Stopping the Bottle

3 meals a day and 2 snacks is great! Unless there is a fear of a milk allergy or weight problem, I would think you could drop the formula. I would definitely check with your pediatrician if you question it at all. A nurse once told me that if your child has been eating cheese without a problem then milk will be fine.

As far as the bottles, I nursed my daughter until she was 13 months and am still nursing my son of 5 months. My son is beginning to show signs that he tired of the bottle. Don't get me wrong, he would never refuse to nurse...BUT he is starting to show interest in the sippy cup as well. My plan is to start giving him the sippy cup at 6 months with the hopes that he will do as my daughter did and be off bottles at school by 8 months. I found that stopping the bottles cold turkey worked wonders!

Hope this advice helps! Good Luck!

my daughter would not drink from a sippy cup at all either. we started her in the cups with straws in them and then went gradulaty ( spelling is wrong) to the sippy cups.

whole milk is the way to go. it is the best and closest to formula or breast milk. my daughter sydney went straight to it with no problem.
good luck with you and everything.
oh, sydney eats that way too. we just went to her 15 month check up and she went throught a MAJOR growth spurt.

In my experience it is best not to confuse him, so do not give him formula in a sippy cup.It is time for him to not get a bottle during the day.Try to give him juice in a cup and put all bottles out of sight, where it really isn't an option. This is a battle of wills.As long as he has a choice he will always pick the bottle.I would only give him a bottle at bedtime and then only for a few more months.When you ween him off his bedtime bottle you might try breaking up the bedtime routine a bit. If you usually give him his bottle,let your husband,sometimes they except change better from some one else.It's like "Mom, you know I'm supposed to have a bottle."It will not be easy,but good things never are, just wait til potty trainig,lol.You might also let him pick out a new sippy cup that he is excited about drinking out of.

Good luck.

Experiment with different types of sippy cups. Some kids have a preference for a certain kind of spout. The Avent sippy cups are soft like a bottle nipple. They can be changed out for a hard spout later without buying a whole new cup (just a new spout).

I would wait and ask the dr. about giving him cow's milk.

I suggest going cold turkey and giving him liquids only in his sippy cup. You might try water or diluted juice in the cups too. Some kids will take other liquids but just not milk/formula because they associate that with the bottle. Good luck!

My son took a while to get the sippy cup thing. We had him down to a morning and night bottle only (none in the day) by 13 months and then a morning bottle only by 14 months.

He would still not drink hardly ever from the sippy cup even when we cut out daytime bottles at one year ... I worried at first, but my pediatrician told us he was getting enough fluids with his baby food and he'd drink when he was ready.

So, for us, cutting out the daytime bottle worked great for us (our son was in daycare full-time then) at one year ... and we did it cold turkey.

Good luck to you! Oh, by the way, we did switch our son (with our pediatrician's advice) to whole milk at one year (and then to 2% milk at two years).

And, my son was also an eating machine, too! He's gotten pickier as he's aged (he turned two in Feb.), but is still a pretty good eater! ;)

We actually stopped cold turkey with the bottle and went straight to sippy cups when he turned one and started his whole milk. However we had been working with him on sippy cups since about 6 months so he was used to drinking out of them. I don't know if we were just lucky but he never blinked when we took the bottles away (out of sight out of mind?). If you've been using sippy cups with him for a while, I would try switching completely at least for a day to see how it goes.

As far as the amount of formula he drinks, I don't think it's abnormal. My son was/is the same way. He eats and drinks like a horse.

And finally I would ask the doctor first about going to whole milk since he's been on soy so long.

Hey D., My advice is to stop putting anything in his bottle except water! Put his milk and juice in different cups that way he has a choice of which one he wants and can get either one but if he wants the bottle and only at night then I would only put water in it! I did this with all 5 of my kids and all the ones I babysat for and grandbabies and never really had a problem with it. Most babies don't want water in the bottle so they will throw it down so then offer him his cups!! Good Luck and stick to it because once you start don't ever give in and give it back because then it will be twice as hard if not more!! D.

My daughter, who is now 17 months, did not want anything to do with sippy cups. She only wanted her bottle. Finally over one weekend, I went cold turkey! And it worked! She has been drinking from sippy cups since. She was also on a special formula but switching to whole milk never caused any problems for her. We started doing half milk, half formula in her bottles and then did the same for a very short period of time in her sippy cups.

You know your son best so you will make the right decision. If you feel more comfortable talking with your doctor before changing his eating habits, then that's what you should do.

