transitioning from bottles to sippy cups

I posted this in the first year, but also wanted some feedback from you second-year folks since we are almost in the second year.

We have started giving our LO's formula in a sippy cup (they are still on Nutramigen due to dairy and soy intolerance). They did horrible the first few days, but are starting to catch on now it seems (drank less than half an ounce the first day - today they each drank 1.5 oz. at two meals). So next week, I am going to eliminate their mid-day bottle and offer them a few ounces of formula (in addition to their water) with each meal and snack.

That will leave us with a morning and night bottle. So which one do I eliminate next? I'm thinking morning? Right now they get a bottle at 6:30 (early risers - UGH!), and breakfast (cereal and fruit) around 8:15. So when I eliminate the morning bottle, do I give them breakfast earlier, or just give them formula in the sippy cup instead? Here is our schedule if it helps:
6:30am - bottle
8:15am - breakfast
10am - snack with sippy
12:30pm - lunch with sippy
3pm-ish (whenever nap is over) - snack with sippy
5-5:30pm - supper with sippy
6:45pm - bottle

I'm going back to grad school in January. I'm hoping to get them off of their mid-day and morning bottles by then to make things easier on our nanny. TIA for your advice!!

 

My two had been getting sippy of water during the day since they were 6 months (initially for practice and then they got the hang of it). I did not drop bottles until they were 15 months old and I did it gradually. I started with the bottle they would miss the least (the afternoon one) and then the next week dropped the morning one and then dropped the bedtime one. It did not impact our schedule too much. They got their sippy of milk with breakfast and then their nightime sippy of milk about an hour before bedtime. I offered a sippy of water for them throughout the day. Good luck with the transition and with grad school!

 

I pretty much dropped bottles cold-turkey on the boys' first birthday. ardon: I still gave Jack a bottle at bedtime for a month or so after that (I nursed Nate), but then dropped it in place of a warmed milk sippy with no issues! They reduced the amount they drank for a while, and I had to help them tip the sippies back for a week or so (they didn't use sippies almost at all before they turned 1, and never held bottles), but they figured it out really quickly! I also only offered milk sippies at meals and snacks, and just let them have water or diluted juice in between meals. This made it soooo much easier!

Good luck; I hope the transition goes smoothly for you!

 

So when you dropped the morning bottle, did you move up their breakfast of solids? I'm just thinking our LO's seem ready to eat when they get up. So I can either give them a sippy of milk when they wake up, or go ahead and give them their breakfast - I'm not sure which would be better? Or maybe it doesn't matter....I just can't imagine them waking up at 6:15am and not eating until after 8am - I think they would be nuts.

 

[quote name='Nate and Jack's Mom' date='03 December 2010 - 10:00 AM' timestamp='1291388420' post='1730846']
I pretty much dropped bottles cold-turkey on the boys' first birthday. ardon: I still gave Jack a bottle at bedtime for a month or so after that (I nursed Nate), but then dropped it in place of a warmed milk sippy with no issues! They reduced the amount they drank for a while, and I had to help them tip the sippies back for a week or so (they didn't use sippies almost at all before they turned 1, and never held bottles), but they figured it out really quickly! I also only offered milk sippies at meals and snacks, and just let them have water or diluted juice in between meals. This made it soooo much easier!

Good luck; I hope the transition goes smoothly for you!
[/quote]

Thanks....I guess that's where I'm waivering on the cold-turkey versus gradual approach. I think I'm going to do one bottle at a time, but cold-turkey for each bottle and see what happens. I guess I won't know until I try, right??

 

I would just offer the sippy with breakfast. We usually give our kids a sippy of milk as we're getting breakfast ready and they finish it with breakfast. Once this becomes a routine, I would also cut your night time bottle and just give them their last sippy with supper, so their schedule would be just like it is, but without the bottles.

