Weaning from bottle to cup

[Anonymous]

Hi everyone –

Now that Owen is over 13 months old we decided that we need to drop one of his bottles to a cup. He still was getting three bottles a day – one first thing in the AM, one with lunch, and one right before bed. The rest of the day if he’s thirsty we would give him either rice milk or juice in a cup, like at dinner, etc. He’s been drinking from a cup since he was around 6 months old so he’s very comfortable using a cup and never seems to have a problem with them.

UNTIL – we tried this weekend to drop that lunchtime bottle. I know there isn’t really any pressure to do it other than the fact that I want to do it now, but since Owen is getting more and more attached to his bottle it made me feel like we need to get rid of it sooner rather than later. I don’t mind him having the morning and night bottles, and for all I care he could have those until he is three years old. But this weekend when we would give him the cup he would throw it, whack it out of my hand, and just act generally mad about it. He’s had formula in a cup before so it’s not that he’s never had it, and he’d take between 3-4 ounces, but I feel really bad that he’s not happy about it.

So what do you think? Should I just deal with this and hope that he’ll get used to it? Are we being mean by doing it now and should we wait longer? Or is this just normal for him to take less out of a cup? I feel bad. I know he’s not deyhdrated or anything like that, but I feel bad that he’s mad about it! Any advice?

[Anonymous]

I would just drop the lunchtime bottle cold turkey and don’t worry if he doesn’t accept anything in a cup in place of it for now. He’ll gradually start taking more and more liquid from a cup. At this age, he definitely doesn’t need 3 bottles a day. I think it will take a few days and he’ll get used to just a morning and bedtime bottle. The 2 bottles a day worked so well for us from 12-18 months.

As far as bottle attachment…this was the case for Hailey too. After she turned 12 months, it was like a switch turned off in her head and she started LOVING her bottles. She came running for them – very strange considering she was such a notorious bottle refuser her first year (as I know Owen periodically was). Anyway, my point is that Hailey just weaned herself from the bottle. She hasn’t had one in nearly 2 weeks. She got sick and that was that, she just decided she no longer wanted a bottle. We’ve been able to replace the bottle with drinkable yogurt and are gradually getting her to accept chocolate milk (gasp!). It was quite an easy thing – surprisingly.

[Anonymous]

Hi Laura, as usual we are facing the same dilemma. Seth still gets three bottles a day too but he gets his in the am, 2:00ish and before bed. I plan on trying to eliminate the 2:00 bottle real soon. Seth used to get a bottle with lunch and then another one at 3:45 so the 2:00 was a way to eliminate one of them. I found he has not missed the lunch bottle at all. I just today sent in some rice milk for him to hopefully take in a sippy at lunch and if he starts to drink it well, I will drop the 2:00 bottle with another sippy of rice milk (he still will not take his Alimentum from a cup). I do not anticipate him taking eight ounces out of the sippy like he will with the bottle but I figure if he gets 4 ounces at lunch and then 4 ounces in the afternoon with a snack that will be ok. Our ped. says they only need 16 ounces of milk/formula at this age so I am thinking the rice milk will just be extra calories/calcium that he needs instead of just giving him water. I plan on keeping him on Alimentum in the morning and night until he can have whole milk to ensure he gets the protein/fat he needs.

Mom2Seth2006-2-13 10:35:24

[Anonymous]

I personally am a believer that there’s no rush to wean, as long as they take enough solids, but if you’ve already started, I’d probably stick with it. My older one just got rid of the am bottle (her last one) at over 2 years old- we did it cold turkey, and yes there were many tantrums I ignored. When we dropped her other bottles starting one by one at around 15 months she did exactly what you describe with Owen… hitting the cup out of hands or throwing it!

Just wondering, how did you get Owen to take a cup? We have tried sippys- every kind imaginable- with and without the valve without any luck. She acts like it’s a bottle despite what goes in it and avoids it like the plague!! She used to use an open cup held by me and she loved that, until one day decided she wouldn’t go near it! Any tips? Hope I’m not hijacking, if so please ignore the question.

[Anonymous]

Lori ~ Have you tried a straw cup? My Hailey never learned to drink from a sippy. We started using a straw cup after being very frustrated and she took to it immediately.

[Anonymous]

You’re not hijacking – don’t worry! We were actually very lucky – we offered Owen a cup when he was about 6 months old and he just took to it immediately. We have a few with handles and a soft spout, a few without and a hard spout, and a straw cup and he’ll use all of them. He actually had one with his snack tonight no problem and then used a straw cup with dinner.

Bad news at day care though – he wouldn’t take it at all. I had sent in a bottle too just in case and they gave it to him because they were worried that he didn’t take enough from the cup. At home we were letting him sip from the cup for an hour or so after lunch and got him to take about 4 ozs in that time, but they just want to give it to him with his meal (which I don’t blame them for at all) but since he wouldn’t take any they kept him with his bottle. So we’ll just have to try it at home and hope he can get the hang of it. Might take a little longer than I’d hoped, but if it’s that much of a struggle I don’t want day care to be uncomfortable. Of course in the car on the way home would you believe that he drank almost the entire cup??? It figures!

[hellbennt]

debit34 wrote: I would just drop the lunchtime bottle cold turkey and don’t worry if he doesn’t accept anything in a cup in place of it for now. He’ll gradually start taking more and more liquid from a cup. At this age, he definitely doesn’t need 3 bottles a day. I think it will take a few days and he’ll get used to just a morning and bedtime bottle…We’ve been able to replace the bottle with drinkable yogurt and are gradually getting her to accept chocolate milk (gasp!). It was quite an easy thing – surprisingly.

I agree. Drop the bottle and offer something in it’s place in the cup instead. I’d offer potato/rice/soy milk, drinkable yogurt or soy yogurt, a smoothie – try them all…

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