Bottle feeding after 12 months

Louise - posted on 06/13/2010

Personally I think that it's up to the moms as 99 percent of babies will drink from bottles as long as they are given them. I never had an age in mind of when I'd wean until I was pregnant with my first and met an old school friend with her almost 4 year old daughter. She asked for a drink and out came the bottle!! Also a child in my sons Montessori who is starting school in September still takes one into daycare everyday and drinks everything in it. My attitude is the earlier you do it the easier it'll be. According to my doc 14 -16 months is the optimal time.

Lisa - posted on 06/13/2010

I have 2 daughters, one of them just turned two, and the other one just turned one. I still allow them both to have a bottle at naptime, and bedtime. Of course trying to wean my two year old off the bottle and still giving it to my one year old was not working too well! My 2 yr old just started acting like she just doesnt want it, or like it anymore. I dont think its a big deal myself....

Chris - posted on 06/13/2010

hi there, have you tried the tommy tippee 360 cup, my 14 month old loves his and it looks like a real cup. the only other thing to do is persistance, just don't give a bottle and she will drink from a beaker or whatever if she wants her milk, keep calm, plenty of encouragement and lots of clapping and praise when she does eventually drink from it. Good luck hope this helps Chris mum of 3 x x x

Stephanie - posted on 06/12/2010

You might try the straw sippy cups, playtex makes excellent ones that don't leak. I tried every sort of sippy cup out there and couldn't find one that my daughter would drink out of by herself. Then I realized that she could drink out of a straw when she wanted a drink of my lemonade at a restaurant. She is 14 months and she does still get a bottle at night. I have never let her sleep with one, but our bedtime routine is she sits on my lap and we read stories, then I give her a bottle of milk and when that is finished, she goes to sleep in her crib. My pediatrician said that was fine and so we'll go with that until her 18 month appointment where I'll revisit it with her doctor.

Deb's - posted on 06/11/2010

bottles are ok until about 15months don't stress some will ween themselves when ready some take alittle longer. my 21/2 year old was bottle free by 15 months my 14month old not looking that way. loves her bottles especialy when tried

Connie - posted on 06/11/2010

My son is small and on the low scale for his weight, so our Ped. suggested that we continue giving him formula until he is 15 months. We us the toddler formula from Enfamil called Enfagrow. It's for babies 10 months to 36 months.

My son can drink water from a straw, a cup, and a sippy cup. But like your daughter, he only takes a few sips if I put formula in the cups, and he'll drink the whole thing quickly with a bottle. So for now, until he's 15 months, we are going to continue with the bottle. We have yet to give him cows milk.

I think its fine, just as long as we continue practicing drinking from cups as well.

Jaimee - posted on 06/11/2010

I am , He loves his bottle

Desiree - posted on 06/11/2010

Our Ped. said to wean by 15 months so I immediatetly began working at it. He would drink juice from a sippy but didn't want to drink milk from it. We started a mix of formula and milk first a 3:1 ratio, then down to 1/2 and then none at all. We also cheated by putting just a tiny bit of strawberry Quick (lower sugar version) to help coax him to drink his milk on days that he wouldn't really drink it. We had him off the bottle in a week or so. Now he's a three meal, 1 snack, sippy cup loving kiddo.

Valerie - posted on 06/11/2010

I am still having problems getting Paige off the bottle. She too eats 3 meals, plus snacks but will not budge on having milk in a sippy cup. She will drink juice and water but not milk. If I simply don't giver her the bottle she will be stubborn and not drink milk at all.

Lisa - posted on 06/11/2010

Sounds like you're getting some good advice from all the moms who have responded. We were way more on top of weaning our first child from the bottle than we are with our second. She was completely off the bottle by 13 months, he is 14 months and still gets a bottle or two a day. He is getting better about just taking a sippy cup though. We also use the nuby cups with the soft silicone spout. They are a great transition tool! (And cheap too!) He mostly likes a bottle for going to sleep with, and he still likes formula, but will drink cow's milk too. One reason why we're still ok with doing formula is because we tend to have skinny babies (they get that from their dad) and in Minnesota they don't recommend you give kids whole milk anymore. So, we let him have the formula for older babies. Every manufacturer I think makes a version of this, even Walmart and Target. They get the extra nutrition of formula, but it is made for on the go toddlers as opposed to babies. We try to limit the bottles just to nap time and bed time and this week are phasing out the nap time bottle. So far, so good. I should probably mention too that he does eat very well, but tends toward mostly fruits and vegetables, so we worry about his calorie intake because he tends to be underweight. Best of luck to you and your baby. :)

Beth - posted on 06/11/2010

My daughter is the same way. She is 12 months and the doctor said for us to discontinue using the bottle, but I found that when she uses any sippy cup out there she will choke because the fluids come out to fast for her.

