When did your DC drop the bottle and how did you do it?

DD is a year this week, i have her well visit in 2 weeks..she loves her bottle! Still has one 4 times a day and drains the thing! Sleep trainer told me you just cut it out cold but i wondered when they usually just stop the bottle and what you did with DC...Thanks!

Re: When did your DC drop the bottle and how did you do it?

We ired at 11 months and DS wasn't having it at all. He wanted the bottle and would refuse milk in the sippy. We tried again when he was 12 months and he did the same thing. I think it was harder on me, so I gave him the bottle again. At 13 months, I just did it cold turkey. We did it on a weekend so daycare wasn't having to deal with him freaking out. But, we only offered him milk in a sippy. The first day he was looking for the bottle and refused his milk at first. But, once he realized that the bottles were gone and I wasn't going to offer him anything else, he took the sippy. Now he loves his sippy just as much as he did his bottle. Only took about 2 days for him to adjust and then he was fine.

Re: When did your DC drop the bottle and how did you do it?

My doctor wanted my DD off the bottle at a year, but for me, it wasn't the right thing. We waited until she was 16 months old and took it away cold turkey. She never really drank milk from a sippy, but ate plenty of cheese and yogurt, so we didn't worry about it. My younger DD is a year old now and is on Neocate and isn't ready to transition to milk yet, so we are going to continue with the bottle. She is also a big bottle drinker still (5 bottles a day) but it doesn't really bother me. I figure we will play it by ear and see what happens. My pediatrician thinks a year is the right age, but I am not so convinced there is one right answer for every child.

Re: When did your DC drop the bottle and how did you do it?

We slowly cut out a bottle at a time after she turned a year. First it was her mealtime bottles during the day, then her morning bottle and lastly, her nighttime bottle.
She was off bottles completely by around 15 months, and never had a problem with it. We really listened to her cues and went by her schedule, which is, I think, why it was so easy to do.
I think it's fine for a one year old to still be on bottles and there's really no rush to force the issue if it's going to make you all miserable.

Re: When did your DC drop the bottle and how did you do it?

We did it cold turkey...the day she went on regular milk, I handed it to her in a sippy cup & that was it. She never asked for the bottle again. I hope its that easy w/ DS when the time comes

Re: When did your DC drop the bottle and how did you do it?

My oldest was done with them right before her first birthday and my youngest was done with them by her 11 month birthday. Neither of them really cared about the bottle so we just stopped giving it to them with no problem.

Re: When did your DC drop the bottle and how did you do it?

ds dropped it at 11 months.... he dropped it not us... he just preferred the sippy

Re: When did your DC drop the bottle and how did you do it?

I wonder what they will tell me as DD cant have regular milk due to allergy...it has really been a pain because i cant give her anything with dairy in it..i am hoping she outgrows it and may have but i am soo nervous to give her anything with milk..doing it gradual...she loves her bottles so much...i may just do what you advise and listen to her cues..she is such a sweetheart and i dont want to make it miserable by any means...maybe just eliminating one at a time might be easier...

Re: When did your DC drop the bottle and how did you do it?

At 11 months, we went cold turkey and just gave her a cup only. Within a day or two, she was completely fine with it. Then, we moved in with my parents, and I found out that my mother was sneaking her bottles when I wasn't looking So she was back on bottles until about 15 months when I said enough is enough and took the bottles away again (actually threw them all out), and again, cold turkey, two days and she realized if she wanted something to drink, it was going ot be from a cup.
Maybe I'm mean, but she survived. We did the same thing with the binky. A couple of days of carrying on was worth it for her to just get rid of it.

ETA: I just wanted to add that my DD was also allergic to milk and we switched to soy milk. She had an allergy to soy in the beginning, but by a year, outgrew it. If she had been allergic to soy still, they would have put her on rice milk or no milk at all.

Message edited 11/29/2009 5:54:28 PM.

Re: When did your DC drop the bottle and how did you do it?

We stopped one bottle at a time. So when she was on 5 bottles, we switched to 4, then 3 then one in the am and one before bed. We kept the bedtime one for a while b/c by the time I was ready to get rid of it, I had another baby so I didn't want her to get jealous that the baby got a bottle and she didnt.

She's been sick the last few days, so I ended up able to put her to bed without it. The first 2 nights were fine, the 3rd and last night she asked for it. I just didn't say anything and offered her some water in a sippy cup (not a lot of water). She didn't take it. I put her teddy bear in her crib and she wanted him so I put her in there. She slept without a problem. Because of our new baby, it's going to probably be a while before she totally forgets about bottles bc of the baby, but it's not a fight. I say just eliminate one bottle at a time. I can see kids getting nuts if you just stop altogether one day.

Re: When did your DC drop the bottle and how did you do it?

we started at 10 months with the afternoon bottle... 11 months with the night bottle and by a year his morning bottle was gone.

when i brought DD home from the hospital. my DS took the bottle, put it in his mouth and then threw the thing down.. had no idea what to do with it.. lol

i hope my DD is weaned early & is as easy as my DS was

Re: When did your DC drop the bottle and how did you do it?

Just wanna say, my DD didn't go "nuts" because we stopped cold turkey. I think everyone knows their child well enough to know what's right for them.