Switching to Milk - Westfield,NJ

Knowing my 1yo was very hungry 1st thing in the am I substituted warm milk in a cup first and she was fine with that change. At bedtime, we realized the cup was more easily accepted once we changed up her bedtime routine---adding more songs she knew, little shows with her stuffed animals, more familiar stories, and books with buttons that she could participate in, plus a big change...I let Daddy take over a majority of it most nights and everything went really smoothly because the bottle (and mommy with it)was not the main event. Not long after her 1st birthday it was Bye Bye Bottle! You may also want to try Enfamil Next Step--we were able to use that interchangeably with milk well into the first year.

I got my son off formula and the bottle at the same time. I weaned to milk just like you are doing and it went great. At the same time I introduced sippy cups. He HATED them, cried, wouldn't drink. Then I found the NUBY sippy cup. It has a silicone top that is shaped like a regular sippy, the mechanism is kind of in between a bottle and a true sippy cup. That worked wonders for me, by the time he was a full year, no more bottle or formula. He used the NUBY sippy cup for about 6-8 mo and then I got him onto regular sippy cups that on (rare) occ I still use and he's 4!

Hi C.,
The best thing I ever did was to get my kids off the bottle at age 1. My sister and friends kept going with the bottle and it was a nightmre getting them off it. The sooner the better is my advise. Don't do milk in a bottle if you can avoid it.

Good luck,
E.

I'm glad to hear giving him milk in a cup is going well...
As long as he is going well and drinking his requirements, continue on with it...
Hang on to the bottles and and don't be surprise if he wants one instead of the cup. He's young...every child is different and he might go back and forth with this...and that's ok...he's still a baby. Believe me, when he ready to go to school, you wont be packing baby bottles.

I switched right to milk. My daughters loved it. I didn't put anything in the milk or transition. I also put milk in the bottle. My 4 year old bit the nipple of the bottle at 18 months and I took the bottle away - told her it was broken and she was fine with it. My 2 year old came off the bottle at 16 months when she had a stomach virus and couldn't keep the bottle in her mouth - so we gave her a cup. If he is good with the cup and not using bottles - don't go back is my advice. But 1 year old is not too old to still have a bottle. Trust your instincts is what I believe. Good Luck to you and I hope he enjoys the milk as much as my girls did!

Hi C., Congrats on your son. The question of getting him off the bottle is a personal preference. I would say there is no set time. Some children really need the sucking. Drinking a bottle is not a bad thing. It is very comforting. Many cultures nurse their babies for years. I have raised 5 and now care for 2 of my 3 grandchildren none of whom were finished with their bottle before 2. Go with your heart and follow your baby's needs not what other people say. My best, Grandma Mary

We did the same thing with my son who is 17 months now...we were giving him a bottle in the a.m. and before bed when we transitioned to milk around1 year old. We eventually eliminated the a.m. bottle and used a cup. Probably not that long after the switch to milk. We just in the last few weeks took away the night bottle and we give him a cup, he was fine with it. At night we used to say its time for your bottle, which meant bedtime soon now we just say its time for your milk. I found that he was just playing with his bottle and spilling it all over and I found that to be annoying quite honestly, so thats why I just took it away at that point. He didn't drink a lot of milk at night in the beginning, which led me to believe he didn't really need/want the milk whether it was in a bottle or a cup, but now he drinks a good amount of it, I just give him more time to drink it. Same with the morning - I dont' expect him to suck it all down like he did when he was more of a baby with a bottle. My feeling is, children are different when it comes to taking away the bottle, so I would just let your son clue you in on what he wants and I would gradually eliminate it. Don't get to caught up in the rules or what people warn you to do or not to do, each situation is different and your son is still little. Now that I'm going through the "taking away" stage (bottle and pacifier) I realize we are way ahead of the game as compared to a lot of people, so don't stress, it will come.

my son was pretty easy to switch, we made it a big deal on his 1st birthday and together we waved bye bye to bottles and that was it. I did get a Nuby sippy cup which resembled a bottle in the way it feels on your tongue to help with the tougher days that he didin't feel like a sippy cup. Now that you mention it, I do remember at one point only offering water in bottles, so he lost interest in them cause sippy cups clearly had the good stuff Good Luck!!

