What's the Big Hurry

Am I missing something? Is there a reason that they should be off the bottles and onto the sippy's s\o soon? Right now my girls are almost 15 months old, but they are only 12 months adjusted. We just transitioned to milk within the last 2 weeks. Since they were preemies I am worried if I take away their bottles cold turkey for sippy cups their calorie intake would go way down. They are not on the little side at all, I would say they are both around 25lbs... I do offer them sippy's throughout the day but they are not overly interested in them even though they can both get fluid out successfully.

So is there any harm in letting them have their bottles longer? Eventually will they transition themselves or am I creating monsters?

 

Well, I'm probably not the one to ask... but my boys were taking bottles up until they were over 18 months old. They both use sippies just fine, but Joel is not a good milk drinker out of them. He'll drink his juice no problem, but it's such a fight to get him to drink his milk. I think a lot of it is he prefers a bottle. If they had been able to go to milk at a year, (we had/have dairy issues) I think it would have been best to go milk only in sippies when we made that transition. But now we fight.... I think I'm going to try straw sippies with him soon since he seems to be wanting less and less milk each week. So that's my experience with it... Bryan did just fine going cold turkey at around 19 months, so I think it just has to do with the kid! But whatever you decide, don't let anyone tell you you're doing it "wrong" - It's totally your choice!!! Good luck!

 

My personal opinion is that it's so much easier to switch them from bottles to cups once they're done with formula. We would give our oldest water, cow's milk, and diluted juice (the Gerber brand) in his bottle and it was really hard to transition. Nightmarish! With our youngest three, we made the change at the same time as taking them off the formula (with the pedi's blessing) and it made things go so much more smoothly. I was hesitant to do it, but they caught on a lot more quickly than I expected.

As a side note, we gave Reese & Riley cups to try out while they were still on the bottle and all they did was play with them. It wasn't until they caught on that there was no more bottle that the light bulb came on. But, really I think it's a personal choice. They aren't going to be monsters just because you hold out on the transition for a little longer.

 

my mom keeps saying how "back in the day" they didn't even have sippy cups, and that we all drank from our bottles for a lot longer back then, adn then eventually just transitioned straight to a regular cup.
i'm still giving my girls a bottle before bed. i'm taking my time with that one. i'm not too concerned right now, besides, the only time they finish all their milk is when it's in a bottle (they always leave a few ounces in their sippies like it's a rule or something).
part of me can't wait to get rid of that last bottle only because i'm SO sick of cleaning all the stupid bottle parts (dr. brown's, which i noticed leak if you DON'T put in that air bubble tube thing) lol

i just realized that i was probably no help here lol ardon:

 

Kyrstyn,

I'm not sure what the rush is... I bf my older DS well past his 1st b-day - and there is not the pressure to wean from bfing (well, there is - but it is for different reasons) like there is bottle-feeding. I believe some of it has to do with tooth decay and dental development. But that is just what I've read. I'm fortunate in that my babies were bf their first 6 months and then I switched to pumping due to chronic mastitis - so they've never become very attached to their bottles - and they are just as happy to drink from sippy cups.

Especially with your DDs being premature, I don't think you need to rush things. I would go with your instincts on this one - and maybe talk to your pediatrician or pediatric dentist about it?

Good luck!

Here's what I found when I was looking up this info for my own information awhile back...

http://www.ucsfhealth.org/childrens/edu/bottleWeaning.html

ETA: I mixed up the letters in your name! Had to fix it.

 

from the time they were 10 or so months old (and on 3 meals a day with 2 snacks - which were usually a formula bottle) my mom put their formula in sippies which made the transition much easier...they decided at 13 months THEY no longer wanted their bottle...

FWIW my DD is more than a year older than your girls and weighs LESS...

 

I think the biggest issue with the bottle is letting a baby go to bed with a bottle of milk, thereby rotting her teeth. If you don't do this (and no one should!), then it's obviously not an issue.

Secondly, the longer a child has a bottle, the greater the chances of becoming attached to it, and the harder the habit is to break. At least, that's what our ped claims.

Thirdly, I think it's a societal thing -- we tend to frown on older kids who still have bottles, just like with pacifiers, diapers, etc.

I've also been told that a bottle can affect oral motor development -- but, that is true of regular sippy cups, too.

Anyhow, all that said, I don't think having a bottle past age 2 is a big deal in the least. Nadia was a stubborn kid, and refused to drink milk out of a sippy -- so, she got bottles of milk until age 2. She was also a skinny little thing, and I didn't want her intake to go down. And now, at almost 5, she drinks normally out of a cup, and has no lasting damage.

