Giving up the Bottle and Introducing Whole Milk

I do home childcare and my goal, at least in the 8-10 hours a day in my care, is to have the bottles gone by 12-13 mos LATEST!

When parents (and Dr) give the OK, I start to add a few ounces of whole milk to the formula or breastmilk (I have never had a Momma do either beyond a year, which is their right, but for the food program, I think, a waiver needs to be signed??not sure as I have never been there). Anyhow...so 2 oz milk, 6 oz formula for example, and start increasing it over maybe 2-4 weeks time, depending on how you feel they are tolerating it. (I watch for upset tummy, spitting up, yucky diapers, any rash)

Even if parents are still doing bottles at home, I quit them as soon as I can. I have had some at 14 mos who were still getting the nap bottle, but very rare in my 14 years of care. I find the cup that works for the child and go with it. I never let a child wander all day with a cup. Cups are only given at meals and snacks in the high chair. I never serve juice. We have water cups for outside (for toddlers they get the same version of the cup for outdoors as well...my current toddlers are 14 and 15 mos old and like the Nuby sippys with the rubbery tops.) I think they both still get a bedtime bottle at home. But both have not gotten a bottle from me in just over 2 months...cold turkey...all done. And neither was fond AT ALL of a cup at first. By the time they are about 20-21 mos we will do regular cups.

I am like you and idea of a 3 year old with a bottle ...ish. Not OK to me. Its not needed developmentally, for most kids. I can not imagine any of my other kids having a bottle at 2 or just turning 3 years old. Heck, mine are all potty trained by 2.5 (one was 22 months!)...I can not imagine having a potty trained kid drinking a bottle.

My opinion is people do not give kids enough credit for what they CAN accomplish these days (potty training, cups without lids, etc..skills they CAN DO). They don't push them and make a few tough days turn into a long standing good decision for everyone. I see it work every day around here, with kids from different homes.

JMO~

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I would introduce whole milk mixed with formula and gradually increase the milk over a week or two. Don't just hand him a whole milk all at once.
This is the perfect time to ditch the bottles too. Your plan. Pick one and stick to it.
I think I had a harder time getting rid of the bottles than my son! LOL he did still want his warmer milk in a bottle before he went to bed. The bedtime bottle was the last to go.

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I remember mixing formula and milk and gradually increasing the milk amount with my daughter starting at one year old. We did not take away the bottle cold turkey. We gradually reduced the number of bottles during the day. This was helped by our daycare, which also stopped giving bottles to her by 14 months. They also helped teach her to drink out of a regular cup, no sippy or cover, at 14 months.

She did have a bottle at bedtime from the time she stopped nursing on her own (11 months) until she was three, and I didn't "shudder" about it at all. The bottle helped her relax, I was sure she was getting the milk she needed, and she was a great sleeper! She also has perfectly healthy and straight teeth. On her third birthday, she stopped having bottles at bedtime, as she and I had agreed upon earlier. There is no magic about a baby's first birthday that means they have to give up formula, bottles, and other comforts of being a baby.

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We did what Sue w described and it worked really well for us. Slowly mixed the two and watched for allergies... skin rashes, vomiting, etc. We did this using a bottle- figured one change at a time.

Then we started replacing bottles with sippies of milk one meal at a time, one "reduction" per week. Daycare helped us alot with this too! By 14 months the bottles were gone completely.

No need to rush or go "cold turkey" if you think it may be tough for him. Don't be afraid to let your manny be the "bad guy" here either. He has all day to try this out!

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My pediatrician recommended cold turkey for giving up the bottles. This did not work for us. Even now, my 18-month-old DD will sometimes reject the sippy if she's very cranky. It's our fault for giving in. Anyway, we have her down to two bottles a day, one in the morning and one at night. Hoping to be weaned by 20 months.

Good luck. It might take some trial and error and no method--or baby--is exactly alike!

Put milk in the sippy cup, nothing but water in the bottle. Give it a day and the bottle will be forgotten.

