Giving up bottles...and sippy cups.

My Girls are 13 months old. They will drink water no problem from a sippy cup but will not take milk from one.
They also still get about 4/5 bottles of milk a day (they drink about 16-20oz total).
I know I should be cutting back on the milk bottles but to be honest most days when they are screaming, milk is the answer.

So here are my questions -

At what age did you drop the bottles ?
At 13 months, how many bottles/sippy cups of milk are your taking ?

Any recomendations on how to transistion from bottle to sippy cups ?

Thanks

 

By 13 months, we were done with bottles and getting milk sippies with breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

 

Our boys had their last bottle on their 1st birthday. I actually started the transition process about a month before that. They were on 4 bottles a day. First, I dropped them to three bottles and replaced the afternoon bottle with a snack and water. Next, I took their 10am bottle and spread the milk (formula at that time) out over all three meals. A few days later I replaced the morning bottle with a sippy, and then the day after they turned one, I also replaced the night bottle with a sippy.

I have to tell you, the first time I gave them milk in the sippy, they made an awful face, looked at me like I was crazy, and wouldn't drink even 1/2 oz. It took a few days for them to get used to it, and until they did, I added a bit more to their remaining bottles to make up for it. When I handed them the cup, I would say "this is milk". Then I would hand them their other cup and say "this is water". After a couple of days, they got used to it and did just fine.

 

I did it cold turkey around 13.5 months. They get 3 sippy cups of milk a day with meals, the rest of the day they have access to their water sippys. It took a couple of days for them to take to the transition and now they drink more milk from their sippys then they ever did from their bottle .

 

Hi, ours stayed on some bottles until maybe a year and 6 or 7 months. I dropped the mid day bottle first, then morning, and then night time. I was anxious about dropping the bottles, but it turned out fine eventually.

 

At about 12 months I dropped down to 3 bottles with no issues. We went cold turkey to sippys at 14 months. My girls found it confusing to have some bottles and some sippys so I got rid of the bottles. It took a good few weeks for my one daughter to completly adjust to the sippy. She wasn't drinking as much as she had with a bottle and it was a bit concerning. After the adjustment they went back up to about 16oz/day of milk. At 18 months we still do a morning and night sippy as well as a post nap sippy with milk and then water at all meals.

 

remember too that at this age there isn't anything magic about the amount of milk they drink - it's simply a convenient source of protein, calcium & vitamin D. if you do decide to try a cold turkey switch & find that they are drinking less, offer other healthy dairy options (cheese, yogurt, etc). they'll be fine!

 

I am going to try to reply to this without my cat sitting on the computer and kicking me off of here :wacko:

1. I dropped bottles at 15 months
2. At 13 months, my two were getting three 8oz bottles of milk a day. We were on the high end of milk intake because we needed to put some weight on them.
3. At 15 months when I did start dropping bottles, I dropped one a week starting with the one I felt they'd miss the least-the afternoon one, then the morning one and lastly, the evening one. They got two sippies of milk a day-in the morning and evening. A sippy of water throughout the day. I did flavor the milk with a little strawberry syrup to encourage them to drink it from the sippy and I also used carnation instant breakfast for the extra calories.

I also agree with what Rachel said about using other dairy products to supplement milk intake. I still do this on days where they don't drink a lot of milk.

 

At 12 months, we cut our girls down to 2 bottles a day. We tried a couple of times to drop those last 2 bottles but were unsuccessful. One of our girls simply would not drink milk from a sippy. Finally, at 18 months we just went cold turkey. The girls don't drink nearly the amount of milk they did from bottles, but it doesn't really matter as long as they're getting calcium and protein from other sources. Now, at 21 months, I don't even keep track of their milk intake anymore. They get milk in sippies 4 times a day (with meals and with their mid-morning snack) and water the rest of the time. They're growing just fine.

When you do decide to go cold turkey, I recommend getting rid of the bottles entirely. Get them out of your house. I recommend this for 2 reasons: (1) If your kids see them (on the counter or in the cabinet), they will want them. (2) It's too easy for you to cave if the bottles are still an option. That was my problem those couple of times I tried to drop the final two bottles with no success. It was easier FOR ME to give them a bottle and make them happy than to force them to transition to sippies. Make it a little harder on yourself, and they'll probably transition faster. I am so glad I don't have to wash bottles anymore.

 

We cut out all bottles at 11 months. Have you tried straw cups? Some kids really like them better. I know my girls were very unsure about regular sippy cups, but they took to straw cups very quickly and get more liquid faster. I too focus a lot on other dairy products as well and my girls get between 14-18 ounces of milk a day. They also love cheese and yogurt (yo-yoke as they call it). If I let them, they would drink milk ALL day long.

 

Got rid of bottles at 12 months, offered milk at all meals and snacks. They have never downed a sippy like they used to with bottles but added up over the day it is still 16 oz or so. Nursed at wake up and bedtime until they weaned themselves at 15 and 19 months, but I don't think that affected their intake any.

I would go cold turkey and find other things to distract them. Handing them a bottle every time they scream is just going to teach them that bottle=comfort.