When to stop bottle feeding

[Stacey C]

Good afernoon to all. I need so advice on when to stop bottle feeding my 1 year old. She turned 1 yesterday. Yes. she is a April Fool's day baby. Here is alittle back ground. She started on plain milk at 9 months and right now she takes 3 8-6 oz bottles a day. One about 2 hours after breakfast and another about mid afternoon and one before bed time. She never goes to bed with a bottle in her mouth or bed. So there is the background would like any advice I could get.
Stacey

 

[Mom of 5]

We stopped the bottle with all 5 of ours right around the first birthday ( most of them stopped right before they turned one). There seemed to be a natural slacking off, so it wasn't really difficult. I think it's easier at that age. If you wait too long, they seem to get very attached and don't want to give it up.

Hope this helps, and your transition to the sippy cup goes smoothly (whenever you decide ).

 

[GoofieRuthie]

My now 2 year old daughter didn't like sippy cups at first because the flow was too slow. She did like to drink from a straw though. She also never went to bed with a bottle and had no interest in a pacifier. When she was 16 months old she had her last bottle on New Year Eve. She was drinking from a sipper type cup that had a straw then moved to regular sippy cups soon after. I never had a bit of trouble out of her and never had to "take" the bottle away. With introducing the sippies she chose them on her own. Good luck and don't try to rush. I think since she doesn't take one at bedtime you will have no trouble at all.

 

[taylor1293]

I think whenever the child is ready .

Our first stopped at 18 months, and the second at 2 years. Taking the bottle away was no problem for either.

I think the most important thing is not to rush it, she'll stop when she is ready .

Happy 1st B-day to your DD.

Teresa

 

[jel0511]

I took the bottle away from all my kids at one. It was at the advice of my pediatrician and my pediatric dentist. Regardless of whether your child goes to bed with the bottle or not, drinking with a bottle promotes the liquid staying in the child's mouth and teeth longer, which can lead to tooth decay. It also can lead to the teeth and soft pallete of the child being malformed, leading to bite problems and braces later on. I actually took the bottle away from them at lunch first, giving them a sippy cup at that meal. Once they got the hang of it, I took away the morning bottle with the evening one being last. This took all of a week, and then I was free of bottles. Start sooner rather than later, since some kids become addicted to their bottles and don't want to give them up.

 

[tricia]

I agree, my boys were both free of bottles by 1. Just introduce the sippy cup. I also left the bedtime one for last. Just make sure she is still getting enough milk.

 

[khawk]

My older daughter was off the bottle by age 1. My younger daughter was a little harder to break from the bottle. she was 2, I think. she knew where the bottles were kept in the kitchen cupboard and would cry for one until I gave in, then one day I hid them all in my bedroom closet and told her that there were no more bottles that I had thrown them away. After that she quit crying for one and took the sipper cup.

Just wait until you have to potty train...LOL...have fun....

Kim

 

[joloco]

I stopped all three of mine at 15 months....worked for us.

 

[Bell Family]

Both of my kids were on to sippy cups by their first birthday. I also took away the "binky" at one - cold turkey, with maybe one rough evening. I never put them to bed with a bottle. Most dentist encourage the end of bottles by one year. Also you should be "brushing" their little teeth before bed - just wipe them with a clean cloth, no toothpaste.

You will be much happier when you don't have to worry about the bottle and they can drink from cups and straws - especially when they are away from home. Personally, I found ending the bottle easier than the end of nursing - I missed the special bonding time that this provided.

 

[ceecee]

I'm a hygienist...the reason your dentist will tell you to do away with the bottle, is so many people put their kids to bed with it and it lays in their mouth and can cause "baby bottle" caries. Just make sure the bottle is done and teeth are brushed or wiped before bed. The alignment of the teeth is more often a problem with pacifiers after age 3. My daughter had a bedtime bottle (while we rocked) until 2. It was comforting to her. Most say 1, but don't loose any sleep if she's only taking 3 bottles a day just omit some slowly. They only stay little for a short time, she'll be done with bottles before you know it.

 

[honeymom]

At 18 mos. my pediatrician made us go cold turkey with our daughter who was having a hard time being weaned. I listened because my niece had needed root canal at age 2 as did my pediatrician's son at the same age. It was really tough on my daughter.

