milk strike when i took away the bottle

bella and bree are 13 months old and i thought i'd have a crack at taking the bottle away and weaning totally to their sippy cups. They didn't really miss their bottles at all, but after one day they refused flat out to drink milk out of their sippy or a cup. I tried making them wait, so they would get a little thirtsy and drink it, but, no go. after 2 and a half days of drinking a very minimal amount of milk ( and i mean minimal) I gave them back their bottle just so they could drink milk.

They do eat yogurt and cheese etc, but i thought they are too little to br drinking no milk AT ALL.

has anyone else had this problem, what should i do?

 

We had a problem when we weaned William from Alimentum to milk. He was already using a sippy no problem, but he went on a milk strike and even barely touched water. This lasted about 4 weeks unfortunately. The only way to get milk into him was a use a spoon and a cup and even then you didn't get that much into him. They both think drinking from a spoon is fun since it's a trick taught by grandma.
I just offered the sippy of milk 3 times a day as usual and hoped for the best. Finally one morning he drank more than one mouthful of milk from the sippy and after that he was fine. He started downing the sippy just like he had when there was Alimentum. I think he finally gave up waiting for us to bring the Alimentum back.

 

I am at a loss...they have been drinking from sippys for months (not milk though) and have been weaned onto cows mild for about 8 weeks. I really thought they would just miss their bottles, and have a fit going to bed, not strike on milk!!

 

hello there...

we have a hard time as well...not a strike, I can't help much but I do understand what you're talking about!

my boy would drown 4-5oz in am, about 30min after waking up, from sippy...this was a long process to get him to this point. his sister still would only drink about 1oz at that time from sippy.
so at breakfast I give him water (towards end) and her her milk, again she would only drink about 1oz.

so by the time they are ready for am nap, he drank all his milk and she had mayb 2oz....and because they are on lower weight side I am just not ready not give them only sippy, especially her. so I give her another 3-4oz in bottle before her nap, they are used to feed to sleep anyways.

same scenario at lunch but I don't push milk as hard, they drink lots of water and have fruits in between meals.

and same thing at dinner time...so I am just hoping that she will come, they do drink about 2oz in sippy at dinner.....so I know after all, only sippy intake would not be enough for them as of now.

natasha, do yours drink enough of water and/or have fruit? so if you would try the sippy only, they would still have some liquid intake? I know I need to try to and just be strong and realize that they WILL eventually drink if they are really thirsty.....

pgmummy, so they would barely drink anything for 4 weeks? weren't you concerned about dehydration and not enough liquid intake? ...just wondering...I would get crazy!

 

I didn't go cold turkey. I replaced bottles with sippies gradually between 12 and 15+ months. First the mid-afternoon bottle, then the lunch bottle (they rarely even now drink all their milk at lunch), then the morning bottle, and then finally the bedtime bottle. For morning and bedtime bottles I just replaced them with a sippy of milk, but I made the sippy a 'special sippy' they only have at those times. We got those first years cups with elmo on it and that helped them get excited enough to finish them. Maybe try to gradually switch over unless they will hold out and refuse unless its in a bottle. Or try a different kind of sippy cup with the milk. GL!

 

What kind of milk was in the bottles and what kind is in the cup?

My kids hate plain cows milk so we either mix with it vanilla soy, or I mix it with vanilla carnation instant breakfast. I wouldnt give back the bottles - but thats just me.
Will they drink other things from their cup? water? juice? etc?

Kids can go many days without milk so long as they are eating a well balanced diet. I know when mine were sick the main thing the pedi told me was no milk for at least 48 hours but water/pediatlyte etc would be fine. As they get older you can also give gatorade.

GL

 

I have the same issue. Well, they still have 2-3 bottles a day, but every time I give them a cup of milk with their meals DS just throws it on the floor after drinking 2oz. I'm really worried of dehydration mostly... They have some water sippies available in case they're thirsty but I'm not sure it's enough... I have a hard time getting rid of bottles for that reason!