Good luck!

I had this same problem. My son is now 16 months old and he only gets a bottle if he wakes in the middle of the night and really needs to be comforted. I also still give him formuls and the doctor told us to do that till his 2nd birthday. Now as for your situation, yes, don't give hiom a bottle for a couple days and only sippy cups and then if you decide to give him one at night that is for you to decide and don't feel like you have to tell the daycare that you are giving him at home. It really isn't their business what you do at home as far as the bottle goes.
Just make a point to let him know no more bottles at daycare or in public. There is a book that I got my son from The childrens book of the month club called No more Bottles For Bunny. It rea;;y helped us and my son really likes the book.
Also, yes talk to your doctor before giving him whole milk or anything else other than what he is taking.
I wish you luck, T.

The EXACT same thing happened to my 2 1/2 year old at that age. She was on soy and my father was allergic so I just knew she would be too. She had the same issue with the bottle. Here's what I did. Throw the bottle out so you dont give in, let him watch you do so, make it an exciting event for him. Even if you have another child you will get more bottles at showers, there used and yucky anyways. After that, on a weekend (where you can watch him, keep him in from the heat, and because daycares wont let them just walk around with a cup)place a sippy cup with 2% in front of him. If he doesnt drink it, put it in the fridge and make one with water and a little bit of juice. Leave that out until he takes a nap or eats lunch, then present him with the milk again. After lunch or nap, give him the juice again. Eventually he will figure it out. If you let him keep the bottle now, he will walk all over you until you dont give in! He'll be fine. Usually if you give milk to him at nap time in a sippy cup, he wont go to sleep until he figures it out, when he wakes up he can associalte himself with it again and that may be all you have to do. Hope it works for you.

I know with my son, when he turned 1, his ped said to start with whole milk. I do not think it's necessary for him to still be on formula at this age. Although you might want to call his ped. and ask. About the bottle, 12 1/2 mon, is plenty old enough to be drinking out of a cup, if that's what you're ready to do. He will be fine. I had the same struggle with myself with taking my son's bottle away from him, but I threw the bottles away, let him SEE me throw them away, so he'd know they were gone, and I gave him nothing but sippy's. He may not like it at first, I know that my son didn't, but soon, when he gets thirsty and he realizes it's the cup, or no drink at all, he'll go for the cup!! Hope this helps:D

D.~
We stopped the Twins bottles the week of their 1st bday. They did not like them and had nothing to do with them!
So, since 1 is the traditional age for whole milk~I started putting regular milk in the cups.....THEY DRANK THEM DOWN WITHOUT STOPPING! They had associated sippy cups with Big Sisters cups....chocolate milk or juice. They did not want that formula in a cup. So, I got the hard top sippy cups by Gerber that change colors when they get cold..and it worked.
Maybe he associates formula to bottles and doesn't want it that way.
And our pediatrician said at this age....they should be getting about 18 oz of milk a day. 6oz or so with meals and the rest of the time give them water. They will not drink as much water, only when they are really thirsty...this has helped us also at meal and snack times and will help to ensure that we should dodge battling childhood obesity.
My Son was also on Soy formula and did great when we switched to Whole Milk. He probably outgrew the milk problem a long time ago, we just never chanced whether he could handle milk-based formula.
Best wishes...I hope any of this helps ya out!
Smiles,
T.

First off, GREAT NAME HE HAS!!! My second is also a Braden middle name Alexander. How did you come up with the name? My husband actually picked it out because he liked the rarity of it. When I go in Dr office they call him Brandon or Brian.

Anyway, the way I got mine off the bottle was with the Nuby sippy cups with the soft top. Just let him play with it with water in it and eventually he will start drinking out of it. My Braden did not want sippy cups and I just went cold turkey on him. He was around 12 months. If he was going to get his beloved formula then he was going to have to get it out of a sippy cup. He was MAD about it for about a day and then decided to just drink out of the Nuby. The only thing about Nuby is the top rubber part does come out easily. I now use Munchkin. Of course, now he is 2 & 1/2 and I don't know if I can get him off the sippy cup! His older brother was drinking out of glass at 2. Braden just thinks a cup is a game. "let's see how much we can get on the carpet before Mommy finds me"

Oh, well. Like him and potty training and tantrums and sucking his thumb.....He is ONLY TWO and he is acting like it so chill out mommy. Just telling you that because I chant it all day. He is only being two, he is only being two.