At What Age Is a Good Age for Bottle Breaking?

Start weaning him of the bottle and save it for those rough nights of when he is sick. The fewer times he uses it the less he will want it. He will start to forget about it. Praise him for being a big boy and using a big boy cup or sippy.

My son was done with his bottle at 13 months......if he wanted a bottle I would give him water in it and if he wanted juice he had to use a sippy he was off in a week

I took bottles away at one year on both my kids and it was an easy transition. It ends up being harder the longer you wait. Have him go pick out sippy cups at the store, call them big boy cups and act like it is a HUGE deal, throw the bottles out so they aren't even in the house. If you don't do it now, you will have problems later as these habits will get harder as they get older to break. Do not substitute it with a pacifier as that will even be harder. Just make a big deal out of how big he is and how proud you are of him and bottles are for little babies!! Bottles cause dental issues, a big habit for kids every month past 1 and they just don't need them after a year. Find something that isn't a big deal to have as a soother, like blankie, animal or lovey.

My youngest is 14 mo. and he still gets a bedtime bottle. I like the extra cuddle time with him. My ped told me he doesn't need a bottle anymore, but I've done the same thing with all 3 of my kids. Maybe he doesn't NEED a bottle, but having spent a day running around after him and his brother and sister that is our time. If he didn't eat real well I'll still give him one at nap time right after lunch too. Do what feels right for you.

I took both my kids off the bottle right at 1 year because I was afraid of them getting too attached. I know lots of ppl that wait longer though. (Now my oldest still sucks his thumb and needs his blankie, so much for breaking attachments! :])
They both did very well at that age. I cut out one of their bottles about every 3 to 4 days (first the middle ones, then morning, then the one right before bed). The good thing about doing it now is that they're still in that age that it's out of sight out of mind and they kind of just forget about it. In a few months that won't be the case anymore.
I thought my second son would be tough to break because he loved getting his bottles, but he actually did as well as my first son. Good luck! :]

I was afraid to take the bottle from my daughter too...though she was 15 months when we did it. We did it cold turkey. We just replaced each "bottle" feeding with food or a sippy cup. Be prepared though, our daughter barely drank a thing for about 2 weeks. Now she is 19 months...has had no troubles adjusting to the sippy cup and is now drinking out of a regular cup during meals. Good luck!

I took the bottle away for both of my kids just before they turned 1. They are now 1 1/2 and 3. It's a lot easier then you think. If he can drink out of the sippy already, I would go cold turkey. He might be irritated for a few days, but he'll get over it.

When we took our daughter in for her 12 month check up, the Dr. told us we needed to break her of her bottle and that we should try to have it done by her next checkup (18 months). We started giving her a sippy cup made by Nuby which still has soft top so that is was really close to her bottle. then, we slowly moved her from those to regular sippy cups. Good for you that you already have him most of the way there! maybe you could use those Nuby (they make lots of different kinds, but the ones we liked had a soft top like a bottle) to help fully break him! good luck!

Folks told me the same thing with my daughter. I think the main reason for the recommendation to ween them off the bottle by 1 is due to dental hygiene and development. For instance, if you give him the bottle before bedtime and do not brush his teeth prior to laying him down, then tooth decay will occur....or if you allow him to suck a bottle for extended periods of time throughout the day, then his front teeth might not develop appropriately. With all that said, my daughter stopped taking the bottle at about 2 1/2 yrs old, she was down to 1 to 2 times a day. Like your son, she used the sippy cup from an early age during meal times, but for naps and bedtime, she always needed the comfort of the bottle. But, I always made sure her teeth were brushed and cleaned prior to laying her to bed. I also never let her walk around with a bottle all day long, it was only specific times during the day when she got her bottle. Her teeth are perfectly fine at age 3. When she was ready she gave up the bottle fairly easily. We were surprised at how easy it was, we basically took all her bottles away and told her that the bottles would be for the new baby....I was pregnant at the time. Instead of the bottle, we gave her a sippy cup with milk. We do allow her to watch 15 min of her favorite cartoon as she drinks her milk...Babies do need that oral sucking satisfaction/comfort they get from bottles. I think as long as you ensure proper dental hygiene, then you do not need to worry about the 1 yr time limit. Good Luck!

