Bottle breaking advice needed please!

[Mouse House Mama]

Don't feel so much pressure to have her weaned right away- as long as she's off by 15 mos. or so, she'll be fine. Generally, the advice is to make the cup more interesting than the bottle, and it seems like you're already doing that. Don't worry- it will be fine

I disagree. There is no magical age that they must be off or they will have problems. When she is ready it will happen.

 

[luvmesometigger]

Let her have the bottle! There is no good reason to come off it at the magic age of 1. When she is ready you will know and it will not be an argument. Oh- and no- she won't be taking a bottle in college. Go with the flow and it will be fine.

Well she may have a bottle in college but I am sure it will not be filled with milk.

 

[belle&beast]

I disagree. There is no magical age that they must be off or they will have problems. When she is ready it will happen.

But there can be speech problems from sucking too long on a bottle. I am not talking about dental issues, but the actual way the palate can change shape from sucking along with a tongue thrust can be detrimental to speech sound development. Weaning from a bottle by 14-15 months is best for oral motor and speech development. And sippy cups are a great transition to an open cup or straw by 2.

 

[Mouse House Mama]

But there can be speech problems from sucking too long on a bottle. I am not talking about dental issues, but the actual way the palate can change shape from sucking along with a tongue thrust can be detrimental to speech sound development. Weaning from a bottle by 14-15 months is best for oral motor and speech development. And sippy cups are a great transition to an open cup or straw by 2.

There can also be speech problems is a child doesn't eat certain foods (like meat) because their muscles don't develop like they need to. That doesn't mean that every kid will have those problems or even very many. A tongue thrust is also something that many children outgrow as they hit their milestones. While I do agree that if the bottle is impeding speech it should go I don't think that is the case most of the time.

 

[Mouse House Mama]

Well she may have a bottle in college but I am sure it will not be filled with milk.

 

[belle&beast]

There can also be speech problems is a child doesn't eat certain foods (like meat) because their muscles don't develop like they need to. That doesn't mean that every kid will have those problems or even very many. A tongue thrust is also something that many children outgrow as they hit their milestones. While I do agree that if the bottle is impeding speech it should go I don't think that is the case most of the time.

The problem is that you don't know until it is too late whether or not speech development is affected unless you have a child with some type of developmental disability or sensory disorder diagnosed very young. Many typically developing kids have oral motor problems based on how they were fed at this age. I won't argue with you, but there is an age that a child should be weaned from a bottle.

 

[bgirl29]

What my pediatrician recommended worked like a charm. He had me offer the cup first with the drink at regular strength. My child would usually take a sip before turning their head away. Then I would just give them the bottle but with the drink watered down. Every day you just watered the drink in the bottle more and mine all chose the sippy by the end of a week.

 

[brymolmom]

I agree with the just get rid of them. When my kids were 1 year - I got rid of 1 at first for a day or two...then got rid of the rest all at once.

Don't worry about the baby drinking less - they are supposed to now. They're supposed to get their nourishment from other things besides milk. It won't hurt in the long run and he will start drinking more. Just increase yogurt and cheese for a bit until he gets the point that bottles are gone.

I know it seems like a big thing since you're so used to how it is now - but it ends up not being a very big thing.

 

[worm761]

Thanks for all the advice! I have her down to three bottles a day and drinking water and milk out of a sippy cup. She only drinks a bit at a time but is drinking more often.

 

[bekkiz]

I have a couple of thoughts. We went cold turkey to milk in a straw cup at 11.5 months.

1) There will be a transition time where they do not drink much of anything. For about 2.5 weeks, my twins went from drink 32 oz of formula a day to about 8 oz of milk, if I was lucky. They would take a sip from the straw cup here and there throughout the day. They did NOT guzzle it down. And this is ok. I just made sure to offer lots of cheese and yogurt to make up for it. After that 2.5 weeks, they would drink about 5 oz with each meal, and within the next month they were back up to about 20 oz a day.

2) The bottle can be a comfort object just like a pacifier, and my personal view is that it's easier to get rid of those earlier rather than later. but you also have to do what is right for you.

3) Beyond the transition from formula to milk and from bottle to cup, there's also the developmental shift in viewing liquids as a beverage as opposed to food. In our case, the little sips throughout the day helped them understand that a bit faster.

