When and how did you ditch the bottle?

mysweetpeasWil&Wes wrote: On our last visit at the ped, she told me to start weaning Wil off the bottle. She said that babies should be off by 18 months. So I have time, but wanted to start. I think. He's doing better with the sippy, but still loves the bottle best. So I give him juice and water in the sippy and milk in the bottle.

When did you finally get rid of bottles all together and HOW? Just cold turkey?? So far I've been using the cold turkey method for most things and it's working fine...for example, I just switched from formula to whole milk and he had no problem. I don't even think he notices the difference!

Should I expect him to put up a fight??? I THINK he's teething...of course not sure...so should I wait until he gets over that milestone before making the switch?

Maddie&EthansMom replied: I do everything cold turkey! Both kids did fine switching to sippies off the bottle. I guess I was lucky.

If he likes his sippy and will drink out of it, then just start giving that to him. Is he attached to the bottle?

luvbug00 replied: Mya did have trubble transitioning to sippy. I had to start to just give her sippys that look like Bottles. The Avent Brand was God sent!!


http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/brows...6869934-7491246


Scroll past the nursers and the bottom colorful two are the sippy trasitioners. But you know what? Even now Mya has a sippy cup and I have No problem with her having one. She also likes her Juice boxes and it's all because of the sucking feeling is comfortable to her.

MyBlueEyedBabies replied: I went cold turkey with both kids. As soon as they figured the sippy's out we switched to them and threw the bottles out (or boxed them up but that doesn't sound as dramatic ) Matt used the Nuby silicone almost bottle type for a couple weeks as a transition to the big boy (or platex hard top kind) As soon as Matt took his first full cup of formula from the cup he never again had abottle.

jem0622 replied: My oldest was the only one who had the bottle the longest (so far). He weaned at 19 mos. (with our help). We started to take away the daytime bottles. The last bottle was the pre-bedtime bottle. That was a toughie, but we got through it. Lots of cuddling. It took a number of nights (but less than a week! LOL).

My youngest DS (3 on the 18th) still has his paci...so that is a whole other issue! He was off the bottle by his 1st birthday though. Go figure!

LeesAnn'smommy replied: We took our DD off at 6 months. Our ped suggested that we start to introduce it to her at that time so that by one that she would be off the bottle. We started with a soft spout sippy cup. We just gave it to her one day and she took right to it. So i just never gave her bottle back to her. I thought if she was going to take the sippy cup then i am not giving her bottle back. I though if i did they i would be harder to break her of it later. Then we just slowly started introducing her to harder spouts. Now she complete takes a hard spout sippy cup and will also use the cups with the straws and just thinks that is really neat. She will be 1 on tuesday.

Whitney&Candace'sMommy replied: We took Candace of the bottle 4 months ago. I just chucked every bottle out when she went to bed, and when she asked for bottle the next morning I said no bottle, mr sippy...she didnt really care, so we were lucky. I didn't want to even have the option of the bottle when I was trying to get her off it, so I just chucked them all out...it worked for me but it can be hard, by friend did it and had to go buy a bottle the same day because her son refused to drink or eat...but then again, he's still on the bottle and he's 3 so she shouldnt have went and brought one...

Mommy2BAK replied: I guess you could say we went cold turkey. By time she was 12 months she had no intrest in her bottle anymore.

ediep replied: we had a hard time....Jason still had a bottle before bedtimme even after he was 2 years old, I know, bad mommy! But when I finally got rid of it he didn't put up a fight at all. The only suggestion I have for you is to try to give him milk in that sippy cup at least once a day. So he'll still drink milk even after you get rid of the bottles. Jason didn't want milk in his sippy cup, so I didn't push it and now he doesn't drink any milk at all.

mysweetpeasWil&Wes replied:
Oh Edie, you're NOT a bad mommy! All kids are different. I may try cold turkey since Wil has been okay so far when I've tried this method. I guess I'm more attached to the bottle because I feel he gets more in...meaning the bottle doesn't leave his mouth until the bottle is empty. And the sippy goes in and out, in and out. And then on the floor half full (half empty). But I suppose it just takes practice! Thanks for the tips everyone! I think the bottles are going bye-bye tonight!

mysweetpeasWil&Wes replied:
We have the Avent sippy tops. Wil does like them, but they're pretty close to the bottle. So far the Nuby and the cheapo Playtex hard top is working best.

coasterqueen replied: Around 10 or 11 months we started weaning Kylie from the bottle by taking one away every 2 weeks or so and intro'ing one sippy each time. By about 12 or 13 months she was done with them. Our ped had told us 12 months was the age. If she put up a fight we would have not gone forward with it. We ONLY did it because she was very ready to do so and we did it slow enough that she actually really didn't even know a difference.

mysweetpeasWil&Wes replied:
I agree with you Karen, I would only do it if I felt Wil was ready. DH just put Wil to bed and I gave him a sippy with milk. Wil drank it all and went right to bed! A-OK!

ediep replied:
AWESOME!!!!! WTG Will!! Sounds like the little man was ready!!

Abbysmom replied: Abby didn't much care for her bottle, so I just stopped giving it to her one day and she never asked for it, never cried for it, nothing. I was lucky. Her binky, however, will be a different story!