Weaning off bottle = hell

PsyDr04

DS has been getting a morning bottle as soon as he wakes up and a bottle before bed, 8 oz of whole milk in each. Per the pedi and the pediatric dentist, we need to start weaning him so this morning I did not give him his morning bottle. He wasn't upset about it but the problem we have is that DS does not drink much of anything during the day, maybe a few sips. That has been going on ever since we cut out the middle of the day bottle a few months ago. We have been trying to get him to drink his milk out of a sippy today and he just comes unglued. He is currently throwing a tantrum that has lasted at least 20 minutes and did this earlier today, too. He's got to be hungry but we have been holding off on solid food this afternoon because if he eats he is even less likely to drink anything (don't worry, I don't plan to starve my child).

I just really don't know what to do. I don't want to go back to the morning bottle and my husband is totally against that, but how do we get him to drink during the day??

dairygirl19

What kind of sippy are you using? My kid won't touch a sippy a regular spout sippy. She will drink out of the straw ones or a regular straw water bottle like there's no tomorrow however.

lindslalala

Here's what we did.

First thing in the morning I put DS in his high chair, and give him his breakfast with his sippy of milk. Initially he was pretty upset about the sippy, but I just kept offering it even after he repeatedly threw it off the tray. Eventually he drank half of it. He still only drinks about half of his sippy at breakfast, but eats much more food than previously.

When they go off bottles they typically drink less milk, eat more solids. So don't freak out that he isn't drinking as much as normal because he isn't going to most likely. I would say it took about 4 days for DS to get a hang of the new routine. I went with the "sink or swim" approach: decided we were done with bottles and that was that, no backtracking. Worked great for us. We also use straw sippys as opposed to regular ones.

PsyDr04

We have many different types of sippys. He likes the straw ones but the ones we have Playtex leak horribly. I got a Nuby straw sippy and I couldn't even suck anything up the straw so obviously something is wrong with it. I'm more concerned in general about his lack of interest in drinking during the day. At least he would drink his morning and evening bottle but now that I've started cutting the morning bottle, he'll be drinking even less total.

diana.filipi

I will concur with what others are saying.  Try different sippys but at the same time know that your kiddo will very much most likely drink a lot less than with bottles.  Up the amount of food being offered.  If you are concerned that your kiddo is hardly drinking anything or not enough milk be sure to offer dairy in other forms like cheese or yogurt and/or 'wet' foods like fresh fruits (watermelon, oranges, etc).  My DD went on a 3 week milk strike when we transitioned her off the bottle but whatever, she made the switch when she was ready (hindsight says that it was just her way!).

 

BlueJewelM

I'm cruel.

Dr said she liked to see babies off the bottle around 12 months. So we packed up all the bottles. There were no more!

He was upset at first but did ok with the straw ones and nuk sippy at first. Took him a day to get the hang of it.

Bella61811

PsyDr04:

I got a Nuby straw sippy and I couldn't even suck anything up the straw so obviously something is wrong with it.

I believe with the Nuby ones they need to bite as they sip for it to come out. That is way too complicated for a young child if you ask me! 

eyenigh

We like the Zoli straw cups a lot. The straw is weighted so it works at all angles. My son turned one today and last week, we transitioned him to taking his morning and evening bottles out of a Nuk sippy with a silicone spout, which he way prefers in comparison to the hard spouts. He's already been using his straw cup instead of bottles. I am kind of shocked that this was this easy for him but I do agree, he is drinking less so I've been trying to keep a sippy of water readily available in case he's thirsty.

Tink112011

I'm cruel too.  I wanted DS completely off bottles by time he transitioned to the toddler room at daycare at exactly 12 months, so he was done w/ them closer to 11 months. 

DS was NOT happy the first morning that he got a sippy instead of a bottle.  Major hysterics.  The second morning he fussed a little.  Then that was that. 

I always wonder if he is drinking enough during the day, even after 4 months of being bottle free.  But I watch his diapers and they're wet enough, so try doing that to calm your dehydration fears.  I'm pretty sure he'll drink if he's thirsty.

Wulfgar

It took us a few tries before we found the sippy cups that our son liked.  He got really sick when we had to get him off the bottle so as soon as he was well all of his bottles went "missing" so he had no choice but go to sippy cups that he could have.

meg_2006

Bella61811:

PsyDr04:

I got a Nuby straw sippy and I couldn't even suck anything up the straw so obviously something is wrong with it.

I believe with the Nuby ones they need to bite as they sip for it to come out. That is way too complicated for a young child if you ask me! 

They do have to bite, it took DS a few days to get used to it.  Of course it's hard for you to suck up the straw, it's the same for almost any sippy cup.  The valves make just a little come out at a time so they don't gag on huge volumes of liquid going down their throat. 

Give it some time, it might just take a while to adjust.  You also might try warming the milk up a little?  DS refuses cold milk still, we zap it for about 15 sec.  

crh1221

We use the Playtex cups with a straw. And we went cold turkey with bottles, she hasn't had one since her birthday. She was fussy for a few days and definitely didn't get enough to drink, but she learned. 

preggersin2011

LO used the born free bottles. By 12 months I swapped all of the bottle nipples with the training sippy spout, then I sent her to school with the hard spouts and kept the training at home. My experience is at school they don't really care as much as at home. After a little while I swapped her all to the playtex sippy cups and the tommee tippe spout bottles for water. 

I wouldn't swap formula and whole milk at the same time as bottle....  

preggyamy

HilarityEnsued:

And as for the nighttime bottle?  Well... He takes a bottle at night and passes out for a solid 12 hours. So the pediatrician and/or dentist can pry the nighttime bottle out of my cold dead hands.  I am not messing with that for at least a few more months at the earliest. 

Me too! 

BrittanyMc

DD will be 2 in July and still has a bottle at nap and bed. I did the same with DS and crazy enough he didn't go to preK with said bottle. I've never felt the need to rush it, I plan to take it away after we move from Puerto Rico to Nebraska in May. Mostly because it will keep her happy during take off and landing. And also, DS has close to perfect teeth.