 

For the longest time our boys were early risers. And when I would go retrieve them from the nursery they cried all the way down the hallway and did not stop until I popped a bottle in their mouth. They were not happy first thing in the morning until they got their milk IMMEDIATELY upon waking. So I understand your trepidation about changing from a morning bottle to a sippy, because I sure as heck wasn't going to be making my LOs pancakes at 6am! But we made the switch and somehow things just fell into place. They didn't drink as much milk from the sippies, but they got to where they would throw the sippy down and then go play for a bit. For a while their breakfast was earlier than I liked (initially around 7am, then 7:30am) but now they don't eat breakfast until 8am. Though it helps that they sleep a little later now and don't get up until 6:30am-7:00am. But they no longer scream for milk when they wake up, and if they get a little fussy before 8am I give them some raisins or puffs or something to tide them over until 8am. Hopefully things will go smoother than you think. GL!

 

Can they go that long without food? They eat supper at 5pm, and then their breakfast is at 8am. That seems like a long time - won't they need some milk or a snack before bed? (they go to bed around 7:15-7:30). Of course I was shocked when we dropped the 10pm feed and they didn't need it when they were younger!

 

Maybe not immediately, but as you reduce the amount of formula they get, they will really ramp up on the amount of solids they will take in. Solids "stick to the ribs" better than liquids, so they won't get hungry as quickly. We still (at 28 months) give a sippy of milk before bed, but it's more habit at this point than need. You could always do a snack at 7pm if you think they need something to keep their tummies full.

We've always eaten dinner with our guys (~6:30pm) so I never felt like they needed more than a bit of milk before bed at 7:30.

HTH!

 

My guys eat supper at 5 and wake up at 8 am, so it can work. Occasionally they need some water or something in the night if they're sick or something, but not very often. They've probably been in that routine since about 14 months or so.

 

Okay, well, it's probably worth a try, then. First I need to get rid of the two daytime bottles, and then I'll see what happens with the nighttime bottle. I'm not as worried about that one so much since we are home then, but the morning two would be a lot easier on our nanny if they can have a sippy rather than a bottle when I start classes on Jan. 12. I guess all I can do is try and see how they do, huh? Thanks for all your advice everyone!

 

No I didn't. I gave them their milk along with the breakfast.
ETA: with the last sippy of milk for the day, my two go to bed around 7:30 and I found that giving them their last sippy of milk around 6:30 helped and they were able to hold out until breakfast the next day. Sometimes I gave a snack with that last sippy of milk if they seemed a little hungry and sometimes I didn't.

 

My guys are like ravenous beasts and have always had terrible meltdowns during the "witching hour" (5-6pm), so I will freely admit that sometimes DH gives them a *third* snack when he gets home at 5pm so they can make it to dinner! :lol:

 

I dropped bottles all together at 1 too. I was nursing still, so they just got water and a little juice in sippies. Once I stopped nursing they were so used to sippies already that it wasn't a big deal to put milk in them. My boys had a hard time transitioning to milk, so we did a couple of things- the Pedi wanted them on pedisure to give them more calories, and I helped them with a straw and a cup. For probably a month they had their milk/pediasure in a cup with a straw and they seemed to drink it much better.

 

I transitioned at 10 months and I'm so thankful I did it earlier rather than later. They were taking 4 bottles a day and at 10 months I dropped the middle bottles and only kept the morning and bedtime. Then at 10.5 months, I dropped the morning bottle. I kept the nighttime bottle until a little over 11 months because we were traveling so I wanted them to have a way to calm down before bed. I was afraid to mess with their bedtime routine when we were staying with other people. My girls now have a sippy of milk as soon as they wake up (while I make breakfast) and then right before their bath at 6:30 so they can brush their teeth in the tub and get into bed at 7pm. We normally have dinner at 5:30 so I like that they are getting a little more before bed since they sleep 13 hours.

Good luck with the transition!

 

Thanks everyone. We dropped the middle of the day bottle today, and they did well. I'm going to wait a few days and try dropping the morning one, too. As well as they did today, I hope it will go okay - I have a feeling the bedtime one might be the hard one to figure out the timing on, but we will see!