Unfortunately I wasn't able to breastfeed Addie for as long as I would have liked. She's been using a bottle for over three months now, and now that she's one, I would like to start weaning her off the bottle and getting her to use a cup. She'll drink from a cup for juice, but not milk. Whenever she's given a cup with milk in it she throws a tantrum, flings the cup around the room, and absolutely refuses. What's more, after an episode like that she won't even drink juice out of a cup for a few days. It's been frustrating. Do any of you have any suggestions? What worked well for you?
Oh, that brings me to another question. When switching her over to whole milk instead of formula, I've decided to just slowly mix it with her formula, bit by bit. I'm going out to buy my first gallon tonight, so I haven't started the switch over yet. Is that something you'd recommend as well, or did you just stop the formula and start your kids on milk cold turkey?
Ah, the joys of parenting...
13 comments:
I wish I had some advice but we are still trying to get Josiah off the bottle and he is 15 months. He does the same thing with his milk. With Jadon we just didn't give him a bottle anymore and he figured it out. Also we just quit cold turkey with the formula and they both did fine. Hope that helps. Addy is getting so big I cant even believe it.
I have no experience with bottles. In fact, we never even owned a bottle with Kaylee. So while I have little advice to add my only advice-which I use for everything with my kids-is just to go cold turkey. Whenever we want to break them of it we just take it away all together. If it were me I would just only offer her stuff in sippy cups and eventually see will figure out that the bottle isn't coming back and she will drink out of the cup. We do that with everything. If we decide they are too old for it we just take it away all together. Good luck though.
I hope you don't mind that I'm blog spying!
Easton always hated bottles so we didn't have much trouble with the bottle/sippy cup switch. So I can't say I've tried this and that it worked, but here's what I've heard - If she wants a bottle, fine. Give it to her. But the snag for her is she only gets water in t he bottle. If she wants juice, milk or etc it's a sippy cup or nothing. Of course, if you want to encourage your child to drink water now or later down the line, this method could pose a problem, but I wish you the best of luck!
Well, you already sort of know what I did. I took her off bottles during the day first and then her bedtime and middle-of-the-night bottles next. All of her milk was connected with sleeping (either right when she woke up or right before she went down), so she either drank it from a cup or had to go to bed without it. There was a lot of screaming involved (which is always terribly hard, especially over something that seems so inconsequential), but she figured out fairly quickly that a sippy cup was better than nothing. I read somewhere that it takes about 3 days for babies to adjust to a change like that and that was about right for Julia. Brace yourself for 3 crappy days and move forward.
I haven't tried milk yet. Let me know how it goes.
Seems like you already got some great suggestions. I'm trying to remember how we weaned Amira off her bottle. . . I think what we did was just gradually decreased the number of bottles she got every day. Just like you did when you weaned Addie from breastfeeding. I think it is important to keep in mind that babies/toddlers have a very real need to suck and that is perfectly normal. Addie's bottle is important to her, as she's showing by her behavior, so I guess I think cold turkey is not the best approach? Just my opinion, obviously. As far as sippy cups, I'd just fill one with water and have it around. Or give her one along with her meals.
I think mixing the formula and milk sounds like a great idea. I was just reading somewhere that recommendations are starting to change saying babies should have formula for two years, instead of one. All the extra nutrition, fewer worries about allergies, etc. So, if you have the money (or WIC) I wouldn't be in a hurry to quit the formula.
You have gotten both opinions so I say you'll make the right decision for Addie either way. It's easy to say cold turkey (i TOTALLY do)but only you know how Addie will really feel about that. The point is you are working towards getting her off the bottle and you know that it is going to be hard. When some parents see hard they just forget about it, so good job.
We took Hadley off cold turkey because I think that it sends mixed signals. "You CAN'T have it, now you can?" and instead replaced it at night with a glow worm because all she really wanted was the 'routine' of the bottle anyway. Hadley still won't drink milk and at WIC today they said it wasn't a problem at all as long as she got 16 oz of dairy a day through yogurt, cheese, or ice cream.
Longest post ever but you know that we are all experts! ;)
I had a hard time with Tessa too. As soon as I got her off the bottle then the finger sucking started. so its a never ending battle. All i have to say is, if you pick a battle win it. if your not planning on winning don't start.
Thanks for all your opinions. Really. Addie (fortunately) doesn't use the bottle to go to sleep, so at least that won't be the hard part. She just likes it. Just like she simply likes her pacifier. She very much is attached to sucking and, honestly, I don't mind. I do think it's normal for babies to feel this way. I think we'll let her have her paci longer and take the bottles away sooner- mostly because I think bottles are a pain.
Jason and I are still discussing how to do it--what we can commit to and what we think is best for her. I have family coming into town this week, so we've decided to halt all changes until at least after they leave. We don't want any ornery-ness when my parents are around. Thanks again for the suggestions, we'll keep tossing them all around.
Wow, lots of advice! That's what makes blogging great! I wish I agreed with Linna's advice to win the battle...I've lost quite a few as a parent, i.e. Cameron still sucks his thumb. Then again Tessa still sucks her finger...You just do your best, right!? :)
Anyway, Cameron hated milk at first. I finally asked a doctor and he recommended Ovaltine! For a while he wouldn't drink milk without it, but the doctor said he didn't mind. As long as he was drinking his milk - and Ovaltine is fortified with a bunch of stuff too. So, you might try putting chocolate milk in her sippy cup.
We also went cold turkey, but like others said...do what you think will work best for Addie.
Hope that helps!
I guess I was mean now that I think of it. Summer had her shots, and I took her bottles & started milk all in the same day. She did fine. I did call my doctor for advice since we were in Texas at the time, and the nurse said she any change needs three days before they get use to the idea.
I'm sure you're already trying the good advice on here, but to be honest I just took Sam's bottle away and got him an elmo cup (still with a sippie top though). He always did juice in a cup, but not milk, just like Addie. So don't worry about doing it now...if it doesn't work out you can always try again at another time.
I'm sure you're already trying the good advice on here, but to be honest I just took Sam's bottle away and got him an elmo cup (still with a sippie top though). He always did juice in a cup, but not milk, just like Addie. So don't worry about doing it now...if it doesn't work out you can always try again at another time.
Obviously, you have to go off Addie's cue, but I like the gradual switch from formula to milk. My girls seemed to respond better to that. Oh, and with the cup, I think to wait a little bit and try again is a great idea. And start with the milk being warm like her bottles. You could even try just a little bit of chocolate or other added flavoring just to get her interested, and lessen that with every cup. If you think she might be sticking to the bottle for comfort reasons, hold and rock her while you give her the cup...she may not get the same exact suck sensation, but she'll feel more comfortable.
I can't promise I'm any sort of an expert on this stuff. Vanessa stills sucks her thumb, and I don't think Nicole's parting from her binky soon. Who knows?! Good luck with it all. You're an awesome mom, so whatever route you chose will be fine, it just may take some time.
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