T., EVERY CHILD IS DIFFERENT!!! Please don't buy into the peer pressure to do what every else is doing, your child is your child & to a large degree, you will know what feels right for him!!! Some kids will even let you know when they are done with the bottle!!

As long as you are NOT putting him to bed with the bottle still in his mouth you are fine. Letting him go to sleep with one can rot his teeth pretty badly, it happened to my sister-in-law!!

The important thing is that he is getting enough to eat & drink & growing appropriately.

Just my two cents!

Now is a good time to start weaning the bottle away. Start by cutting out 1 or 2 bottle feedings a day. I would let him have a morning and bed time bottle for a couple weeks. Then cut out the morning feeding, and let him have that for a couple weeks. Then pull the plug completely. It will be hard and he will cry when you take away the bed time feeding. My daughter moved on after 3 days. She was 12 months. The longer your wait, the hard it will be on everyone.

Hi T., With both my kids I took the bottle away cold turkey at just around one year old. My daughter is 15 months and she didn't even miss it. You may want to try a sippy cup with a soft top; it may help with the comforting feeling. I think the longer you wait the harder it will be to wean. Good luck!

Hi T.,
Each child is different and has different needs. I have four sons, ages 15yrs-3yrs. Each one had a completely different experience and I had trouble if I forced them to be the same. It is up to you to decide what works best for you and your son. Maybe start eliminating one turn with the bottle at a time. Leave the bedtime one for last. He may not notice the switch to a cup during the daytime, especially if he is fine with a cup already. If it affects his behavior greatly, then maybe he isn't ready. I tried the nuby soft lid with my youngest and he was insulted by the change, but I felt he was ready, so I kept trying. I ended up getting him a sports bottle with his favorite character on it. In the long run, it was a small thing, though it didn't seem so at the time.

I have two children. I took away thier bottles when they turned 1 and gave them sippy cups. They didn't miss their bottles. I also switched from formula to whole milk when they turned one - with the approval of our doctor.

Every child is different. My daughter was very dependent on the bottle-had to have it, wouldn't look twice at a sippy cup. At one i tried to give her a sippy cup and take her bottle away but she refused to drink out of the sippy cup, so I gave her bottle back to her. At about 17 months is when i finally took transitioned her. I found a sippy cup at Walmart that has the body part as a sippy cup but has 3 different spouts to it (a nipple, sippy, and straw). I started her with the nipple and when she finally broke that (due to her teeth) I gave her the sippy cup lid and she has been going strong with it. It has also helped with her eating habits, having the sippy cup. Just remember that just because your friends said they did it at one doesn't always mean your child is going to be ready at that time ( I had my friends do the same thing to me).

At one year. We gradually weaned our son off the bottle by giving him a sippy cup during the day, and his bottle at meal times. Then gradually cut down the bottle to two bottles a day, and then one, while using a sippy cup in place of it at other times. It wasn't no time before our son was off the bottle, and he didn't miss it either. :-)

My doctor and dentist both said to stop the bottle by the 12 month. With my oldest, we were a little late, but we used to craziness of the holiday season to help stop her bottles. Basically, her schdule was off because of Christmas activities, so I stopped her bottle and bedtime feeding and put her on our mealtime schedule. It worked fine. Any crankiness she had because of it was mixed in the crankiness of her schedule being messed up. It was very minor. We got lucky with my younger daughter...she hated the bottle. Wouldn't take it at all. So at 6 months we started giving her a sippy cup with water and by the time I stopped breast feeding she was a pro.
Hope this helps you.

I have three kids, and I have to say that the longer you wait to take him off the bottle, the harder it's going to get. With my last child (18 months) I got rid of the bottle at 12 months, and I gave him a Nuby sippy cup (it is very similar to the bottle nipple). Then I transferred him to a regular soft spout sippy cup at 14 months. He had no trouble.

