When to give up bottles?

ksmiller · July 2012

My son is 14 1/2 months old & I still give him a bottle of milk in the AM when he wakes up & one right before bed. The babysitter has weaned him off of bottles & he drinks both water & milk out of sippy cups throughout the day. I can see giving up the AM bottle, but I'm going to have a hard time giving up the bottle at bedtime, yes I said I will have a hard time

do you think he's too old to still be taking a bottle?

jaxxx15 · July 2012

I think he should go to sippy cups. However my son was never attached to his bottle so it is easier for me to say. I think you have to balance your feelings with what the experts say and know at the end of the day.. You know best!

SarahTx5701 · July 2012

My son gets a bottle in the am. he's 17 moths (oops). heres the thing, He's my last baby, getting one bottle in the morning wont kill him. Its literally the ONLY time he will snuggle with me. He wakes up each morning and says "baba" in the cutest little voice. What can I say... I'm a softie.

I say, make your own decisions.

You dont have to rush anything....

chatty6176 · July 2012

My son is almost 14 months and gets one bottle at bedtime....the reason...he was exclusively breastfed until 10 months when he weaned himself because all he wanted to do was bite me. It was a struggle to switch to bottles and get on formula/milk. He drinks milk/water throughout the day with sips but he gets most of his milk ( 8 oz.) at bedtime when he likes it. He needs to put on some weight so dr. wants us to make sure he's getting the full fat milk. So right now we are sticking with the bottle....we will start to wean after his 15 month appt to make sure his weight isn't dropping off the charts.

countrymice06 · July 2012

I did it right around her first birthday, but she was fine with a sippy cup. I think that was a good time to do it- before she was talking. I heard the good advice to get rid of any unwanted habits before they can talk, and I have found that to work well!

CopperT0p · July 2012

jaxxx15:
I think he should go to sippy cups. However my son was never attached to his bottle so it is easier for me to say. I think you have to balance your feelings with what the experts say and know at the end of the day.. You know best!

This. L was never terribly attached to bottles, and we just put them in a box one day when he was 10 months old and it was sippy cups or open cups from there on out. He didn't even seem to notice. GL!

KissyFishyLips · July 2012

We transitioned from bottles between 9-10 months old. But here's a suggestion: use a sippy cup for the morning and bedtime feedings, but still hold/rock LO - you can even hold the cup like a bottle. I did this when we first transitioned.

When do you plan on dropping the bedtime feeding? We transitioned away from that by switching out the milk for water for like a week, and then just stopped doing it altogether.

Jinsy80 · July 2012

It wasn't a huge deal to me, so I delayed it. DD1 stopped bottles at 18 months (at that point she was only having a night-time bottle). DD2 just stopped bottles at 19 months (she was really only interested in her morning bottle).

mammcg88 · July 2012

countrymice06:
I did it right around her first birthday, but she was fine with a sippy cup. I think that was a good time to do it- before she was talking. I heard the good advice to get rid of any unwanted habits before they can talk, and I have found that to work well!

I started weaning right after his first birthday. I let one go each day. Jack was never very attached to them though, so it was really easy.

kimbo1216 · July 2012

We completely weaned from the bottle a few weeks ago. It took us a few months of offering various sippies before we found one she does well with. Now, she is starting to branch out and it doesn't have to be a specific one so long as she doesn't have to bite to get it.

My pedi recommended being bottle-free by 14 months. I know others have different recs. When it comes down to it, you have to do what works for you. I was sick of bottles and ready to change. I find sippies so much less annoying for some reason.

Also, I like PP's rec to still rock with a sippy.

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