Anne-May - posted on 06/10/2010

My daughter is also still drinking milk formula from a bottle. She is 14 mounths old. But we has the bottle onely as a compliment if she don't want anything else. Onely 1 bottle a day and not every day. But they told me at the helthstation that as long as she wants it, it was no harme to give it to her.

Louise - posted on 06/10/2010

Hi my little man is 13 months now. He only has 1 bottle and that's at bedtime and it is cows milk. I switched from formula totally at 12 months. Tried to switch from bottle also but no joy. Will try again at 14 months. First son was 14 months also but both only had 1 bottle going to bed from 12 months.
If he's still having milk in the day I'd suggest switching that one to a sippy but leave bottle at night. Give it 2 or 3 weeks and once you know he will drink the milk from that then give him sippy at night.

Once you make the decision throw or pack away bottles that wy you can't break. It may take a few days but in the case of most babies they can drink milk from sippy but prefer bottle but they think if i make enough fuss mum will get my bottle. A week max and he won't even remember what bottles were!

Gemma - posted on 06/09/2010

I just replace my girls bottle with a kiddie 'sports' bottle filled with water. Within 2 days she no longer woke in the night for milk. Just keep it simple.

Haley - posted on 06/09/2010

a lot of the reason they say not to give them bottles after a year is for two reason: it just gets harder to change over as they get bigger, and a lot of kids end up laying down with the bottles to sleep which milk can sit in their mouth when the fall asleep which could lead to cavities.

Fiona - posted on 06/08/2010

Hi i have 13 Month old twins.my little girl still has her bottled formular at her morning and bedtime sleeps and the rest of the day she has cow milk,water and diluted juice in a sippy cup but she only likes the soft ones.My boy also has his 2 formular bottles at his sleep times aswell but he wakes through the night so i give him a cows milk bottle through the night he also drinks from a sippy cup through the day only soft one .I also have a 2 yr old daughter who on occasions likes a bottle but i think that problem is that her baby brother and sister have a bottle so i think she thinks why cant I.I think why they are happy with there bottle why take it from them i have 5 children who bottled fed until they were about 2 2.5yrs and none of them have any problems at all with there teeth nothing if anything the calcium is good for them.So weening i think all depends on the child they will let you know when they are ready to give it up.

Kimberly - posted on 06/07/2010

I still give my son his milk in a bottle for his morning and night time bottles. The rest of the day he drinks out of a sippy cup. I honestly think I could take both of them away and he wouldn't care, but I figure what's the harm if he gets some comfort out of it. As long as they don't go to sleep with a bottle (or any other kind of drink), it's really not a big deal to rush your baby off of it. Just keep trying and she'll eventually take it. Persistence is key. Good luck!

Francesca - posted on 06/07/2010

My daughter is 13months old and she drinks her bedtime milk from a bottle. Throughout the day she'll drink plenty of water, and recently I've introduced fruit juice to her that she'll drink from a sippy cup. In the mornings she would drink her milk with her breakfast from a beaker but lately she has refused her beaker and will not drink very much milk from anything else other than from her bottle. I haven't stopped offering my daughter milk from a beaker because it may just be a phase.

Jan - posted on 06/07/2010

My son is nearly 14 months old and I breastfed him until he was 13 months old. He now has a bottle of formula at night and in the morning and during the day he drinks from a sippy cup which he holds himself. He has just recently dropped his mid morning bottle feed and has water instead. All I recommend is that you wean her off slowly. If you do it quickly both of you will get stressed.

Melissa - posted on 06/07/2010

My boy is 13.5 months old and still uses a bottle. he has one when he goes down for his morning nap, and one at night. The rest of the time he uses a sip cup. He let me know that he wasn't interested all that much in the bottles.

Danielle - posted on 06/07/2010

I had the same peoblem with my daughter I would give her the sippy cup and she would just get mad and throw it. I just decided to take her off the bottle slowly. SHe would get the sippy at dinner than I started to give the sippy at beakfast and than lunch she only has a bottle now before she goes to bed. She'll only use the sippy cups that are soft.

Jessica - posted on 06/06/2010

My fourteen-month-old also still drinks from a bottle. He takes the sippy cup just fine, but the problem is that the liquid comes out so much more so most of it ends up spilling down his front. So we have enlarged the nipple holes on his bottles to transition him to the faster flow, and will maybe have him off bottles by fifteen months. It's not like the babies are never going to drink from a cup if they still have bottles after a year, I'm pretty sure!

Joanne - posted on 06/06/2010

I had the same issue with my son and switched him to a Born Free transition cup. He drinks almost 8 ounces on milk from it. I'm hoping to switch to a regular sippy cup after a few weeks.

