Bottle Weaning - New York,NY

Switching over to sippy cups means that most of her nutrition is coming from food now. The sippy cup is not her main source of nutrition like the bottle was, so she won't take the same amount of milk as formula or breastmilk. When I weaned both of my babies, I started with the daytime bottles. Instead of giving a bottle before or after breakfast, I'd give a cup of milk with breakfast. After a few days, I gave a cup of milk with lunch instead of a bottle afterwards. Then, the same with dinner. I just switched all the mealtime bottles over to a cup of milk with the meal. After a couple weeks, I started offering a cup of milk to drink while we read bedtime or naptime stories. (They drink some, but not 8oz like they took from a bottle. It didn't interrupt their sleep at all.) Neither of my kids seemed to notice or care. As long as they didn't see the bottle, they didn't notice it was gone. After a week or so with no bottles, they didn't care at all, even if they did see other babies with the same kind of bottle they used to drink.
Good luck. It's a process, so don't worry too much. Just start with the daytime bottles and see how she does. Then, after a couple weeks, switch the bedtime bottle. She'll be fine. I was worried, but it was actually much easier than I imagined.

I would continue with the sippy cup and she will get the hang of it. I personally would keep the night bottle a little longer and maybe in a few weeks when she is drinking milk very good with the sippy, swap the night bottle and she prob won't mind.

great sippy to try is the Nuby brand they are sold at Walmart lots of friends have like this for first sippy.

I have a 17 month old daughter that still drinks from a bottle and doesn't like sippy cups at all!! She does like to drink from straws- juice boxes or bags (Capri Suns are actually better because the juice doesn't come out the straw as easily if they squeeze too hard). She also likes the sippys that have the straw at the top instead of the spout. At meal time, instead of a sippy cup, try a shot glass. I know this sounds funny, but it is how I taught my first daughter (now 17 yrs) to drink from cups. I only put a little in the glass and if she spills it, it isn't a total mess. I would still give your daughter the bottle at night and try the juice boxes or bags and the shot glass at mealtime. Let me know if any of these suggestions work. They seem to have worked for my other friends too.

We are in the same process with our 13 month old. He is down to two bottles - one in the morning and one before bed. We will begin to skip the morning bottle next week probably.

Remember part of the whole weaning thing isn't just about moving from a bottle to a cup - its about moving from liquids as the main source of nutrition to solids as the main source of nutrition. So no she should not continue to drink the same amount from a cup.

I know it can be very unsettling and worrisome I have been feeling that too.

My son didn't like any of the different sippy cups out there but he does seem to like drinking through a straw and does very well. He can also drink from a regular cup - though that is a bit of a mess.

I would just remove one bottle at at time and give it a week or two or more before removing the next one. Remember too that when you remove a bottle it has to be replaced by food (and some drink).

Depending on how old your daughter is and how well she understands, you can try telling her what you plan to do for maybe about a month to get her used to the idea of having to stop drinking from her bottle. You can try to entice her on the great things about drinking from a sippy cup. That's how I weaned my son from the bottle. I actually gave him a due date which was his birthday and although he loved that fact that he would get presents he told me, on the morning of his birthday, " I hate 3". I found that to be hilarious. You can try that and I hope it works out for you

I personally wouldn't go cold turkey, that adds stress to all. My daughter is 17 months this month, and just is using sippy cups. I tried for a while and she didn't like them, so I didn't push it. She started holding her bottles and walking with them, so I got the Nubby ones and that's all she likes. She just did it one day and the bottles were gone. I didn't press, let her do it. I would try a sippy cup one or two times a day, and see what happens. Good luck

you need to just take the bottle away completly. she will most likley cry for a bit, but it is the way to go. If you still give her the bottle sometimes she is always going to want it verses the sippy cups. When she is thirsty she will drink with the cup. Dont worry. putting a baby to bed with a bottle is not a good thing to do, dont know if you do that but if you are it is not good for the baby at all.

Good luck

T. D.

Hi Natassja,
I am not of the school of thought that bottles must be elminated by a year, but at 13 months, your daughter doesn't need the amount of milk that she did before a year old. At a year, their food becomes their primary source of nutrition and milk becomes a beverage that they drink with meals and snacks. They don't need separate milk feedings anymore. It is normal for the amount of milk to decrease once they are eating full meals.
Good luck!