My son takes milk in a bottle but water and anything else in a sippy cup. I guess I could put milk in the sippy cup, just figured that morning bottle is easier to chug.

lana22

we started dropping bottles one by one gradually and he was off them by 13 months. older son took a little longer b/c he was sick at his 1 year checkup and we didn't start weaning till over 13 months, but he was done by 15 months. i don't really get continuing the bottles any longer.

nighttime bottle was the one i was most scared of. started out giving him sippie cup in rocking chair at same time he used to get bottle. then started giving it to him in playroom upstairs before bedtime routine. that was with ds1. ds2 rejected the sippie cup at bedtime so we just made his dinner cup his last milk and then went upstairs and did bedtime.

lindseyb624

DD is 15 months and still gets a morning and night bottle and if we are desperate on the weekend one at Naptime. We have skipped the morning with no issue but if I cut the bottle I'm also cutting milk. She wants no part of milk in a sippy- not soft spout, hard spout, or straw. She could really care less if she got milk in general so I'm holding onto bottles to hold onto milk. We are going to start pushing the issue a bit more and my goal is to be done with night bottle (last to go) by 18 months. She's just not a good sleeper and the bottles helps so I'm afraid to let go of it!

mshukh

Took off bottle at before 9 months. I think most recommendations say to ditch the bottle and paci by a year if possible. 

michelle7482

With DD1 we stopped at 15 mo per her pedi recommendation and DD 2 stopped at her 1st bday.

Millie1984

D still has a bedtime bottle.  Every other time we just eliminated the bottle and replaced with a sippy cup (the kind with a straw- which i thinks made for an easier transition).

The nighttime bottle has been on my mind for a while now.  I know we'll have to eliminate it soon, although my pedi did not seem concerned about it.  I'm thank he is also of the "no bottles after 2" opinion.

fusionbride

we had transitioned from bottle to sippy cup by 12 months, and had moved the last cup of milk to mealtime (not bedtime) by like 14 months.  We  just started a standard bedtime routine (without the bottle), and were super regular about it, and she was fine.

we had a tougher time with the breastmilk to cows milk transition, though, and that took a few weeks of various mixtures before we finally just ran out of pumped milk and forced the full transition on her-- after a few days of milk strike, LO adopted cows milk just fine. So for us ,it was less of what vessel the milk was in, and more about how the milk tasted.  We ended up using straw cups for milk and spout cups for water. 

rspalding001

@lindseyb624 We are in the same boat as you. DD is almost 14 months and does not drink much out of a sippy or straw cup. I keep giving her bottles to make sure she gets enough dairy and stays hydrated. We do watered down milk during the day since she rejects water at this point in time. I'm hoping to drop the day time bottles but I am worried she will not stay hydrated. I also worry about the sleep issue and am afraid if I take away her bottles she will wake up hungry. I guess its baby steps for us. We will get there one day hopefully. Ill wait and see what our Pedi says at her 15 month apt.

rspalding001

@msspeedymarie thank you! That helps a lot. I know we will need to do the same thing soon. I just need to get my head in the right frame of mind for it ha ha

SLGILL1978

My pedi also recommended we be off bottles by 15 months. She would only drink warm milk out of them. We did it cold turkey. I don't even think my daughter noticed. She has been using a sippy since around six month with just water. We just used alternative foods to milk like collard greens, yogurt, ice cream, broccoli, kale, etc. I also would make smoothies using milk.

texasmomma22

If your still giving a sippy at night with milk are you heating up the milk or just cold milk?? I have a 18 month old and he gets the 1 bottle at night with warm milk and I am ready to take it away.

EricaOO

It's been about a month since I posted this so I appreciate all the responses! Update on us: DD drinks milk or water out of the sippy cup during the day.  I'm still giving her a bottle of milk before bed.  She just turned 13 months.  For those who just quit it cold turkey, I may do that at 14 months.  I feel I still have some time.

Albertsgirl1982

I think most doctors make a bigger deal out of this than they need to.  My doctor (a very level headed and reasonable woman) said as long as we're working on transitioning him to cups and sippy cups it's no problem.  Our personal goal is to have him bottle-free by 2.

Just make sure you are wiping or brushing his/her teeth 2x a day and he/she is not going to bed with a bottle.

mhwood

The day after her 12 month appointment and we were given the OK for whole milk, we gave her the whole milk in a cup.  After 2 days, she was off the bottle entirely.

magdalina.h

DS and DD both were off bottles by 14 months.