People thought I was crazy, but I started to give my son small amounts of formula from a sippy cup at 2 months old. By the time he was a year old, he was taking at least half of his milk from a sippy by himself. So, on the day he turned 1, I never gave him a bottle again.

 

[Gupsmom]

Bottles were gone at 13 months here. Each child was kind of mad at me for a day but I figured it was a lot easier to deal with a mad 13 month old than a mad 2 1/2 yr old. We tossed the binkies between 17 months and 2 for all 3 kids.

Jess

 

[Jaypd]

This would be better on the Community Board so I am going to move it over there.

 

[jsmith]

My oldest voluntarily quite his bottles at about 10 months because he got frustrated with not getting what ever he was drinking fast enough..My second one never had a bottle-he was weaned from the breast directly to a cup. I never used sippy cups either-just small cups with a small amount of liquid in them.

 

[mtemm]

We started Daniel on sippy cups when he was 6 months old. Of course, he really didn't get many because I mostly breastfed. I had stopped pumping not long after that, mainly because I'm a SAHM and I was sick of thowing out old stuff from the freezer. He did really well with the sippy cup (Avent) but we never gave him them regularly. He also wasn't getting bottles by then, though, although he did have them occasionally before then. Once he started solids I guess I just figured if he was hungry and I was away from him, the person watching him could give him a jar of something.

We started trying to give cups regularly with water or juice when he was around 10 months and he would take a sip or 2, nothing much though. We thought we would be in for a rough ride when I wanted to wean him. Next time I'll probably try to be more regular with them from 6 months on.

I started weaning him to whole milk in his sippy at around 13 months and he didn't do great at first. Then I took the rubber valve out of the sippy so it flowed better and he did great! It wasn't spill proof then, of course, but he was drinking out of it. About a week later I added the valve back in and he did fine. You might want to try that...worked great for us.

We're now almost completely weaned and he does great with the cup.

Good luck!

 

[TEENEE]

Both of my kids were off the bottle before their first birthdays. It sure made it easier when we were away from home. My pediatrician recommends starting them on whole milk at 9 months and having them completely off the bottle by 1 year.

Good luck
Tina

 

[Planogirl]

My son was almost weaned at the age of 1 but he still liked to have his bottle before bed time. Shortly after this, he lost interest because he became VERY interested in regular food. He still had his pacifier to take to bed but he spit it out before he fell asleep. Then he threw it away himself just before he turned two.

 

[Mskanga]

First of all welcome to the DIS Stacy!
I have two children and they were both completely different, my oldest one did not get rid of the bottle until she was almost 4 but never had the bottle to go to sleep and from 1 year old on she could only get it at home , the bottle never left the house after that. I asked my pediatrician and this is what he told me:
Nobody gets married and still in diapers or bottles
Basically he told me , when she's ready she will give it up , and she did.
My youngest was another story, at 11 months old she wasn't interested in bottles, she had the sippy cups . Then again this is the child that had a full set of teeth by the time she was 7 months old and was eating table food by then too.
I know that maybe I let the oldest go on with the bottle a little more than I should have but I think we all make those kind of mistakes with first borns , then we learn and when we have another child , we don't make the same mistake.
Actually now that I think of it, she was potty trained without a problem but was still getting the bottle twice a day, and she was just 37 months when that happened.

PS:
Neither one of my kids EVER took a pacifier or sucked their thumb.

 

[disykat]

My dad who is a pediatrician advised me to watch for a window of opportunity where he seemed disinterested in the bottle and remove it at that point. He said sometimes if you miss that window they reattach stronger and it can be difficult. Sure enough mine both seemed a bit disinterested right around 1, I handed them a sippy cut and that was it.

This seemed to work with most things. I always felt like I missed the "window" on my oldest's potty training (since #2 was due) and boy was I sorry! LOL

He gave me the same "no one graduates from high school ..." talk when I was worried about my oldest not wanting to use utensils.

 

[suzannen]

My pediatrician recommended:
Get rid of pacifier no later than 12 months
Cut out daytime bottles around 15 months and increase
sippy cups
Cut out last nighttime bottle around 18 months

This schedule worked well for us. He was actually more adamant about the pacifier than the bottle because it becomes more of an emotional attachment and actually harder to break as they get older.

Good luck!