am I the worst mother if I...

ToyLes0922 · November 2010

let LO hang on to his bottles till 18 months? Everyone keeps saying, "wow he's not on a sippy cup yet?" I drives me bananas! We've been trying since 6 months and hardcore with milk since a month ago and totally has failed. I think I have every type of sippy cup ever invented and nothing has worked. I think I'm going to put it off for awhile longer. Anyone else doing this? The battle when I don't give him his bottle is one I don't want to fight yet!! Especially since he's still on baby food, hates anything textured, and milk is a big part of his diet.. I know they drink less when they drink out of a cup, so I don't think right now is a good time. TIA for feedback!

Jimsgirl5821 · November 2010

DD still uses bottles for her formula at night, but uses her cup for water and juice. I dont see anything wrong with it. I think she likes the bonding before bed. They will drop it when ready.

davis0905 · November 2010

I'm sure that it's fine, but get your pedi's opinion too. I know that my sister let her firstborn son hold on to his bottle until he was almost 2. And there were no negative consequences. He's 5 now and is completely normal!

DD was not ready to get off the bottle at 12 mos, but when we tried again at 15 mos, it was a success! Sometimes u just have to back off for a while and then try again later. GL!

cbwm · November 2010

A few women have posted that they finally got their kids to drink milk out of a sippy when they mixed it 50/50 with OJ. Have you tried this?

[Also, DS is over two and gets a nighttime bottle every night. I'm in no hurry to get rid of it. We tried weaning a couple months ago and he just wasn't ready. We'll try again in another month or so.]

first-time-mama · November 2010

OMG!!! I FINALLY another mom in the same boat!! I have like 6 friends with 1yr olds all on sippy cups..I have tried everyone too! And Noah LOVES his baba..I guess I think whats it going to hurt. I dont think its a big deal..I know he just turned one and a few weeks ago i took a super cute pic of him in the car seat drinking his bottle and my mom commented he should be off the bottle he is almost one! I could have rung her neck lol.

emberlee3 · November 2010

My niece was the same way. My sister just got rid of the bottles last week (niece is now 2 1/2). There was no battle about it at that point, so my sister thinks her LO just needed to be ready.

I wouldn't worry about it too much.

But, yeah, people are going to give you a really hard time.

smilelari · November 2010

My pedi told me to not worry too much about the bottle to cup transition yet. She said to do one thing at a time - milk first then cup - and to not overwhelm LO with too many changes at once. So, we're going with that. He's liking the milk, so we may start transitioning soon, but I'm not overly concerned.

ToyLes0922 · November 2010

first-time-mama:
OMG!!! I FINALLY another mom in the same boat!! I have like 6 friends with 1yr olds all on sippy cups..I have tried everyone too! And Noah LOVES his baba..I guess I think whats it going to hurt. I dont think its a big deal..I know he just turned one and a few weeks ago i took a super cute pic of him in the car seat drinking his bottle and my mom commented he should be off the bottle he is almost one! I could have rung her neck lol.

lol I kinda want to say, hey shut the hell up, at least I'm not going to breastfeed my child till their 4! (flame if you must but I think that's just wrong lol)

ToyLes0922 · November 2010

davis0905:

I'm sure that it's fine, but get your pedi's opinion too. I know that my sister let her firstborn son hold on to his bottle until he was almost 2. And there were no negative consequences. He's 5 now and is completely normal!

DD was not ready to get off the bottle at 12 mos, but when we tried again at 15 mos, it was a success! Sometimes u just have to back off for a while and then try again later. GL!

I talked to my pedi about it and he said he should be introduced to the sippy at a year but he'll do what he wants to do when he is ready, such as with solids, so I guess you all now have put me at ease thank you so much! I think I will step away from it for a few months and then try again. I figure once they understand you and know exactly what you mean (such as okay baby all the babas are going in the trash youre a big boy now) it will be more of a success lol

ToyLes0922 · November 2010

smilelari:
My pedi told me to not worry too much about the bottle to cup transition yet. She said to do one thing at a time - milk first then cup - and to not overwhelm LO with too many changes at once. So, we're going with that. He's liking the milk, so we may start transitioning soon, but I'm not overly concerned.

this exactly! I figured I'd try harder with maybe juice and water during the day after he got used to milk (which only took two days), but I think it was too soon Back to washing nipples and rings (I thought we were SO CLOSE in getting rid of them lol)

katypresson · November 2010

davis0905:

DD was not ready to get off the bottle at 12 mos, but when we tried again at 15 mos, it was a success! Sometimes u just have to back off for a while and then try again later. GL!