hi C.;

i was glad to see you got a little gentle advice and reassurance about the bottle; it's always foolish to use that phrase, "you'll never get them off the..." because it's just not true. my children never used formula but here are examples of the irrelevancy of deadlines.

my son nursed until he was 3; people were horrified. a couple weeks after his birthday when he and i both were good and ready, we made a happy event out of it and put an abrupt end to nursing. he was a tiny bit sad for a few days but is totally over it.

my daughter only got a bottle after she was 11 months or so for water because she was very sloppy w the straw cup and sip cup; she's now 18 months and off the bottle. she would still like to have one and asks for it but she gets a nice fancy straw cup that she loves instead and it's a non issue.

the point is the time line threat is not something to take seriously. use the bottle as long as your son needs it and as long as you are not sick of washing them and buying new fresh ones to avoid mold every month or so. and don't let anyone push you around.

good luck!
J.

hi - I switched to whole milk when my son was one (now 15 1/2 months) and gave it in a bottle at the advice of my Doctor and now I am transitioning to a sippy cup for milk (he's taken water in a sippy cup for a while, I just started yesterday with the milk in the sippy cup - for one serving of 4 total per day, I am going to do one at a time with the bedtime bottle last) and it went fine. I think people make you paranoid about the bottle so my advice is don't worry. It is fine for a one year old to have a bottle...do what works for you and the baby!

well, milk and formula are pretty similar in a childs mind. at just one year old, he isnt going to really understand that "hey, now they put milk in my bottle". its more like he may notice a different taste to his "formula". whether milk or formula is in his bottle, if he wants his bottle, he wants his bottle. what they should have said was some babies have a hard time stopping the bottle, but that has nothing to do with milk or formula being inside. so instead of worrying about the milk issue, just wait until you feel you no longer want him on the bottle(whether it be a week, 6 months, ect, whenever you just feel its time), then start transitioning away. its great he takes the cup at meals though so keep it up.

now im assuming he still wants his bottle, but if he doesnt, and he drinks milk at 3 meals, and eats cheese, yogurt, ect, i wouldnt worry about his intake at all. just make sure he does get liquids of milk or water, but i would highly suggest to stay away from juice. my pediatric dentists all recommended no bottles after 2 and no binkies after 3. also bottles should be drank, not a sip here, a sip there, and of course, never at night. they also attribute juice as the number one cause for the large amount of toddlers with cavities.
also nuby cups are a nice transition cup or even straw ones. i offered a cup of milk or a bottle of water and let my daughter decide. she loved milk. i did the same thing when transitioning her off the nuby cup to a regular hard sippy. good luck, but really, i wouldnt worry, he isnt going to be 5 with a bottle:)

Dear C.,

I did take the bottle away at one per my docters request. I did the same transition as far as one ounce at a time and had great success. This is really up to you and how attached your child is to the bottle. It is normal for children to refuse milk in a sippy cup at first because they are so conditioned to have their milk or formula from a bottle. Maybe try a different sippy cup the type with the soft nipple top seems to be the best transition. Also if you can get him to use a straw it is becomes a novelty for him and maybe he will like the sippy cup with the straw in it. I agree I would not put milk in his bottle because it will only make taking it away more difficult. Good luck

Hi, my daughter just turned one on Saturday and I am about to switch to milk too. I was worried about getting her off the bottle but I just visited her pediatrician who told me that the only reason they say try to get them off the bottle at 1 is because they are more stubborn later on. She said that if my child was really attached to the bottle though, that it was fine to wait until around 18 months (before if she seemed willing to give it up). She said that often if you try to take it from them before they are ready that they are less willing to transfer to a cup and that sippy cups are really just bottles with bigger spouts anyway. I'm very happily keeping her with her beloved bottle for now.

1 year is the best time to get a baby off of the bottle. I ignored that advice and now my 2 year old won't drink milk from anything but a bottle. If I could do it all over again, I'd make the switch ASAP.