Weaning 1 Year Old from the Bottle

When you decide it's time for her to drink out of a cup, just toss all the bottles in the garbage. She will use a cup when she really wants the milk.

My advice...don't wean her yet. There is no harm in drinking from a bottle for at least the first two years of life, as long as it is not fruit juice , and as long as she doesn't go to bed with it. Milk can cause decay if left on the teeth as she sleeps. She will wean herself when she is ready. Toddlers soon start to want to be just like grownups. They usually try to eat with spoons and forks before they have enough dexterity to be effective. Let her grow up at her own pace. It sounds like she "needs" her bottle...sucking is very comforting and she might start sucking her thumb if you take her bottle away. Now THAT is a hard habit to break !

She has to know that the bottle is gone. Either throw them out or put them away in a place where you aren't easily tempted to get them back out for her. (Hey! We Moms tend to give in 'way too easily when our little ones aren't happy). Do give her dairy options such as cheese and yogurt, and keep on offering milk in the cup, but don't give in on the bottle situation. If you plan to have more children, here's my suggestion for next time around. Begin offering the cup for practice as soon as the child can sit up. Make it a "your such a big boy/girl" issue so they feel that it's something special to use the cup. That way givng up the bottle isn't such a difficult transition when the time comes.
As far as what type of cup to use, I recommend starting right away with a regular juice sized glass (real glass, not plastic) The child learns more quickly than you might think to handle it well. We do childcare in our home and the children all use juice glasses. I believe we've had three broken glasses in the past year and of those, two were because I happened to bump them when they were on the counter waiting to be put into the dishwasher. Only one was due to a child accidentally dropping it on the floor.

Sounds like our girls are about the same age, mine turned one on the 13th. I really don't think it's a big deal she still wants a bottle. There are so many bigger battles you're going to have, I'd let this one go. (= My son slowly weaned himself of his bottle somewhere around 18 months. Both mine were breastfed and just started on a bottle at 12 months, it was just an easier transition from the breast. See if she's ready around 18 months.
K.

We had the same problem. The way I was able to succeed was to bring their bottles into their room in the morning (when they were most hungry) along with their sippy cups. I then poured the milk from the bottle into the sippy cup where they could see me pour the milk into the cup. They then took the cup and never went back -- however, they will *only* drink their milk from that kind of cup, now, and I have not been able to use the same trick to change to another cup ... I guess they are older and wiser now at 17 months! :o)

Hi J.,

Personally I think going cold turkey is really hard on everyone. I would wean her off slowly. My two oldest (who were twins and premature) were on the bottle until over 18 months (and are now 5 and have no effects from it)...but we were down to 2 bottles a day (morning and night) by about 14 months or so and then down to just one a day by about 16 months. I always gave them a sippy cup with all their meals and they only got the bottle when they woke and before the went to bed. They too didn't drink much from the sippy cup until they were much older. By having the two bottles a day I knew they were at least getting the milk they needed. The slow transition worked best for us and we never had any tantrums about the bottle...I felt like they just grew out of it and lost interest. My youngest was off the bottle by about 16 months...did the same method with her and never had any problems.

All kids are different and you need to do what you feel most comfortable with. I think you may be surprised how many kids are still on the bottle after a year. For us the bottle after a year was pretty much only at home...out and about it was always sippy cups. And at home it wasn't something they could sip on as they please....that was also a sippy cup. When they did have a bottle, they drank it and were done with it and I knew they got their milk.

Good luck!!

I think most of the Moms here are on the same page. I didn't wean my daughter, she gave it up herself around 15 months, I was lucky. My son now is 14 months and he isn't as easy with change as she was so I am going to go by his ques and give him a few more months at least. I think it helps if you use the sippy cups during the day, my kids both like the Nubby ones, they have 2 styles were there is the two side handles or the sleek figure and the nipple is soft sort of like a bottle so they feel like it's similar. We've had best success with these. I think it helps that he sees big sis drinking out of them too.
Go by what your daughter is ready for, you'll know when it's right. My friend who's sone is the same age as mine, she did the throw all the bottles out cold turkey (it's her 3rd, can you tell she'd never have done that with the first 2 ;) she said it was really tough for about 2-3 days and then he got used to it, but he's a really easy going kid, doesn't sound like your daughter may be as accepting.

Good luck-
Steph

J.,

My daughter did the same when converted to the cup. My daughter drank better (water)out of the straw cup so we went with that style cup. I tried Strawberry Nesquick (powder). If you look at the serving size it says to add 2 tablespoons per 8 oz milk (the average sippy cup size). I put 1 teaspoon Stawberry Nesquick (no sugar added) per 4 oz milk. It changes the flavor just enough so she will drink it :0) She loved it!! We cut back on the Nesquick over time and now she drinks milk no problem :0) Some moms have tried using Ovaltine, Pediasure, or Honey.

Good Luck
T.

You are clearly this isn't easy now let alone worrying about bad it could be in the future. I would let it go and try again in a few weeks. Alternatively keep trying but don't make a big thing about it. Don't care either way and she might just do it. If she can sense there is a power play involved that might hamper your chances of success.

C.

I have the same issue! You have to go with what your daughter will do and pick your battles. My son only gets 2 bottles a day with milk and still will not drink it out of anything else. I know he will not be drinking from a bottle forever, so for now, he gets to continue. We will make the transition, but the nutrients was too important for his development to give up. We went without for a week and he lost 4 pounds. To me, it is not a big deal, all kids are different and we need to listen to them and not some normalized schedule. Just my 2 cents!

