Bottle breaking advice needed please!

[worm761]

DD turns one on Tuesday and needs to be bottle broken. I have a 14 year old DS but he has autism and was so vastly different from DD that everything is all new to me. I can't believe how much I have forgotten!
So, we have bought just about every sippy cup on the market. We finally found one that she tolerates but will only take a few sips at a time and then tosses it. We give her milk, water, or juice in sippy cups. Formula is the only thing she has gotten in the bottle. I figured it would make the transition easier from formula to milk. She is a stubborn child. I have no idea where she got that from. So I need advice. How do you bottle break a baby that doesn't like her sippy cups? What age should they be off the bottle completely? How much should she drink a day? I will ask the doctor the same things on Wednesday but would like some real world advice too. Thanks!

 

[DISNEYNV]

My daughter drank out of a bottle until almost age three and my son was two and a half. I got yelled at by the doctor, but I really dont see the harm in it as long as the thing is not hanging out of their mouths at all times or in bed with them at night (tooth decay). My kids are fine and my son uses a sippy or a cup with a straw now that he just turned three. The sippy cups now are the soft spout ones for the most part and they were the only ones MY kids could tolerate as well, but not much different than a bottle nipple. I would just give her the formula bottle in the morning or at night and sippies the rest of the day until she gets used to the transition like you said. Unless you go cold turkey with the bottle she will still want it. My kids never liked blankets, lovies, or passifiers so their comfort item was their bottle. It is hard to break that habit Good luck and dont worry, she wont be going to kindergarten with a bottle in hand

 

[twinboysmom]

I was fortunate as both my boys were easily off by a year. I do not normally give them juice but I watered it down and put that in the sippy and gave them only milk in their bottles. Also I found they took to the Nuby sippys, the ones that have a soft silicone mouth piece. Your child may just not be ready. Most of my friends children did not come off the bottle until 18 months or so. One of these friends is a dental hygienist as well as I believe the bottle thing is a teeth issue. Her children's teeth are fine. My doctor said try to get off the bottle by a year but no later than 18 months and if I had to give them a bottle at night for sleep just put water in it. As for how much milk at a year, my fellows just don't drink much but the doc said no more than 12 to 16 oz. of milk at a year and as much water as they would drink.

This is my thing, do what your child needs. If she needs a bottle a bit longer, ok. If she needs a lot of milk because she doesn't eat well, ok. BTW, transition wise from formula to milk, you can mix it but I went cold turkey as most others I know did and everything was fine. Good luck and no worries!

 

[worm761]

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.

 

[Mouse House Mama]

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.

 

[barnaby1]

There is nothing to stop you going straight from bottle to open cup with or without a straw if she is not keen on a sippy cup.
Either way make the break sooner rather than later as it will only get harder as she gets older.

 

[McDuck]

The straw variety sippies work best for us with milk (I took my daughter off formula shortly before her first birthday). She still takes bottles at home and before bed, but when we are out and about we'll use a bendy straw or a straw type sippy. Good luck to you!! As long as she is not lying in bed with the bottle, which can lead to tooth decay, I don't see what the big deal is.

 

[mjkacmom]

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).

 

[riley2008]

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.

Just use the Take and Toss ones - you don't have to toss them! We use the Take and Toss spoons only as they liked them best and they were inexpensive.We also reused the Take and Toss sippies. I remeber packing dry snacks in them too. I would "serve" the snacks on their tray and fill up the sippy - a two-for-one thing.

Also, IMHO, I would give-up for 2-3 months and try again. DS1 quit his bottle about 13 months and DS2 (keep in mind they are twins) wouldn't take milk out of anything but a bottle until nearly two, but would use a sippy for other times at 12 months.

 

[SweetMissy]

I breastfeed, so luckily didn't have to worry about this issue. What you can do is start watering down whatever you put in the bottle and eventually she'll not want it. Or just do it cold turkey....throw them away and be done with them. My daughter was 11 months old before she took a sippy cup, so I know about a stubborn kid!

 

[belle&beast]

I am a speech pathologist, and using a bottle for too long can affect oral motor and speech development. That being said, you don't have to stop cold turkey and if you can wean her by 14-15 months, you should not have any problems.

