I have a couple of friends who at 1 year just stopped giving bottles cold turkey. One even threw them all away on the birthday so they couldn't cave in.
My son just started FINALLY using a sippy cup exactly on his 1 year birthday this week. Yesterday I gave him a sippy of ice cold milk with dinner and he liked it, so I'm going to offer that all day instead plus water when we're out of the house. I had been really nervous about dehydration since he couldn't use a sippy until this week. Now that he is using one, I'm considering trying to drop daytime bottles cold turkey over the weekend to see how it goes. BUT I'll probably keep the bedtime bottle because I'm too chicken to mess with his bedtime routine. We have his well visit on Tuesday so of course I'll get her input as well, but knowing her over the past year I don't think she'd object which is why I'm ok with trying this weekend.
He is a champion eater of solids so I'm not worried about that.
Not asking if anyone thinks this is a good or bad idea. Asking if anyone has tried it and how it went.
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We dropped daytime bottles cold turkey a few weeks before DS's first birthday when he moved to the toddler class at school. It went great - he hardly seemed to notice. But I should add he has always been (and still is at 3) a great eater/drinker. We kept the bedtime bottle until 15 months.
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@SeptMomma12: Thanks!
So I just handed my son a sippy cup of WCM and formula mixed (he had this in last nights bottle as well). Yeah he was pissed. Haha. I wasn't expecting him to cry hysterically and I didn't have his breakfast ready yet so I poured it into a bottle.
I'll try to skip the next two bottles and see what happens. Maybe between meals and snacks he won't matter as much. And I plan on taking him out a lot today so distraction will help. I think it was because it was clearly given to him instead of a bottle which he has first thing normally. Whereas the next couple bottles are intermixed with food. If that makes sense. -
@SeptMomma12: So I actually wonder if my mistake was mixing formula and WCM instead of going straight WCM. He's now chugging WCM from the sippy but a minute ago he wouldn't touch it with formula. Maybe he just associates formula with bottle so it pissed him off when it was in a sippy.
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With DS1 I did cold turkey at one, but he was good with the sippy cup.
With DS2 its been a slower process. At 16 months, he only gets a bedtime bottle.
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We dropped bottles cold turkey at 12 months. Switched initially to breast milk in a sippy and then transitioned to cows milk. LO only got two bottles a day at daycare and always preferred nursing to bottles so she didn't care. We switched because she moved up to the toddler room where they discouraged bottles.
If he is happy with cow milk from a sippy I would stick with that! Good luck!
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With M we went straight to sippies of WCM - cold turkey. It took her a few days to really take them, and even then her number of ounces / day plummeted from what it was when she was taking bottles. I was really freaked out (lots of posts on HB) but our ped wasn't worried. They don't really need much liquid to stay hydrated at this age, the ped was more concerned about calcium and vitamin D. She just ate lots of cheese and yogurt and took a multivit for vitamin D.
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@MrsF: that is my biggest concern, dehydration. So that makes me feel a lot better. Thanks!
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I did this. I tossed all my daughter's bottles on the eve of her first birthday. She didn't even know the difference. We went from lukewarm/room temp bottles to cold cows milk in a sippy and she was fine. We also never did a bedtime bottle at all - our routine just didn't include it. We did milk, bath, book, bed. That worked well for us and I'm anticipating doing it again with my son (5 mo old).
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@ktdid23: wow you are a brave woman throwing them out!
I also wondered a while back if I should stop doing a bottle as part of bedtime routine. It's the last thing we do before putting him in the crib. Well, now we brush teeth. I asked my ped about moving the bottle to earlier in the routine and she told me not to worry, it helps him to sleep so leave it for now. I think that was at 9 month appt.
But it still has been in the back of my mind as we approached a year and I knew we'd have to ditch bottles. -
I think the earlier you do it, the easier it is. We dropped cold turkey too and it was fine. But I did have to buy a few different bottles to make sure he got a decent volume. I don't loss the take and toss cups but they work the best and we still have them around at age 3.
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@Mrs Green Grass: it's funny, the take n toss are what he finally got the hang of. Then this morning he dropped a whole cup of milk and it went everywhere. So now I'm thinking water in the take n toss and we've had some moderate success with the nuby soft spout ones.
He still can't figure out straws for the life of him! -
I started my LO on a straw cup with water when she was 9 months. She did great with it and when she was 11 month I began to transition her to WCM- I started off putting it in her cup once or twice a day but since she drank it and never seemed to miss her bottle I started to give everything in a cup. She was completely done with bottles by her first birthday. Our night routine does still include a cup of milk and we just brush her teeth after.
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we stopped cold turkey at 9 months for LO#1 (he was exclusively bottle fed) because he straight up refused (teething), and went straight to an open cup (he couldn't figure out straws or sippys!). it was a lot of work for a few weeks to spoon feed/cup feed all those oz of formula, but soon it was just fine :). at 1 years old we switched to WCM.
for #2 we stopped using bottles around his 1st birthday cold turkey too (our choice this time). he didn't seem to really notice or mind. he definitely drank less liquid than before for a while, but it evened out in the end!
also to add that they both didn't have nighttime bottles from around 10 months or so? just didn't want to deal with weaning them from it :). I think they had their last bottles around an hour before bedtime or so.
I think whatever you choose to do will be fine in the end! :). and I commiserate with the not being able to figure out a straw cup thing! LO#1 took sooooo many tries and many months, and LO#2 figured it out the first day. haha they are all so different!
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@SweetiePie: it took us. Along time for straws but even when he got the hang of it, he didn't drink as much. So we went back to take and toss. We've had a few spills for sure, but I've dealt with it...
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If you buy a pack of the take n toss with the handle you can use that handle on any ones you already have and it helps keep the lid on so fewer spills!
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We stopped the bottle and introduced the sippy cup with whole milk right at one. He was a little bothered and threw the cup but when he realizes that's how he gets milk he didn't have a problem. Took day 2 before he stopped immediately throwing it though
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