If your toddler is off the bottle...

Do you still measure his/her milk intake? If so, how much does he/she take?

I am trying to get Ryan off the bottle. I'm not taking away his before bed bottle yet (around 7:30PM). This weekend I stuck to sippy cups of milk during the day and a big bottle at night to make up for the lack of milk during the day. He usually has 3 7oz bottles. So, he took maybe 7 oz, if that, from cups throughout the day and then I gave him 10 oz in a bottle before bed.

Also, if you weaned off the bottles, did you do it cold turkey or leave the night time bottle? How long should I let him keep that night bottle? He really looks forward to it when he's winding down for the night but I don't want to be weaning him from the bottle around the time this second baby is due.

Re: If your toddler is off the bottle...

We are trying right now to wean Kaydyn off the bottle. Sat night, all day yesterday and this morning we did not give her a bottle....well when my mom went to put her in for a nap she gave her a bottle.

We realize that she is not drinking as much milk, but we figure we'll just give her more dairy in her diet. Yesterday she drank maybe 10oz of milk all day.

We decided to go cold turkey b/c she is soooooo attached to her bottle and anytime she even sees one she asks for it. We've got time before #2 arrives so we figure we'll try it now and hopefully she'll be completely off them in a little bit.

Re: If your toddler is off the bottle...

DD has been off the bottle for about two months now but still gets the night bottle. I may try and stop that next week. It's almost as if the night bottle is more for me then her because I love to just wind down and cuddle with her. She definately started to take less milk with the sippy cups. It would be a sip here or a sip there. I feel like I'm constantly offering her the cup because I want her to get enough milk. She gets 10 oz from a cup during the day and a 6 oz bottle at night. At first she wouldn't have more than 10 oz a day total but she's getting used to it more and more and it's getting easier.

Re: If your toddler is off the bottle...

Re: If your toddler is off the bottle...

no, I do know how many ozs her cups are so I have an idea of how much they drink, I just don't know the exact amount.

Re: If your toddler is off the bottle...

Nina has been off the bottle since 14 months and after that I stopped measuring the milk. Her straw cups hold a little less than 8oz so I give her 2.5 full straw cups a day.

Re: If your toddler is off the bottle...

DD kind of took herself off the bottle at 12 mo. Now, she gets 2 straw cups of milk a day, but doesn't finish them. I also give her a drinkable yogurt with lunch that is 6oz. I would say she drinks about 16 oz per day of milk.

Re: If your toddler is off the bottle...

We went cold turkey - I bought the straw sippy cups and the NUBY ones with the soft tip and let her try both with milk in them - and she'd try it, but always want her bottle.

The day we finally went cold turkey - I hid all the bottles and let her choose between the straw one and the Nuby soft tip one (offered both with milk in them.) She chose the Nuby one and thats what we use.

The first two days were the toughest and I basically had to spoon fed her oatmeal with lots of milk to make sure she got her milk for the day. I think it was harder for her at daycare b/c other babies in her class were still on bottles and she wanted them.

Do I measure? No - she gets 4 sippy cups a day - about 6 oz in each. Dr. said she should get between 16 and 24 oz of milk a day - leaning more to 24 oz since shes a skinny minnie. Sometimes she finishes all her sippy cups, sometimes not.

She still gets a sippy cup of milk at bedtime (7:30) and then we brush teeth.

Good luck!

Re: If your toddler is off the bottle...

I have a rough idea of the number of ounces in his straw cups, and I measure for milk mainly so he doesn't drink too much. Water I don't so much, if he drinks more of that especially now that it's warm, that's okay.

We didn't go cold turkey. I think whether or not this works depends on your child. I really doubted it would work well for him--he seems to adapt to changes better when they are introduced slowly, and he was never crazy for his bottles anyway. So I took them away little by little, leaving the evening bottle last. He wound up rejecting that himself--at that point, he preferred the straw cups.

Message edited 6/30/2009 12:45:50 PM.

Re: If your toddler is off the bottle...

The doc hasn't asked me how much ds has drank in a while so I stopped paying attention - i know i change a lot of "code yellow" diapers so he must be drinking. he always asks for mwah, mwah.

My thought about the large bottle before bed is a very wet diaper sometime.

DS was about 15 mos when he stopped the bottle.

Re: If your toddler is off the bottle...

I can't really speak to the transition b/c DS was off the bottle at 10.5 months when we switched from formula to milk (best piece of advice I've received from the ped so far - never put milk into a bottle; as soon as you switch to milk, it goes into a cup) so we had no issue with transition.

DS is offered 4 ~6oz straw/sippy cups of milk a day on daycare days (4 days a week), 3 ~6oz straw/sippy cups of milk on non-daycare days (3 days a week). I saw "offered" because although he sucked down every ounce of milk when we first started it, he's completely disinterested in it now. I asked the ped for a minimum and he said at this age 12-14oz a day but that's of calcium so we can supplement with yogurt, ice cream, cheese, etc.

Re: If your toddler is off the bottle...

When DS was down to just the nap and bedtime bottle, I began giving him less and less in the bottle. Then, I had him help me pack up the bottles and throw them out. He very proudly put them in the garbage can.

We then went to the store and he picked out all new "big boy" cups. He chose Thomas the Train, his new obsession. He never looked back or wanted the bottle again.

I was thrilled it was that simple. Actually, I waited with both kids (until 2) and they both understood the whole concept very well. (At 1 year, bottles were only for naps/bedtime and maybe one additional feeding.) My mom tried with me at an early age and she told me how hard it was for me and that I didn't understand so I wanted to wait until they could get it .

ETA - As for knowing how much he's getting/got, the cups he has are all 9 oz. cups.

Message edited 6/30/2009 2:34:26 PM.

Re: If your toddler is off the bottle...

Gavin's sippys have oz. measurements on them so he still gets his "bottles" in the morning, afternoon and night...just in a sippy.....
7 oz.
6 oz.
6 oz.