Same thing with my DS. He wasn't ready at 12 months. But we've been bottle-free for a little over a month now. It's wonderful! Just keep trying when you have time - like on weekends. One day he'll just take it.

ToyLes0922 · November 2010

KimmieS1756:

I had DD off the bottle by 11.5 months. She was a really easy transition though and could really care less about what kind of thing she was drinking out of as long as she got her milk/formula. She also preferred milk to the formula so I don't have experience with the rough transition. But in order to answer your question I think the sooner the bottle is replaced with the sippy's the better but each kid is different.

I have a friend that's LO refused sippy's when they knew there was a bottle in the cubbard. (He was 14 months by the way) Her way of making the transition permanent was packing up the bottles and removing them from the kitchen. She left sippy's of water all over the house and would offer him sippy's of milk at each meal time. When he cried for a bottle she showed him the cubbard where bottles used to be kept that was now filled with sippy's to show that there was no bottles anymore. After about a day and half of avoiding the sippy's he gave in and started drinking them and they haven't had problems since.

From what I have been told by many moms is that if you only offer the sippy and don't give in to the bottle they will get thirsty enough that they will drink from the sippy. It worked for my friend so who knows it may work for you too! IMHO I think 18 months is a little old to be still on the bottle, I especially think it's weird to see walking toddlers still drinking from bottles. I just think it looks so odd. DD started walking at 10.5 months and that's why I stopped the bottle when we did.

Good Luck and I hope you find something that wors soon!

Thanks for the info and stories! I might not wait till 18 months. I think I'll wait a month and then start again. Hopefully by then he'll want to drink milk out of it!

Lucky428 · November 2010

smilelari:
My pedi told me to not worry too much about the bottle to cup transition yet. She said to do one thing at a time - milk first then cup - and to not overwhelm LO with too many changes at once. So, we're going with that. He's liking the milk, so we may start transitioning soon, but I'm not overly concerned.

My pedi said the same thing. It's no big deal for them to still have a bottle right now. We were relieved.

DEBBIE33CASEY · November 2010

I don't think it makes you the worst mother

But i'd certainly keep trying. You don't want LO to be fighting you hard core later down the road. DD had an issue with sippys too but the soft spouted nubys worked eventually and now we do the take-n-toss b/c there's no stopper on it. She was reluctant but we just had to keep trying.

smellycat15 · November 2010

I got DD down to 2 bottles. A nap time one and a bed time one. She still takes formula because of her weight so her 2 bottles are formula and I give her milk and water sippys throughout the day. She didn't like the milk cold so I heated it up a little and she would then drink the whole thing. Have you tried that? Just 20 seconds was all she needed. I'll slowly start transitioning the other bottles soon. I'm happy the way it is for now. As long as she's off bottles by 2, I'll be fine.

Good luck!

katiekate1974 · November 2010

People get way too worked up about this stuff. It's a bottle. Not crack. Don't sweat it. ETA: I wouldn't bother asking your pedi about this, it's kind of a silly thing to get a medical opinion on. I have a hard time believing they spend any time at all in medical school on sippy cups...And when my pedi asked me if he was using a cup or bottle at 12 and 15 mos, I told him so. He laughed and agreed--all he wants to know was that he COULD drink out of a cup. As long as LO can drink from a sippy, don't sweat his preference (her? I can't remember, sorry!) I prefer to drink from a straw, DH prefers a cup....babies are entitled to preference, too!

sam19 · November 2010

Well we'd have to tie for worst then. I've decided not to try and force Natalie off the bottle. She won't be taking it to college and that is what matters, right?

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