Trying to wean a 15mo from bottles - In need of a little help!

My DS still has 2 bottles a day at 15mo... first thing in the morning and right before bed.

Today was my first attempt at weaning him and he did really well with the morning bottle... the bedtime one, not so much. I gave him the same sippy that he drank his morning milk from and he just was not having it! I ended up caving and giving him his bedtime bottle. I'm a wuss!

When you weaned your DC, did you just do it cold turkey or one bottle at a time? I'm thinking that since he did OK with eliminating the morning one, that I'll continue to let him have his bedtime one for a little while longer so it's not a total shock. What do you think? Any advice would be much appreciated!

Re: Trying to wean a 15mo from bottles - In need of a little help!

I basically posted the same thing on Sunday. Search for my post. I did it cold turkey and told DD that there were no more bottles. She is 15 mths also. She does fine in the am, all day at daycare but she does not like the sippy at night. I am a believer in cold turkey after my experience with DS. I remember when my DS was little, it took about a week to wean him. I initially offered the bottle at night it realized he would hold off waiting for the bottle....so then I went cold turkey.

She went to bed crying the first two nights and woke up for milk which I gave into but with a sippy. Last night, I tried feeding her the sippy on the sofa. She drank 1/3 of the bottle, we went upstairs, I read to her, put her in the crib and she cried for a few minutes and went to bed around 7:30. She woke up and hour later, drank a few more sips and then slept until 5 am. Tonight, she drank milk with dinner and after dinner (about 1/2) and whined when I put her in her crib. She fell asleep.

I want to get her to the point where she doesn't even drink a sippy before bed. It will be easier potty training her....and i say this learning the hard way with DS.

Re: Trying to wean a 15mo from bottles - In need of a little help!

Thank you so much!

Did you switch up the bedtime routine at all or is that was you usually did with her?
We usually play for a bit, (bath everyother night) get into pjs and read books on my bed while he drinks his bottle. Once he's done, I carry him into his room and he rolls around for a few and falls asleep peacefully. Tonight, he just kept whining and standing up and screaming for his bottle. It really broke my heart and I was fighting myself to not go upstairs and give it to him and I obviously lost that battle. I initially tried offering the sippy again, but he just didn't want it at all!

Tomorrow is a new day and I just need to go into it with a plan. You are right, not doing it cold turkey is just going to prolong this. I don't give him milk with dinner, but that's a great idea. He is so used to having that 6-8oz at night, that I just feel bad putting him to sleep with an empty belly. I will maybe try giving him a sippy with milk about 1 hour before bed or something. His ped still wants him to have 16-20oz milk a day.

One more question? What sippy do you use?

Thanks so much!

Re: Trying to wean a 15mo from bottles - In need of a little help!

I feel like we are going through the EXACT same thing. In the evening I am by myself with my DD and 4 yo DS. I bring them him, shower them together and then feed them dinner along with mine. DH usually gets home around 6:30. We did not change that part of the schedule.

In the past, I would take her up at 7pm (she only sleeps 1 hr at daycare), brush her teeth, read a book and put her in the crib with bottle ( I know it was a bad habit that I was creating but after a full day at work I was lazy). She would drink and fall asleep.

Now I give her the sippy with dinner and keep trying to give it to her until bedtime. I tried holding her in the rocking chair and she would have no part. So now I just put her n the crib with nothing...same routine with brushing and reading. Don't get me wrong...the first night she screamed for a good hour. I did the CIO method and eventually she went to sleep.

My goal is that she eats enough during the day and drinks enough milk during the day that she won't need the bottle before bed. I know she gets it but I also know she is not liking it

What sippy have I not used? Thank goodness I kept my DS sippys that he used once. We use nubby, munchkin, tommy tippy. The nubby and munchkin are soft top and she prefers those but I want her to get used to the hard top...bc she puts her finger in the soft cap and pours the milk out and bc it's better for her teeth.

She is heading into the same Montissori daycare DS in in at 18 mths. They don't allow sippy cups...just cups. Tonight I was tempted to gve her a plastic glass with little bit of milk at a time. She copies her brother so it might not be too hard.

I also wanted to add, I am not so worried abut giving the required milk. I am supplementing with yogurt and cheese as is her daycare.

Message edited 3/6/2012 8:49:01 PM.