K&K did better drinking out of straw cups early on, so I switched them from bottles slowly, until they were strictly on straw cups by 15 or 16 months. Kevan does have oral motor issues, so I was keen to get him off the bottle as soon as possible -- and, they're still drinking the same amount of milk, so it wasn't an issue.

If they refused, however, I would have no qualms with continuing to give them bottles until age 2 or so...

Really, I think there are bigger issues to worry about!

 

When I talked to my ped about this at their 1 year appt, he didn't seem concerned. Like Becca said, he didn't think it was a huge issue at 1 year, but liked to see the transition by 2.

For me, I wanted them off the bottles because I was tired of washing them and they drank from the cups. There were a few fits thrown and I gave in to them, especially if it was the dinner/bed time bottle. But they only did that a few times.

Honestly, I have more of an issue with them wanting warm milk! (They don't care for cold milk, though lately this is becoming less of an issue too.)

 

Thank you for posting this we are going through the same thing! We were told to have them come off the bottle at 12 months. I would have loved to so I wouldn't have to wash the darn things.

When it didn't go that well everyone told me about the NUBY cups with silicone spout. Well I tried them and they hated it. They like water in their sippy cups but that is the only thing I ever put in them.

So my new quest starting tomorrow is to find a totally different type of sippy cup they haven't had before and transition to that. They are only on 2 bottles (first in the morning and last before bed) so it isn't a huge rush. I think I read online that Dr. Brown makes a great transition cup so I am going to check those out.

Oh and those cups where they suck on it to control the flow (like the NUBY) to me are NO different than a bottle. For one, they are still sucking on them for the liquid to come out and you still have to wash them with a bottle brush.

 

QUOTE(adia2007 @ Jan 1 2009, 09:16 PM) [snapback]1129644[/snapback]
Thank you for posting this we are going through the same thing! We were told to have them come off the bottle at 12 months. I would have loved to so I wouldn't have to wash the darn things.

When it didn't go that well everyone told me about the NUBY cups with silicone spout. Well I tried them and they hated it. They like water in their sippy cups but that is the only thing I ever put in them.

So my new quest starting tomorrow is to find a totally different type of sippy cup they haven't had before and transition to that. They are only on 2 bottles (first in the morning and last before bed) so it isn't a huge rush. I think I read online that Dr. Brown makes a great transition cup so I am going to check those out.

Oh and those cups where they suck on it to control the flow (like the NUBY) to me are NO different than a bottle. For one, they are still sucking on them for the liquid to come out and you still have to wash them with a bottle brush.


We tried the Nuby cups and a few of the cups that they have to suck on and the girls wouldn't have anything to do with it. Then I bought a pack of the super cheap little tiny Take n' Toss cups. The girls LOVED them and never wanted a bottle again. I didn't have to do any weaning. They just wanted their little cups. We bought the 4oz ones at first and they fit so nicely in their little hands that they just loved them. Not leak proof at all, but they were PERFECT for us.

 

We tried the Nuby at first too and it was too hard for them. We just got two Nuby's for Christmas and now there is no problem with them.
For me I had 2 reasons to get my kids off bottles at 12 months:
1. They were starting to go the sitters at that age and I didn't want the hassle of dragging bottles and formula to and fro.
2. My youngest nephew had his bottles forcibly removed a few weeks before his 3rd birthday. He was one of those "Well, he just doesn't like the sippy." kids and he was given milk in a bottle on demand all day every day. We decided to get rid of the bottles before we had the same problem.

Don't fool yourself on the washing thing, we got a selection of sippies for Christmas and I seem to be back at washing the darn things once a day just like with the bottles!

 

I never understood the push either. After all, the 12 month rule wasn't developed by anyone with medical knowledge, it was a compromise with formula companies who wanted a market for their product. The American Academy of Pediatrics agreed to recommend formula for "at least one year" similar to the recommendation with breastfeeding. That was back in the 60s. Over time, the recommendation has morphed into 'get off formula and bottles by one year'.

I transitioned my girls from bottles to sippies slowly. The afternoon bottle went to a sippy around 15 months, the morning on at 16 months and the evening one not until 19 months. I had tried around 12 months and they put up a huge fight, so I waited and they didn't fight at all this time around. Their intake has dropped from about 19oz of milk to somewhere between 5oz - 15oz a day now, but they get tons of dairy from other sources so I'm not concerned.

If your girls are only 12 months adjusted and they're doing well with bottles, I say leave them on bottles until you're all ready.

 

Great topic. We're battling it right now. argh!

 

The big hurry for me was because I was sick of washing bottles. :laughing: Seriously, that's the only reason I did it at 11 months old. I know on our pedis website they do recommend being off by 18 months. The reasoning? Not so sure.