12 mos is the best age. the longer you wait after 12mos the more attached they get. You can start slowly taking it away during some feedings. I know with my son we took it away during the day at 12mos but he had it at nights till 19 mos which was a bad habit I agree!!! SO with my daughter we took it away at 12mos and she did not even miss it!

My oldest daughter was very easy, at 1 we took away the bottle cold turkey and just used sippy cups (because that is what we were told) and she did very well with it. However, with my youngest who is now 18 months old was a little harder. With my youngest, she did not want to let go of the bottle, with some advice we tried using the NUBY cups that can be purchased at Walmart for around $6. The cup has three tops that go with it, a nipple and 2 sippy cup tops. The sippy cup tops are soft and flexible like a nipple, which she took well to and it helped her transition from the bottle to just strictly the sippy cup. This all happened between 13-14 months. Hope this helps :)

As a speech therapist and mother - they should be off the bottle by age ONE. good luck.

I threw away my oldest ones bottle right around 11 months. My younger one took a little longer, but i finally broke her from the bottle around 13 months. It's a lot easier than you think......if you were to just throw away every bottle you have, he won't even miss it. Or at least that's been my experience!! He'll soon find comfort in his elmo or something other than the bottle. My kids' doctor had told me that if you keep them on the bottle too long, it could affect the way their teeth come in...........not sure if that's the case just an FYI!!

I am a 37 yr old mother of four children and have provided in home daycare for almost 12 yrs.... The bottle should definitley have been gone by 1 yr old, unless there are special eating issues. When things that are harmful to the developement of a child ( teeth for example) physically or otherwise.... this should be your motivation to teach and train the child that they can function without the attachment item. Children are wonderfully teachable and resilliant. they will learn whatever you are ready to teach them, consistently! Consistency is the key, that means you can't give in once you start! Try transitioning with a sippy cup that has a soft rounded spout or maybe only allowing water in the bottle for one-two weeks at night time. You could really go cold turkey but if you feel better about transitioning....... usually the transition is more for the parent than the child! He has already shown you he can use the sippy cup so why not show confidence in his ability to move on from the bottle.

Well my son was holding his bottle at 5 months because i was pregnant with his lil brother

Hi T.,

I was just reading an article on this. For some reason, American pediatricians recommend weaning off the bottle by 1 year, but in Europe it is not recommended until 2 years.

If it were me, and I was using the bottle like you do, I would continue for a while so he gets the comfort from it. Something else I read (I think a Dr. Sears book) said that babies need comfort from sucking until at least 2 years of age.

I hope this helps. Good luck!

S.

Hi T.,

At 12 months my daughter was taking 3 bottles a day. First, I dropped the after nap bottle right at 12 months, then at about 13 1/2 months I dropped the bedtime bottle. And if it makes you feel any better, she weaned herself off the morning bottle right at 17 months. One morning she just started fussing because she wasn't getting the milk as fast as she wanted it so I decided to just try a sippy cup the next morning ans walla...no complaints. So I wouldn't cut him off cold turkey, just gradually drop one bottle feeding at a time and switch it with a sippy cup. Good luck!

So much advice!! I never really bought into all the get the baby off the bottle thing, I know its bad parenting LOL. My daughter who is now 8 stopped just before she was 2 on her own. One night I said that is was about time she stopped taking a bottle before bed, and she said then I should stop giving it to her. That was the end of her bottle! Then I had my first son and before he was even eating baby food we got pregnant with son #2. I did not get #1 off the bottle before #2 arrived, I really did not have the time, #1 was 13 months old when #2 came home. Then everytime #2 had a bottle #1 wanted one too, if he did not get one #2 got whacked on the head. It was then that I decided to wait and get them both off at the same time, so at 1 1/2 and 2 1/2 both boys swiched to soft tipped sippys at the same time. Now #1 and #2 are both healthy with a good dentist report. Good luck, and if your baby seems to need the cuddle time take it for awhile longer, he will grow fast and no longer need the bottle or the extra cuddle soon enough. As a single mother of three, I steel all the extra cuddles from any of my kids where ever I can get it, once they get moving the cuddles are far between. I know have #1 potty trained and #2 coming in right behind him. One is late and the other is early, God be with you, and what ever works for your family is the right choice, but keep his teeth cleen!