 

[scrapquitler]

How do you bottle break a baby that doesn't like her sippy cups?

Skip the sippy cups and teach her how to use a straw instead http://www.ehow.com/how_2104272_teach-baby-use-straw.html

 

[mjkacmom]

I disagree. There is no magical age that they must be off or they will have problems. When she is ready it will happen.

My sister FINALLY took my nephew's bottle away when he was 4! She did it because he couldn't be potty trained, because he was consuming tons of liquid all day. Some kids give things up when they are ready, some are never ready. I am convinced my kids would still be sucking a binkie if I had let them continue (except for ds7 - he gave it up on his own around the age of 18 months). I think the older some of them get, the more attached they get to items (dd9 still can't sleep without her lovey, but at least it's not harming her mouth in any way).

 

[2DisPrincesses]

We are having a problem breaking my DD(almost 2) of her bottle. We have slowly been weaning her and we have her down to only one bottle at bedtime. This is huge as her bottle was definitely a security object for her and everytime she was tired, upset, etc. she wanted one.

 

[delmar411]

sorry but as I read these I get really sad. Breaking and baby should not be in the same sentence. Bottles are not bad habits. Nor are binkys. How would you feel if someone told you that they were taking away the thing you took comfort in and they didn't give a hoot how you felt about it? And they were going to let you cry for days about it too??

Babies should not have things taken from them. And babies should be given breast milk or formula to drink until they are 1. Not 11mths, not nearing 1 but 1. Once they are a toddler, you can work to substitute out comfort items for new more 'acceptable' comfort items. As they get to the older toddler stage you can implement rules about things like binkys. When and where they are ok to have and whatnot.

Some kids will want their items forever. Others will just leave them by the wayside. But at least give your child the chance to make that transition in a comfortable manner for them not at your own personal time line.

Sorry for the bit of a vent, but babyhood passes so quickly, that I don't understand the obsession with taking away all of a baby's comfort items based off some random schedule.

 

[bekkiz]

Please do not feel sad for my children. Every family does what is best for them, and for us, allowing an attachment to blankies was better than allowing an attachment to something that could lead to dental or speech problems. I wish my parents could have "broken" me of my thumb sucking earlier rather than having little spikes cemented to the back of my teeth.

Then again, I have no problem with a bit of crying, and I know plenty of parents who would rather not let their kids cry. They're both fine choices, and I'm certainly not sad for their children.

 

[mamaLori05]

I got rid of the bottles, one by one, the last one being the morning (my kids' favorite). Dd12 refused to drink milk out of a sippy, so I did what the pediatrician told me to do - only offer a sippy of milk all day, and thirst would conquer (it did). I was skeptical, because he was very skinny, and wouldn't eat much, but she convinced me (and she ended up being right) that if he didn't drink so much milk, he'd eat more food.

Sounds like she was an average size baby, and not too thin (none of my kids reached 20 pounds by a year, and one of them was almost 9 pounds, born at 38 weeks - heck, she's under 60 pounds now, and almost 10).

This!! Neither of my kids were 20 lbs at a year either, but pefectly healthy. I started introducing the sippy cup around 10 months, and made sure they were both off the bottle before they turned a year. If you wait much longer after a year it becomes harder and they become more attached. (same with nook's) When we switched fully to sippy's they were only offered the sippy, and by early afternoon they did just take it. If they are eating all table food by a year (which my kids were) there really isn't a reason to worry about not getting enough nutrition. The less milk they drink, the more food they will eat. My ped had the same recommendations as mentioned above and it worked out great for my kids (3 and 5).

 

[mamaLori05]

sorry but as I read these I get really sad. Breaking and baby should not be in the same sentence. Bottles are not bad habits. Nor are binkys. How would you feel if someone told you that they were taking away the thing you took comfort in and they didn't give a hoot how you felt about it? And they were going to let you cry for days about it too??

Babies should not have things taken from them. And babies should be given breast milk or formula to drink until they are 1. Not 11mths, not nearing 1 but 1. Once they are a toddler, you can work to substitute out comfort items for new more 'acceptable' comfort items. As they get to the older toddler stage you can implement rules about things like binkys. When and where they are ok to have and whatnot.

Some kids will want their items forever. Others will just leave them by the wayside. But at least give your child the chance to make that transition in a comfortable manner for them not at your own personal time line.

