Weaning bottles, Paci's, with moving and new baby

OK - so lots of questions here. LOL I don't get a lot of time to post so hope it's ok I threw this all in one. We are going to be moving in about 35 days. I am also due to have a new baby in about 13 weeks. I am very slowly working on weaning my twins from the bottle. They used to have a bottle at wake-up, then before and after each nap, then one before bed (they have never drank a lot at one time so this is the only way I could get the right amount of formula down them). When we switched to milk I took out the bottles after naps. SO they are now down to morning wake-up, before each nap (2), and bedtime. They won't drink milk out of a cup normally. I bought some of the munchkin straw cups because they think straws are cool. LOL We tried those and the first time went good then they said forget it. I'm guessing that if I just take out the bottles and don't give them anything to drink but the milk in cups during certain times (they normally get water or water with a little juice in cups) they will come around to it. I just worry about them not getting enough in. How much milk do/did your 13-14 month olds get? I'm mostly worried about the nighttime bottle because I'm afraid they will start waking at night if they don't drink enough. I know I need to start weaning - I'm just not sure how fast/slow I should go about it with all of this moving and stuff coming up. Any suggestions?

Paci's - When they were 11 months old I started trying to take away the Paci's during the day (so only having them naps and bedtime) but then they started teething and were sick for like 2 months straight with something or other and I gave in and gave them back. I'm going to try and start moving them to bed only - and car rides since we have some huge drives coming up. When is it really necessary to wean them from Paci's? I'm just thinking with the move and the new baby maybe I should let them keep them in bed for awhile for security. I read somewhere that you shouldn't make any major changes like a month before and 1-3 months after the new baby comes. Any tips or suggestions for this?

Sorry for the scatter-brained post. I have a lot on my mind and it doesn't all come out right. LOL

 

For the milk in the cups I would just do away with one bottle at a time. They might drop their intake for a few days but just load them up with cheese, yogurt, pudding, ect to make up for the lost dairy. Remember they don't need to "drink" as much anymore, their diets are like mine and yours and they get most of their nutrition from all the varieties of food they eat. As for night waking, I was hesistant too with the night time bottle so when I got brave I offered the sippy before bed and after about a week noticed they weren't drinking that much....so now they eat their supper, get a bath, play, brush teeth, and go to bed. They sleep 13-13.5hrs at night without waking up So try it and of course adjust as you need to!
no advice on paci's bc mine don't use them but I did read in Parenting magazine that 15-18 months is the ideal time to get rid of them bc their sucking is so forceful it can actually pull bacteria up into their ears and cause ear infections.

Just do what will work for you, you have 2 huge changes coming up that they don't need everything changed on them at once!

 

Thanks I'll start with the morning nap bottle I think and go from there. I know I just need to do it. LOL I suppose with the Paci's I'll start reinforcing the Paci's in bed and then work on weaning those a bit after the baby comes. Oh - and nutrition and variety of food...HA. I have the world's most pickiest eaters! They're chunky monkeys and healthy so I suppose they're getting what they need somehow but I don't know how. They hate almost everything I put in front of them. It really makes meal time dreadful!!! LOL

 

You have big changes ahead of you girl! :bow2:

As far as the paci goes our pedi said that really we have until they are 4-5 before it becomes an orthodonic issue. Ryan uses it at night, and dh keeps giving it too him on car rides...but if it's not his paci, he will find something else to suck on, ie: his blankie. So I'm not sure how we would discourage that and with everything else they are working on right now, I'm just not that concerened about it. Talk to your pedi and see what they recommend.

With so much going on, try not to drive yourself nuts...do what you can and the rest will work itself out.
I others have words of wisdom...I just wanted to pop in and say what a great job your doing handling all you have on your plate!!

rebecca

 

DS Korey didn't give up his paci until his 4th birthday ardon: we tried and tried many times to get it away from him but he needed it at bedtime to fall asleep. He gave it up on his own, through it away because he had finally came to the understanding that he was a big boy!

Kelsey doesn't take a paci (hasn't since 3 months) Ryley is just like his big brother and I don't see him losing the paci ANYTIME soon.

I say let them keep the paci's for now, big change ahead with the new baby and they may need to comfort during the transition.

Sorry I have no help with the dropping bottle issue, my two are still on four bottles a day. First bottle after wakeup, bottle before both naps and before bedtime. They have sippy's of juice or water at mealtime.