How did you get baby of the bottle?

MrzHoz · March 2013

DD is just over 15 months old and will drink her water from a sippy cup but refuses to drink milk from it. She also won't give up her bedtime bottle.

1. How did you get your baby to switch to a sippy?

2. What can we do about the night time bottle?

I have her 15 month dr. appt. tomorrow and will ask there too, but wanted to hear about your experiences as well.

TIA.

SCtoDC · March 2013

Pack up your bottles. Only offer cups. She'll come around.

Ljojo · March 2013

I agree with PP. I just stopped giving bottles for all 3 of my kids and they did fine. I did start with a sippy that has a soft spout, so it's still similar to a bottle.

brazzale · March 2013

I just tried the cold turkey method this AM and offered a sippy cup. He refused. I wish I wasn't in such a hurry to get us all out the door otherwise I would have fought it harder. He had no problem giving up his "snack" bottle in the AM & PM for food and has no problem with a sippy cup at a meal, but apparently has a problem with a sippy cup first thing in the AM.

I will try a sippy cup tonight before bed.

Like PP said, eventually they'll come around!

Ms5586 · March 2013

We started with a straw cup, but realized that he wouldn't drink from a straw cup before bed. So we have a regular sippy cup of milk before bed (still do, at almost 18 months).

We just didn't give him the bottle. I think we started with naps? Then dropped the morning bottle for a sippy, and then the night bottle.

mben1119 · March 2013

1. We stopped offering bottles, except for bedtime. We're dropping that bottle this weekend. We're just going to offer him a sippy of milk before we do our bedtime routine, and he shouldn't need the bottle. He's self-spaced the amount of time between his bottle and actually falling asleep enough that we should be good to go.

ewilliams1127 · March 2013

I stopped bottles at his 1 year bday. I just stopped offering them. We had done sippy cups with a straw at all meal times, no bottles from 8-12 mos. Then we switched to the Nuby sippy cups and he quickly got the hang of tilting his head back.

When we stopped formula we stopped the bedtime "bottle." Nothing after dinner except water. He has STTN since 4 mos.

ladybugpjb · March 2013

With the nighttime bottle, DS pretty much gave that up on his own after we started solids. I tried to get him to eat as much as possible at dinner (around 6pm), and then he just didn't need to drink a bottle at bedtime. That was somewhere between 1 year and 15 months.

lindslalala · March 2013

I just switched. He woke up one day and no more bottles. He was a little confused at first, but once he realized that was all he was getting he learned quickly. I also use straw cups for milk and sippys for water only. That may have helped with the distinction although I really have no idea.

Does she use the bottle to go to sleep or just likes to have it? If she just likes it I would try moving it up a little earlier and then doing some quiet play in her room or reading stories before bed. DS drinks his last cup of milk after his bath, but at least 30mins to an hour before bed. He takes a few sips then wanders off to play, comes back for some more and so on and so forth.

Netty_3 · March 2013

SCtoDC:
Pack up your bottles. Only offer cups. She'll come around.

This is what we did. He was perfectly fine. I should say we were a bit dumb, and had some on our counter, so he would want one at bedtime...but as soon as we actually really put them away he was fine.

RachelTice · March 2013

Yep, just went cold turkey. She hated it for a day or two but we have been bottle free for about 2 months!!!Good luck!

blu-eyedwife · March 2013

We used his transition to an older kid room at daycare as his bottle transition at 11 months. We just started sending him in with breastmilk in his straw cup instead of the bottle.

Day 1: He fussed a bit, the DCP told him that big boys don't use bottles, and he settled down and drank from the cup.

Day 2: He refused to drink from the cup, so she used a backup bottle.

Day 3-present: No bottles. All milk or water is from the straw cup.

lana22 · March 2013

we started at about 13 months -- he had four 8 oz bottles a day and first we cut out the second, and after a few days the third. about a week after that we dropped the morning one and just started bfast right away, and dropped the night bottle a few days after that. it was way easier than i expected and within 2-2.5 weeks he was done w/ bottles.

Jen0204 · March 2013

We started at 11 months and did the switch all at the same time (instead of daytime bottles first, then nighttime bottles). We would offer a sippy cup of milk with dinner, put it in the fridge while we did baths and got them ready for bed, then offer it again before bed. Whatever they wouldn't drink we would put into a bottle and finish up the feeding. Each day they drank more and more and within a week we were able to stop offering bottles at all. When they were on bottles they were getting 7 ounces of milk at night and now that they use straw sippy cups I offer 8 ounces because it can be a real pain to get that last little bit out. They haven't had a bottle at home in 2.5 months and daycare gave my their bottles about a month ago. If a gradual change just causes more headaches with your LO, I would definitely just do a cold turkey approach and realize you'll have a tough couple of days.