Re: Trying to wean a 15mo from bottles - In need of a little help!

Ugh this is not fun AT ALL!!!

He weaned from BF at 12m and I am now kicking myself for even giving him bottles in the morning and at night. For my future DC, we will go from BF straight to sippys to avoid this altogether.

He drinks water/juice from his straw cup all day long with no problem at all, but he will not drink milk from it. It's the weirdest thing! He will only drink milk from a soft-nipple sippy and even then, it's just sips at a time. He HATES the hard-topped ones. I think I've tried them all!

He eats cheese and yogurt throughout the day, too, so maybe I can just increase that to compensate.

Wow, I could not imagine giving him a cup to drink by himself! He would dump it over his head if I let him.

Thanks again for your responses... I really appreciate it!

Re: Trying to wean a 15mo from bottles - In need of a little help!

We just went cold turkey about two weeks after he was one. As soon as we were done transitioning to whole milk, we transitioned into a sippy cup. He put up a fight the first day, but I just kept offering. I offered milk and water only from the sippy. We have tried giving him milk with dinner and that was a no go. He prefers to sit on my lap, while I rock him, and read a book. That is the only way he will take his last sippy.

I didn't change up the routine too much. Actually transitioning to a sippy has let use fit in the books I wanted to read to him. So I am happy with the new transition.

But to answer your question, I think cold turkey was better for us because my son would wait for the night bottle if he knew it was coming.

Re: Trying to wean a 15mo from bottles - In need of a little help!

We went cold turkey at 12 months.

I asked the doctor how much milk they really needed and it really isn't much. 3 servings of dairy as long as they are drinking water too.

So it eased my mind about going cold turkey.

When we did it they no longer sat and drank a whole cup anymore. So what I do is offer them milk when they first get up, let them drink it for about 20 mins or so. Whatever they don't finish I offer at breakfast. Then I give them another full cup around 2 or 3 for about 20 minutes...whatever they don't finish they drink at dinner. At first they didn't drink much milk AT ALL. but within a week they really started drinking more and more. DD still only drinks about 12 ounces a day but she drinks a ton of water and has a yogurt and cheese everyday.

They never missed their night time bottle. I was so worried about that and they never said boo.

eta: our bedtime routine is dinner, bath, brush teeth, pjs, books and bed

Good luck! Do it now...he is only going to get smarter

Message edited 3/6/2012 9:25:21 PM.

Re: Trying to wean a 15mo from bottles - In need of a little help!

Thanks ladies! WHYYYYYY didn't I do this at 12m?!
At 15m he is so aware of what's going on and it's just making it more difficult.

I guess cold turkey is the way to go, so that's what we're going to do! I'm just struggling with replacing the bottle with a sippy during our bedtime routine or just eliminating milk before bed completely. I think that is going to be very hard for him now, but it will definitely be easier in the long run bc it will just be another habit to break. I really think weaning from BF was easier than this!

Re: Trying to wean a 15mo from bottles - In need of a little help!

Posted by LadyBug1209

Thanks ladies! WHYYYYYY didn't I do this at 12m?!
At 15m he is so aware of what's going on and it's just making it more difficult.

I guess cold turkey is the way to go, so that's what we're going to do! I'm just struggling with replacing the bottle with a sippy during our bedtime routine or just eliminating milk before bed completely. I think that is going to be very hard for him now, but it will definitely be easier in the long run bc it will just be another habit to break. I really think weaning from BF was easier than this!

Re: Trying to wean a 15mo from bottles - In need of a little help!

I agree. It seems to be easier to just eliminate that last bottle. DD is the one that seems like she does not want it.

BTW, I BF DD and introduced the bottle when she was about 3 mths. My darling daughter refused every bottle and went on almost a hunger strike. I should have known that it would have been a pain to get her transitioned to a sippy.

Also, a cup isn't too bad. We taught DS to drink from a cup by the time he was 18 mths old. My nephew is 11 mths old and he drinks from a cup.....all bc of my mothers patience. You literally give drops at a time to teach them.

Good luck !

Re: Trying to wean a 15mo from bottles - In need of a little help!

We dropped DS bottles during the day at 13 months.. and dropped his last bottle before bed at 15 months. He didn't even notice it was gone! We just started giving him milk with dinner and that was it.
Good luck!