 

QUOTE(mac+evie @ Jan 2 2009, 01:55 AM) [snapback]1129667[/snapback]
We tried the Nuby cups and a few of the cups that they have to suck on and the girls wouldn't have anything to do with it. Then I bought a pack of the super cheap little tiny Take n' Toss cups. The girls LOVED them and never wanted a bottle again. I didn't have to do any weaning. They just wanted their little cups. We bought the 4oz ones at first and they fit so nicely in their little hands that they just loved them. Not leak proof at all, but they were PERFECT for us.


Same here, mine love these little cups that have handles on the sides. I used to always put them on their trays during meal times and just let them play with them and now I guess they are attached to them. When Lily got sick a few weeks ago we thought she might be comforted by a bottle so we offered her some water. She spit it out and gave us a look like we were crazy, she's a big girl now she did NOT want the bottle.

I worried about them dehydrating too b/c they don't drink a lot at one time but I just leave the cups out all day. I put them on the coffee table 2 with milk and 2 with water and they take sips from them when they notice them. I noticed they are eating a whole lot more food, I guess b/c they aren't drinking as much.

 

We just had our one year appointment and our pediatrician wants our kiddos to put on more weight. We have them down to three bottles and were ready to drop another but she wants us to keep it the way it is so we know they are taking at least 24 oz a day of milk or a milk/formula combo. I figure we will wait to our next appointment in March and see how the weight thing goes before we drop anymore bottles. Personally, I see no harm in it at this time, most of my friends did not have their children completely off the bottle until they were two.

 

My girls were my last two and I enjoyed every stage!! My girls were probably almost 20 months before we were completely transitioned to sippies. I have never regretted taking so long, and my girls haven't suffered the least bit from it. Why rush??
My girls just never cared for sippies, so I let them use their bottles a little longer. By the end of the transition we were doing a bottle at night and sippies during the day. I just couldn't get them to drink a lot out of sippies, so I didn't push it. Now they drink like fish.

 

Well all I can tell you is my SIL's DS is 3 1/2 and still takes a bottle of milk.


I was just ready to get rid of bottles, personally. I think it's easier to do it when they are younger and making the switch to milk in sippies is an easy way. Good luck.

 

My girls were born 9 weeks early. Pedi had me move them to whole milk right at 12 months. So what I did to prep was give them cold formula in a sippy with all meals, and slowly drop bottles. They were down to just their bedtime bottle by 12 months, so I kept that warm formula and switched everything else to cold milk. We got rid of that bedtme bottle about 2 weeks later, then it was just milk in sippies.

Keep in mind they should have less milk than they did formula, my pedi recommended 15-20 ounces a day. Their nutrition should be coming from food, and the more milk they take in the less food they will probably take in.

I honestly think the older they get the harder it would be to take away the bottle. I know mine grow more and more stubborn every single day. It's the reason my 2y9m DD still has a paci in her crib. We're conquering that this month or next, definitely before she turns 3. I also worried about their teeth with the bottle.

 

My thought process is/was this:

When it's time to get off of formula, it's time to get off of bottles.

The two go hand in hand.

I had no intentions of putting milk in a bottle. When making the switch anyway, why not go all the way??

So at 9 months I took one away replaced it with milk, and slowly went bottle by bottle. At 11 and 1/2 months we were completely on sippy cups.

Personally, I don't like seeing older children (2 plus) with a bottle. I think that happens because they get SOOOOOO attached to the bottle and since they are older.. it's just harder and harder to wean them. It's a habit that will become tougher to break every day.

One of the reasons "they" say "age one" is because after that... it will be an uphill battle to remove it.

Plus, it was a hassle for me. I never liked the bottle business

It's totally a personal decision BUT went really well for us doing it at one year. I cannot even imagine weaning them NOW!! They are sooo much more wise than they were just 3 short months ago!!

Good luck!!

 

Thanks for posting this, Kyrstyn. I've been a little stressed because Annelise is not at all interested in a sippy and Karina is just starting to get interested. We have a long ways to go before they are ready to be rid of the bottle. Both girls still take 4 bottles a day. We are also still on 22-cal formula and I expect they will be for at least another month because we have so much on hand. The Ped said to go ahead and give them milk in a bottle when we run out of formula. I asked if he thought there would be a problem transitioning to sippy cups if we give milk in a bottle and he seemed unconcerned.

ETA: My girls are very small, so I'm also concerned about calorie intake. Now that we got the o.k. to give milk, I'm giving milk (instead of water) in sippy cups for snacks and meal times for a little calorie boost. We're still keeping 4 bottles of formula a day though.