I'm a 39 year old mother of 4. My oldest was barely two when my twin boys were born, and it had never dawned on me to break him of his bottle. By the time he was 3 I realized he might be getting a little old for a bottle, so I tried to break him. The bottle was SOO COMFORTING to him, and even though Santa took it away and it got lost a few times, he always found them and continued begging for his bottle. On his 4th birthday, he was FINALLY ready to give them up and said, "I wish I was 3 again so I could have a bottle". He never touched one again - his choice (he's almost 8 now and who would ever know?). Oh - and HE HAS PERFECTLY STRAIGHT TEETH -I'M JEALOUS! There will ALWAYS be Moms who do it "better" and have it more together. Don't get caught in the comparison trap - YOU know your child and the most important thing is to love him for who he is....what high schooler graduates with a bottle, pacifier, diaper, or any of the other things we think we have "trouble" breaking them of? Granted - I'm not into forever breast feeding, but that's a subject of it's own...do what you know your child needs, and don't share it if you feel like you'll be judged....YOU ARE THEIR MOM AND YOU LOVE THEM! Best wishes!

Both of my kids have been off the bottle by 12 months. Believe me it is much easier to do it sooner than later. My daughter is 10 months old and hasn't drank anything from a bottle since she was about 7 months. Get a good sippy cup with a soft spout and use that. My kids are both breastfed too, but anything else (juice or water) wasn't really given from a bottle. Gerber makes a sippy cup that I found at Walmart and it's a NUK and it's called a trainer cup. It's itty bitty. It only holds about 4 or 5 ounces, but it's a better size for little hands to grip. I know people that have kids over the age of 2 that they're fighting with daily to stop taking a bottle. If I were you I'd get rid of it immediately. Good Luck!

L.

I read the responses and lots of people have been talking about tooth development as a reason for stopping the bottle. I'd like to add that my son's speech therapist told us that continuing to use a bottle can cause some speech problems.

Hi T.!
Do whatever you feel is good for you! I have 3 kids with the first 2 by a year no more bottle! My last one is 18 months and we just got rid of it. The biggest thing is don't worry not child is going to have a bottle when the
are 5 so if you feel his nightly routine works with the bottle and it helps him sleep through the night just let it go. Most likely he will give it up by himself!

mostly you want to wean because of problems with teeth. some pediatrician recommend 12 months others 24. but what is important is to protect the teeth. technically yo should start wiping th egums when they are litte before they get theeth and then start wiping the first teeth and then strat with a finger brush and then start brushing teeth as soon as they are able to. with a bottle the milk coats the teeht for a longer time than if they just drank it. so that is probably why you want to wean if you arent doing teeth cleaning after each bottle.

My pediatrician had me take it away before his 1 yr visit. It was pretty easy cause he wanted to be like daddy and drink from a cup, Im hoping it's that easy for his broher. some kids are different of course, my sisters baby didnt get off till 2 1/2 they get dependent on it. but i would try getting rid of it now, hide them and feed him more with a sippy cup gradually taking it away. good luck.

I have a 17mo. and he is still on a bottle, I find myself not wanting anyone to know. My sister keeps telling me to take him off and I do agree the longer you wait the harder it will be, but my son has really bad reflux and the Dr. has me thicken his milk really thick. So that is just my opinion, he is my third child and trust me the longer you wait the harder it will be for the both of you. Good Luck

My pediatrician told me to stop giving my son the bottle when he was 1, so we did. I nursed him until he was 1, so it was pretty simple for me because he rarely drank out of a bottle anyways. I just went from nursing him to giving him a sippy cup with cow's milk when he turned one. I introduced the sippy cup before he turned one though.

I am so worried my son is 16 months old and still feels like he needs his bottle and majority of the time he isn't drinking it just holding it and walking!