Sorry for the bit of a vent, but babyhood passes so quickly, that I don't understand the obsession with taking away all of a baby's comfort items based off some random schedule.

No need to feel sad for my kids either. Both of my kids are VERY happy children, get pleanty of love and attention, are social butterflies with tons of friends, and are above their age level accademically. Taking the bottles and nook's away at one year did not harm them in any way.

 

[mjkacmom]

No need to feel sad for my kids either. Both of my kids are VERY happy children, get pleanty of love and attention, are social butterflies with tons of friends, and are above their age level accademically. Taking the bottles and nook's away at one year did not harm them in any way.

I agree! I was more liberal with the binkies (took them away around 3, but my kids only ever had them for sleep), but the bottles were gone by 1ish. They did have lovies (and some still sleep with them), but they are stuffed animals, and don't effect their speech or their teeth.

 

[justhat]

Thanks for that. Like I said, we have bought every kind of sippy that we could find around town. It turns out that she likes the Take and Toss ones that are meant to be thrown a way! We have the soft ones like a bottle but she didn't like them. We bought the Playtex (?) ones with Mickey (her fave) and she wouldn't touch them. My plan right now is to give a bottle in the morning, nap time, and bed. She takes a bottle before going to sleep. She is just so tiny that I fear malnutrition. She had a virus last week so we were at the doctors the other day. She weighs a whole 17 pounds at a year old. She was over due and 7 pounds 13 ounces when she was born.

My daughter is almost 11 months and barely 16lbs. And she was born 16 days early at 8lbs 1.5oz, so basked on that she should be huge! But her dr isn't concerned about her weight at all, as she eats literally anything she has tried, except raspberries, and since we've given her nearly all foods, she has quite a varied diet. She does have milk and nut allergies (that seem to be fading in recent weeks!), so she hasn't had any dairy products or anything with nuts, but she eats all meats, veggies, fruits, starches, etc.

So anyway, my point there is don't fear malnutrition if she's eating a variety of foods, just cause she won't use a cup. The cup will come in time.

And as for ditching the bottle, my kids never had bottles, so I am not sure it's exactly the same process, but I just started them on straws at 6 months old and they were able to drink anything out of a cup that way. My 10 month old drinks water out of cups with straws without issue. I never did the sippy cups because my oldest never really caught onto the idea. She'd just hold them in front of her and suck, not tilting the cup back, so she wouldn't get any liquid out of the cup. After a couple of months, I quit and introduced the straw and life was easy.

It is so much easier to use straws cause you can get them a drink wherever you are, no worries about not having a sippy cup on you, or carrying around the cups in your car, when they get all sticky and stuff inside.

I also started teaching my older 2 how to drink out of a regular cup at 15 months and within 3 days, they pretty much have it down. My youngest has used a cup directly a few times and it hasn't been as messy as you'd think.

So my advice is just ditch the sippys and try straws or unlidded cups. Probably a much easier next step.

 

[brymolmom]

sorry but as I read these I get really sad. Breaking and baby should not be in the same sentence. Bottles are not bad habits. Nor are binkys. How would you feel if someone told you that they were taking away the thing you took comfort in and they didn't give a hoot how you felt about it? And they were going to let you cry for days about it too??

Babies should not have things taken from them. And babies should be given breast milk or formula to drink until they are 1. Not 11mths, not nearing 1 but 1. Once they are a toddler, you can work to substitute out comfort items for new more 'acceptable' comfort items. As they get to the older toddler stage you can implement rules about things like binkys. When and where they are ok to have and whatnot.

Some kids will want their items forever. Others will just leave them by the wayside. But at least give your child the chance to make that transition in a comfortable manner for them not at your own personal time line.

Sorry for the bit of a vent, but babyhood passes so quickly, that I don't understand the obsession with taking away all of a baby's comfort items based off some random schedule.

To a point...actually I feel more sad for the kids whose parents never take anything away from them. Those toddlers, 3, 4, 5 year olds who you go over to someone's house and can't eat or drink there because you only want your bottle. Those kids who are exhausted and totally grumpy and pains in the butt crawling all over their parents at 11pm because they go to bed when they want to...

We're the parents...they're the children. We are supposed to, IMO, lead them to what the proper path is. So since we know that bottles ultimately are bad for them and tougher to break the habit later, we teach them to use a 'big boy/girl cup'.