 

I don't think you really need to push them, but I do think you should try to introduce the sippy at about one year. This way, they get the hang of it before you take the bottle away completely. We switched gradually from 12-15 months and it worked well for us. I'm really glad we didn't wait, too. I have read so many post talking about how hard it is to take a bottle away from an older child. My kids never became attached to their bottles, so there was never an issue.

I think the age you take them away and how much you let them carry the bottles around go hand-in-hand in determining how easy the transition will be. I've known kids who carried their bottles everywhere and it became more of a lovey than a source of food. I can't imagine the tears involved in taking it away!

 

My girls are nearly 19 months old and they still get 2 bottles a day. They were born 10 weeks early and one of them has had weight gain issues and that is the main reason I give them bottles, for the calories. They drink from sippy's just fine, we recently switched from regular sippys to the nuby's with straws and they guzzle milk from them. I am not in a rush to get rid of the bottles but will be glad when we do. I hope to be done by two.

 

I was also told by our pedi to have them off by 1 year. I've been working on it since they were 6 months old with no luck. Then, EI came out when they were 11 months to evaluate Josh because he was still not rolling over or even attempting to crawl.

They asked if I had any other concerns and I did mention the bottle. She tells me that sippies are just as bad as bottles for speech development. The spout and the nipple are pretty much the same size and "may" cause a problem down the line. She told me to only use the straw type cups. :umm: I asked her if sippies were such a big issue, why did my pedi only tell me about getting off the bottle at 1 year?

So two weeks ago I finally got them on sippies and now I hear this. We have their 1 year Dr's appointment on Thursday and I'm going to ask her opinion. I did buy 2 straw cups after EI told me that and Josh got the hang of it, but Jake still can't figure it out so for right now, I'm sticking with sippies. Plus, I got all excited that they were on them and I bought a few more the other day.

 

We stopped giving formula around 14 months and gradually started on whole milk. I experimented with giving them both water and milk in sippies around this time and they rejected them. So, I continued with bottles until around 16-17 months (they were about 9 months premature, so 14-15 months adjusted). Once I finally decided that I would "stick to it" and give them sippies they got the hang of it within a week. One DD accepted it well and continued to drink a lot of milk. My other DDs milk consumption dropped, but she gets dairy from other sources. It's been about 9 months since the transition and we are now doing 2% milk and the one DD who stopped drinking as much milk is now drinking much more - I think she just didn't like whole milk!!

Anyway, I think it worked out for us doing it this way because I've noticed that the girls have become much more attached to and "opinionated" about some things during the last 6 months, i.e. blankets, stuffed animals. That said, I'm also SO glad that we gave up the paci around 18 months, too!! It would be MUCH harder now that they are 2 years old.

 

I don't get it either. different shaped nipple but most sippy cups still look alot like a bottle to me. I just think it is a society thing. I'm still using bottles since I've decided to continue on with formula for a bit longer since my two had a drop in their weights from not eating enough so I wanted some extra nutrients from the formula. Bottles are easier to measure out the formula. I give them water in a Nuby and while they didn't like them at first I just put it out where they could play with it, and they like it now.

I don't plan on taking them off bottles any time soon.

Heather

 

QUOTE(MrsBQ02 @ Jan 1 2009, 10:15 PM) [snapback]1129507[/snapback]
Well, I'm probably not the one to ask... but my boys were taking bottles up until they were over 18 months old. They both use sippies just fine, but Joel is not a good milk drinker out of them. He'll drink his juice no problem, but it's such a fight to get him to drink his milk. I think a lot of it is he prefers a bottle. If they had been able to go to milk at a year, (we had/have dairy issues) I think it would have been best to go milk only in sippies when we made that transition. But now we fight.... I think I'm going to try straw sippies with him soon since he seems to be wanting less and less milk each week. So that's my experience with it... Bryan did just fine going cold turkey at around 19 months, so I think it just has to do with the kid! But whatever you decide, don't let anyone tell you you're doing it "wrong" - It's totally your choice!!! Good luck!

Pretty much exact same situation here (except they still get a bottle at night). I nursed them until they were 10 months and then switched them to Next Stage formula because they have a milk sensitivity. They aren't even really attached to the bottle, they don't carry them around or anything they just suck the formula down and throw the bottle at me. They drink out of sippies fine and I make sure I brush their teeth after their bottle.

 

I can't imagine why anyone would want to keep them on bottles... I wanted them off just for my own personal ease. I hated washing them, warming them, etc.

We did formula until 12 months ... and started with the sippy around 10 months ... more just for fun and practice. Once we started transitioning, it was formula in bottles, milk in sippies only.

Mine did fine, so there were no reason to not do it. I haven't really heard any medical reason why, but I just felt sippies were a million times easier than bottles. But mine never wanted to hold their own bottles either ... but they always held there sippies. So for me, it was a no brainer.