How Do I Get My 12 Month Old off the Bottle?

A couple of suggestions would be ... take her BIG GIRL, Sippy Cup shopping, to pick out her own SPECIAL Big Girl cup! Then, offer her her favorite drink in that, and a bottle with water.
If nothing else, just STOP offering a bottle. It's rough for a night or 2, but then it's DONE! If you don't offer it, it's NOT an option.
Good luck!!

Hi D.! I JUST went through this with my daughter. As for the formula to milk situation, I started by mixing a little milk in with the formula and gradually increased it. This actually wasn't hard at all, turns out, my daughter preferred the milk. The bottle was harder. My daughter did not need a bottle to go to bed, but she WOULD NOT drink milk out of the sippy cup. We tried a few different cups, nothing worked. The pediatrician told us for one day, do not offer the bottle. She said it's hard, but she will get thirsty enough to drink out of the sippy cup. And sure enough, about halfway through the first day she started drinking out of it, and hasn't had a bottle since. (It was important for my daughter to get off the bottle as soon as possible as she has a history of ear infections.) My pediatrician also told me that once they go to whole milk, they should not have more than 24 oz in one day. Whole milk does not have all the nutrients formula does, and they have to get the nutrients from food. If they are relying on the whole milk, they can quickly develop anemia. We started feeding my daughter more, offering more healthy snacks and so far, she hasn't missed the more ounces of milk. Things have changed in that she now sips from the sippy cup all day long. No more taking a whole bottle in one sitting. But she gets about 18-20oz a day of milk. Good luck with everything!

Oh, may I also recommend Gerber Banana Cookies? It has to be Gerber, because they crumble in the mouth. I break off pieces for my daughter as a snack, and it makes her thirsty! Therefore, she grabs the sippy cup of milk and drinks!

Try the Avent cups with handles on the sides. These are great because you can get her to use it with nipples (sold separately) first to get her used to the cup, then switch to the soft, drip resistant sippy tops. This is a great way to transition!

As far as off the formula, first, check with her pediatrician about starting now. There is a simple blood test they can do to see if you can start giving her milk now, before she turns one. At first try one a day to start off. If you need to, you may have to add a little chocolate syrup (just a couple of drops will do) to add a little tempting sweetness. This works very well, at least it did for my daughter! She is now 2 1/2 and loves her milk! I have actually had to cut back, or we would go through a gallon a day with her. Just remember, whole milk until age 2. Then you can cut back to 2% or less.

May God bless you!

My daughter didn't really mind getting off the bottle a few months ago, but I do have a couple suggestions. Try narrowing it down to just nap time and night time bottles at first. It seems like 6 is a lot! Once she turns a year another method would be to stop bottles cold turkey and only let her drink milk out of sippy cups and only offer water in the bottles. I didn't try that (didn't need to), but heard that it works. Good luck!

Hello D.!
When I took my kids off the bottle and formula, I started at 11 months of age. What I did about getting them off formula is start putting milk in with the formula. Every week for the last month add a little more milk each time and then by the end of the month she will be on milk entirely! As for the bottle situation, I would give her the sippie cup as well. My daughter didn't want to give up her bottle either, so eventually I just threw it away and she got over it. It will be tough because they love it so much, but she will be okay and so will you. Best of luck!!!

Dear D.,

It is a common misconception that babies should be off the bottle at a year. I read a book that states they need lots of protein and cannot get what they need from food because they cannot eat the amount that they need. Minimum two years is good. I give mine protein shakes every day because of the growing.

D.

