Cold Turkey (bottle) questions

lilone_06

Based on the posts below, it looks like many of you recommend getting rid of the bottle cold-turkey.  If that's the case, how exactly does this work?  Give milk only in sippy cups?  What if DC refuses it?  Just skip the feeding?  Supplement with other dairy like cheese and yogurt?  (FWIW, DD has been on only whole milk for months, no formula.)  Thanks for the help!

cards_cubs_wed

Yes, whole milk only in sippy cup. Our pedi said to give DD 4 days and if she wasn't weaned by then using this approach, to call her. We fed her table food as usual, including dairies like you mention. In our case, things were complicated by Audrey hating the sippy and refusing to drink from it. I was amazed that by day 2, she was drinking from it. Day 1 was difficult, and we had to hold her sippy for a few days for her, but after that, she was a pro. Things are soooo much easier without bottles! GL!

heatherfaith

ds refused milk in a sippy. ?He would take a sip and throw the cup once he realized milk was in it. ?After 2 or 3 days he just finally started drinking milk from it. ?He never once asked for his bottle. ?I just gave extra cheese and yogurt during the days w/o any milk.

FSUSammy

We went cold turkey after having NO success with slowly transitioning. We gave him milk only in his sippy cups and he surprised us and actually drank it. We played with different kinds of cups at first and found that he did better with the Nuby straw cups with two handles since he didn't have to tip it. Once they drink milk out of their sippy they won't drink as much as they used to with a bottle. Plus they shouldn't be getting all of their nutrients from whole milk anyways, so definitely give cheese and yogurt too. Too much whole milk is actually a bad thing. Now he drinks fine with his playtex insulator cups.

*speedracer*

when we transitioned, if he refused it, he went without.  he knew there was milk in the cup, and he threw a fit hoping that i'd give in and give back the bottle.  don't give in!!  at first he'd only take a few sips but after a few days he was totally fine with it.

AugustaBride04

The first few days were a struggle for us. When she had low milk intake in the beginning, I just made sure she drank water in between feedings to make sure she was staying hydrated. I also heavily supplemented with yogurt and cheese etc on those days too.  Several people told me that that when they get thirsty they will drink.  That is so true.  The first couple of days DD tried to be stubborn, but she got over it. Now, all of a sudden after 2 weeks she is draining her sippies at every meal. I think it just takes awhile to get adjusted.  GL!

jlw2505

You need to get out of the bottle - formula frame of feeding mind.  Drinking milk for you toddler is no differnet than you drinking milk.  They need a lot less milk as they can get dairy in other ways such as yogurt and cheese.  Plus they can get other liquids during the day.  It might take a few days for your child to drink from the sippy and that is fine.  They will do it.  What I did with my older DD and will be doing very soon with my younger DD is that I just stopped the bottles/formulas.  In the morning, I would offer my DD a sippy of milk when we got up.  SHe is in daycare FT and has breakfast there so they would offer her milk with her breakfast.  She would have a snack of table food at mid-morning and either get milk or water in her sippy cup.  Same thing at lunch - table food and milk or water in a sippy.  Same thing at afternoon snack and again at dinner.  At bedtime I would offer a sippy of milk.  During the day, I would keep a sippy of water for my DD to make sure she was getting enough liquid.  My DD never drank a whole sippy cup at a sitting, heck there are many days that she never finishes one whole 9 ounce sippy cup of milk but its fine as she gets dairy in many other ways and also drinks water thoughtout the day.  It is a very different world than drinking formula or nursing.