Straws are by far the best for oral development, so if you can let her try a straw cup, she may surprise you. My youngest is almost 15 months and I nursed for a year and used breast milk in bottles while I was away. We had to try lots of different sippy cups and finally found some he liked. I started by putting the breast milk in sippy cups- since it was what he preferred. As we started to get him on whole milk, I mixed the 2 different milks together to help with transition.

 

[lisateaches]

I agree go take away one bottle a day until you are down to her favorite time or most needed ( usually bedtime) then just start giving her less and less milk in it until you just switch to a sippy then too. Good luck. I'll try to remember the book that helped us potty train at age two. Our second was harder so we had to use the book. It worked like a charm and she was potty trained very quickly. I'm sure that seems like a long way off for you.

 

[nchulka]

At that age I would just throw them all away and have that be the end of it. If she still gets it sometimes she will cry for it all the time. If they are just gone for good she'll get over it and forget in a few days. It will be a few days of lots of crying but she'll forget quickly. My DS loved his binky (never cared about his bottle and stopped taking it before a year on his own). His binky was a different story, he loved it and always slept with it. One morning when he was about 22 months I noticed he had bitten a hole in the nipple part. I was very afraid he would bite a chuck off and choke on it so I threw them all away that day. He cried about 2-3 days and then never again, he forgot and was over it. With the bottle gone she will drink from a cup, she may fight a few days or even in a week but in the end when her body needs it she will drink.

 

[2disneyboys]

its been awhile since mine were so little, but in both cases, my boys were off the bottle by 1 year. the way I did it was the month or so before hand, I started offering the cup more and more and more and commenting on what a big boy he was etc etc. as we got closer to 1 (within a week or two) I started watering down whatever was in the bottle (more than normal) and once they were one, they could only have water in the bottle.. everything else (milk, juice etc) was in a cup.

I will say it's not THAT big a deal of the age you take it away, but if you do want your child off the bottle, the sooner you start on it, the easier.. I've found (from other friends and family) that the longer they waited to take away the bottle, the harder struggle it was. just do it in stages and get to the point where they can't get anything they LIKE from the bottle..

Good Luck!!!!

 

[MSSANDRA]

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.

I agree. It is really not a big deal unless she is caring it around all day. We never put juice in bottles but just milk or water. We only let them have it on our laps and at bed time (I know BAD ) DS gave his up at 15 mo on his own and DGS we did take at two. We did it then cold turkey and it was rough a few day but we made it. Did the same with the passie a few months later.

A sippy cup can be just as bad on teeth as a bottle.

 

[lovetheduck]

My DD was 14 pounds at a year, so I understand your worry about calorie intake. At this point I would say to change one thing at a time. Either start weaning from the bottle or from formula, but not both at the same time. We also had better luck with the straw cups than the regular sippies.

As an extra way to add calories, try adding a tablespoon of heavy cream to a yogurt or a cup of milk. It adds about 50 extra calories and even my DD didn't notice the difference in taste.

 

[pixidustmom]

At one we would really start with the sippy cups more and more. By the time they were 13 to 15 months depending on the child they were then broken for all bottles but the morning. Then it was time to say bye bye to them and put them in a bag for the bottle fairy to take. There was a few tears in the next am feeding but after 3 days the cup wasn't being thrown across the room.

 

[kandb]

My son will be 2 years in February and still loves his bottle. I will not take it away. Why? Because he takes a full 8 oz. in the am and pm and its important for him to get that nutrition. It is also comforting to him and before he goes to bed every night, he lays on me and has his bottle. It's such a great time to just snuggle with him. Don't let society make you feel guilty that your child should be rushed off the bottle. Believe me, it's not doing her any harm. Linda

 

[snow_white's_mom]

For DD at walmart I found a bottle that had handles that could go on it and a bottle top (soft just like the one for a bottle) but it's shaped like a sippy cup top. I believe it was a nubby brand. After she was doing good with that we switched to the little playtex ones that are short and squatty with handles (so it's like the bottle). I don't remember how old DD was, but she was still taking bottles at her first birthday.

 

[GingerJay]

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