Just start replacing a bottle with a sippy (or regular) cup of whole milk every few days/week or so (replace one bottle the first week, two the second week, etc. -- sorry not very articulate today!). Also keep a cup of water around at all times so he can get used to drinking with it -- not to mention drinking water is a great habit to instill early! This will also help keep his fluid intake up as he may not take to the milk right away.

If your son doesn't immediately take to milk, don't panic and don't feel like you have to go back to bottles. The nutrients in milk can be consumed through yogurt, cottage cheese, etc. etc. There is no reason he has to be drinking a certain number of ounces a day or milk specifically (although he should be getting enough fluids). However, if he is refusing the milk definitely beef up his intake of yogurt and such.

My son never liked cow's milk until (at age 2.5) he saw his cousin slugging it down. He basically refused it most of the time and just drank water in his cups and we fed him yogurt and cottage cheese for calcium and other vitamins.

Good luck!

I never have understood the big push to get 1 yr. olds off the bottle. Yes I
had kids who had a bottle at 2 yo. Guess what they all grew up to be fine
happy adults. I equate it with someone telling me I cannot have my coffee
in the morning. Yikes!!!!!! I would not be happy.

I weaned both of my boys from the bottle cold turkey at 12 months with little trouble. I introduced them to the sippy cup around 11 months, putting juice or water only in it, just to get them used to drinking out of a cup sometimes. You may try buying different types of sippy cups to see which kind he prefers. There are several options.

My advice is very simple- just stop giving him bottles once he turns one. This is what I did and my boys adjusted very quickly. At first, they didn't want to use the sippy cup. They would look at the cup, take a sip, then push it away. I wouldn't make a big fuss over it, but whenever it was meal or snack time, I would give them the cup. After about a day or two, they realized this is the only way for them to get something to drink and they used it. It wasn't "traumatic" for them at all and the transition went better than I expected.

Talking about it at the time that you switch to sippy cups may be helpful. Even though they can't express themselves the way adults can, children understand and take in so much that we say to them. I always talked to my boys about what was going on, even as babies. As far as ill effects, just watch for vomitting, change in bowel habits, rashes, excessive gas or if it seems as though he may be having stomach pain. These symptoms could indicate an allergy or intolerance to whole milk.

When my son was this same age, this is what we did:
Took away one bottle feeding at a time - starting with the midday one -which he seemed to care about the least. After about a week without this feeding, we went on the eliminating the others one at a time. During this transition time, we just made sure to give snacks/meals and sippy cups of cold milk instead. Our doc had suggested not mixing formula/milk, not offering whole milk in a bottle, and not warming cold milk because it's confusing and makes the transition longer. But still, because we let go one bottle at a time, it still gave him time to adjust. Nighttime bottle was the last to go and I let him continue with that one until he was about 13 months old. I just felt it wasn't hurting anything and he wasn't using it as a crutch to sleep. At around 13 months old, I just stopped giving it to him and he didn't protest one bit! If he's not used to using it to get to sleep then it shouldn't be a problem.

A bit of advice - don't obsess during this transition time on how much milk he's getting or not getting. As my doc and others told me...just make the transition and he will continue to increase his milk intake. You're job is to get him off the bottle and after this point food is becoming his main source of nutrition rather than milk or formula.

Also, you didn't mention if he was feeding at night. If so, just ignore it all the way through. No way does he need to be fed at night at his age.

Cold turkey worked for both of my kids, and honestly, neither of them cared.

We had no problems with the transition to dairy.

I would just switch him flat out, and see how he responds. You can always adjust if he refuses it. But there's no point in doing a dance if you don't have to!

we had to have our boys off of the bottle by 1 year for the cleft palate repair surgeries so they went cold turkey from bottle to regular cup at 11 months old. that way it gave them time to be used to it before they couldnt use the bottle at all (also no sippy cups etc nothing that could rub the roof of their mouths or create suction because of the pressure) I think we gradually did the transition from formula to whole milk. we could just substitute one formula feeding for whole milk for 1 week, then 2 the next and so on until it was just the milk. good luck!

I second NBinMN's methods.

I would also advise that you stop warming the bottles. When you progressively add more and more milk, just leave it at whatever temperature it ends up being (more and more milk added means that the bottle will progressively become ALL cold milk, making that transition easier).