You can do it :)
I ahve 2 boys they are 20 months apart. Luckily my 1st gave up his bottle at 10 months...but the baby loved his bottle, we started at 11 months and started cutting down day by day...
week one-substituted least favortie bottle with filling snack and sippy cup, and then about 5 days I would do another bottle...he did fairly well we had a few rough days. the hardest were his morning and night bottles. Those took 2 weeks to get over, the morning bottle went first and took a couple days of him refusing a sippy cup. then the night time bottle went...he didnt go to sleep with it, he had it right before going down so that was a bit easier than it will be for you. We went to nuby silcone topped sippy cups for bottle replacement...they are soft like a nipple and it was easy to switch from those to regular sippy cups easily....he is now 16 months old and has not had a bottle since about 2 days before his 1st birthday. good luck and you can do it!

I started mine on the juice cups first that were similar in sucking motion to the bottle. (Is what ped suggested at the time). The minute I did that my last baby wanted nothing more to do with milk. Now I had already made the transition from formula to milk. Do you do that at 12 months? I would suggest doing that first for a month or so then try the juice cups that have a big suction action. Make a big deal out of her being a big sister! Specialists say that she could revert once seeing the new infant with a ba ba though!

My children are adults now, but when I decided to take their bottles away I asked my oldest's pediatrician how to do it. He told me that when a baby is eating solid foods they no longer need the bottle and it would be much better for their teeth as it may cause orthodontic problems and cavities. His golden words of advice worked immediately for us with each baby. Simply gather all of her bottles, nipples, etc. and have her help you throw them away in the trash telling her that she is a big girl now. Get them out later if you plan to use them with the new baby, without her seeing, and stash them away where she won't see them Praise her afterwards and give her a little party (just the immediate family will do) and you may give her a little gift that would represent her next phase into growing up. I gave them a new little toy that they could have with them each time they wanted a bottle; though none used it for that. Since you are expecting tell her that that the new baby will NEED bottles and she can help by feeding him/her when hungry. I used this system with potty training too though we used the old fashioned training pants back then. We threw out the thick pants and took them to pick out their Big Boy/Girl pants with the cute characters on them. Celebrate the big challenges throughout their childhood because it helps with their self-esteem and you will have wonderful memories for the rest of your life.

Like you I was crazy wondering out how I'd get my 2 year old off her bottle. She was just over 2 when I finally built the guts. She only took a bottle at night right before bed. Well I didn't want her to have it so I talked to her pediatrician and she told me to talk with my daughter and tell her to say goodbye to the bottle and throw it away in front of her. I did just that. I sat her on the counter.. showed her the bottle and said.. say bye bye.. and she said bye and we threw it in the trash. Then she'd say.. baba in the trash.. yucky! and she hasn't touched a bottle since then. I've sometimes mistakenly asked if she wanted a bottle and she will in turn tell me.. that its yucky and in the trash.

Hi D.!
I have a 19month old son and struggled with this as well. I started giving him water in the bottle and milk in a sippy cup. He definitely preferred the milk...regardless of where it came from. :)

Good luck!

welli feel ya my girls are 18 mo apart almost to the day at both of their first bdays i got then soft top sippy cups and got rid of their bottles and just didnt allow it any more i also started at about 10 11 mo filing their bottles with like 4 oz form. 2oz milk and then once a week add 2 more ozs milk and took away 2 oz form. it worked well for me hope it helps good luck and happy early bday of being a mommy cograts you made it the first year lol i didnt think i would

Hi D.,

Like one of the other mothers before, I too would recomend the nubby sippy cups because of the rubber nipple; it's like the bottle (only it's shaped like the top of a sippy cup). They are the BEST and were the only thing that worked for my daugther (around 10 months). Introducing one change at a time (i.e. different shape nipples/tops but still same rubber consistancy makes the adjustment so much easier for them). Hope this helps...cause i know in the end it's WHATEVER WORKS!!

A.

When my son turned 1yr. the day after his bday i took both the paci and the bottle. Of coarse it was hard and he cried and fought with me. But you have to be strong and no that they're not hurting or uncomfortable. You can't give in to your kid, you have to stand ground on things you know will only benefit them. After a week or so he forot all about that stuff he was more concern that he was thirsty more so than a bottle or sippy cup.