I haven't started weaning my daughter off the bottle yet. But, she will drink anything from a sport bottle. You could try that. She still prefers the bottle. A friend of mine weaned her son from the bottle. There was a good 4 day stand off with tantrums and the whatnot, but he finally gave in after four days. If you can take 3-5 days of tantrums, she'll give in when she realizes you guys aren't going to give in.

Hello J.,
My niece did the same thing and at around 18 months started loving it. Just get her dairy other places. My daughter has always had tummy problems so we had to limit the amount of milk we gave her. We use to start each morning with a smoothies. It had 8 oz yogurt, which is a great substitute for milk because of the probotics (sp) it has. I would then add a 1/2 cup of fresh or frozen fruit and a little flax seed oil. At around 18 months I started adding a little frozen veggies with the fruit. With that it covered more then 1/2 the dairy she should have and more then 1/2 the fruit/veggies she should have. So when she would turn her nose up to fruit or veggies, I knew she already had some that day which made it a lot less stressful on me. She now gets a lot of dairy from eating cereal with milk. Which is actually how my SIL got my niece to drink more milk. Don't worry about it too much, just try cheese, yogurt or other things.
Best of luck,
C.
PS. I would still keep offering it a little to her with each meal just so she has that option.

My son doesn't like change and fights it - even if it's something he ends up enjoying. *sigh* We noticed he has always been more willing to try new foods or eating methods if we are not at home. At home he knew at your daughter's age Daddy will eventually break down and give him a treat if he refused to eat his food etc. At a restaurant or friend's house he wasn't sure if there were treats there so he was more willing - if hungry to use a new cup or spoon etc. IF there is another kid using the new suspicious thing he would jump at the chance to copy them.
So, try the sippy in a foreign environment where there are no bottles. Deal with the tantrums - they'll give you a headache but the don't hurt her - a little work-out for her lungs. ;)
The hubby finally learned after a little coaching from his mom to tell our son - "go ahead, cry! It's washing out your eyes and very good for you!" Ian still dries up immediately if he says that. ;)

I don't think you should worry about weaning her. She obviously gets comfort and pleasure from the bottle at this stage. I would wait a while. My kids loved their bottles too and I let them have them until they were over two. Some people were critical of that which I never did understand. They eventually, with a little encouragement and clever withdrawal strategies, gave up the bottles quite easily at the later age. I had continued offering sippy cups and regular cups and eventually they wanted to experiment with those.

Their babyhood is so short. I don't know why we are encouraged to rush them through everything. Just one year ago, she lived in your tummy in her own peaceful world. She has been through so much in that one year. A bottle won't hurt her. My kids are very well adjusted and not the least bit damaged by having a bottle longer than recommended.

Good luck with it all and don't worry (the hardest part about being a Mom!).

I know that weaning at this age is what is usually reccomended, but you have to do what works best for you. Maybe still give her the bottle in the morning and night right now and offer everything else in a cup during the day. She'll drop the bottle when she is ready.

How about trying slowly to wean her away from the bottle? Less a day, cutting it down. My daughter will be 1 next month, and I dont think that I will be weaning her from the bottle just yet. If thats the only way she'll take her milk, then why not. I think as mothers you will know when the time is right.

Good luck!

We waited until our son was 16 or 17 months to get rid of the bottle and the transition was very easy. I've heard other moms say that they felt 12 months was just too soon, too, so maybe you should give her a few more months? Just an idea, and what worked for us.
Good luck!

I had the same problem with my son and that's why I waited until he was 2 year old. He would drink milk from other cups, but would never drink enough. But during his 2 year well child doctor appointment, his doctor told me that I had to wean him from the bottle. He told me to keep records of how much milk he is drinking from the cups everyday for two weeks and then go back to see him. I was concerned, but I felt better that I was working with the doctor on this. The first few days, he didn't drink enough, but then gradually, he became used to drinking milk from the cups. By the end of the week, he's drinking enough milk and I never really needed to go back to the doctor for this problem.
So for your daughter, perhaps you can give it a few more days and see what happen. You have to put the bottles out of her sight.

My daughter did the same thing at about 14 months and we took all the bottles away and put her milk in a Nuby sippy cup and she refused it for 3 days and had a screaming fit everyday. We didn't give in and we told her "fine if you don't want your milk than thats o.k. When she realized that she had to drink the milk out of the sippy she started doing it. It only took a few days and she was fine. It is really hard to watch them have a tantrum over it, but it will work.

Hi J.! I just finished weaning my 18mo old, and basically... he doesn't drink any milk now. Our Dr. said that was okay, as the minimum is for them to drink 4oz at this point, and he eats lots of cheese and drinks smoothies... so he's getting enough. I still try from time to time to offer a sippy with milk... but he wants his milk in the bottle. We wanted to wean b/c he has all his teeth and we (mom and dad) have bad teeth/cavity history. I'd like to do all I can to save him from that. I would take it slowly; I took away one bottle every 2-4weeks, giving his body time to adjust and take in calories elsewhere. You'll find she'll eat a lot more... so beware! I forgot that each of those bottle was around 120calories, so they'll make it up soon. Just don't switch to juice, as it is bad for them and their teeth! Good luck!