Rhonda - posted on 06/06/2010

Not sure about bottle feeding. My little man still won't let me ween him off of the breast. He will push real food away and want to nurse. I don't have any suggestions, but just want you to know that you are not alone.

Brandy - posted on 06/05/2010

I started my baby around nine months getting used to a sippy cup. He won't hold it but he drinks from it. About a week after he turned one I just took it away one day and didn't give it back, that's basically what you have to do. When they are thirsty they will drink from a cup.

Jenni - posted on 06/05/2010

My 13 1/2 month old still has bottles of cows milk before her two daytime sleeps, and formula / milk mix before bed.... and sometimes a milk if she wakes at night. She still eats heaps during the day, but I find she does get constipated if I withold the milk bottles.... trying to use the sippy cup for water, but I might try diluting the milk bottles during with more water and also trying milk in the sippy cup. I guess you don't see many adults drinking from bottles (well, not baby type ones :-) ) so I guess they all wean off at some stage...

Valerie - posted on 06/04/2010

Emily-Ann,

My son still does the same thing and he's 13 months. He wakes up 2-3 times a night but since we've been diluting the milk with water he hasn't been drinking as much at night. We started putting 1/2 milk 1/2 water and now we put 3/4 water and 1/4 milk. Also he got sick a few times when we tried to transition him to cow's milk, so our pediuatrician recommended that we do 1/2 milk and 1/2 formula for a few weeks to ease his stomach into the milk and he tolerated that and then transitioned to milk from there. Hope that helps!!!
Valerie Kirk

Helen - posted on 06/04/2010

I have used sippy cups with milk in situations where we go out for the day and that is all i take . My baby does not drink as much at once but eventually gets through it now he drinks from anything. My problem was i kept going back to the bottle as i felt he wasnt drinking enough from the sippy cup but atually he sorted himself out when there was no alternative.

Amber - posted on 06/04/2010

MY SON 14 months LOVES his bottle and we aren't ready to take it away it. He sleeps through the night as long as he has it close by, and on cranky days it works wonders! my husband and i said on his second birthday he WILL NOT have a bottle hanging from his mouth

Jessica - posted on 06/04/2010

My son is 14 months and he drinks one bottle of 1 year old välling (kind of formula) at nights, he drinks other liquids from his cup during the day. I can´t give him cow milk because he gets some spots around his lips if I feed him too many lactose products.
There is 15 months välling as well here in Sweden and they told me it is not bad if he keeps drinking that bottle at nights until he is a year and a half, so I will keep doing it :)

Hollie - posted on 06/04/2010

I started to ween my daughter off the bottle at about 10-11 months. I would only give it to her firtst thing in the morning and for the last feeding before bed. Then at a year, I took it away and only let her drink from a sippy cup. She fussed at first, but after a week she was fine with it.

Janine - posted on 06/03/2010

hmmmm it's a tricky one isn't it. My boy is 13 months and still has 3 bottles a day of toddler milk. He will drink cows milk but I just haven't made the switch yet!! I think as long as toddler milk is still affordable, it provides them with better nutrients for iron absorbtion etc, which is pretty important at this stage.
As far as getting rid of the bottle, I have tried to give him formula from a sippy cup in the mornings but he's not that keen, will only have a few drinks then leave it and grizzle till he gets his bottle. I guess he will come off the bottle properly when I decide to get hard about it! Right now, we're both happy with him staying on the bottle for the next month or so, then I'm going to ditch that morning one at least.

Jessica - posted on 06/03/2010

Well, I have a suggestion for how you may be able to get him off, I thought it may work with my daughter and it did.

So, I found a type of bottle that was amazing. It is large like a bottle, but it had shape to it like a sippy cup. It has detachable handles and also two different spouts. One is a normal bottle spout and the other is a SOFT sippy spout, but still very similar to the bottle. I just slowly started giving her that cup with the sippy spout until she no longer used the bottle spout at all. But, I still wanted her to have a normal sized sippy cup, right? I believe that the brand is Nubby.

She didn't really seem to like hard-tipped spouts, so I found some that actually had no-spill soft tips. (The bottle/sippy spout cup is also non-spill.) I began giving her those cups and slowly stopped giving her the bottle sized cup, and now she drinks solely out of the sippy cups. I can't remember their brand...but they come in packs of two and have little colorful animals on them (giraffe in yellow and blue, elephant in pink and purple and lion in green and blue).

I also stopped giving her just milk since it's cow's milk, I didn't want her to think that it was still like a meal. I just give her the cup while she eats and she drinks when she's thirsty while she eats and I'll usually give her something to drink while she plays and she'll go to it when she's thirsty. She drinks everything out of them: milk, water, and juice of all kinds.

She's 13 1/2 months now.

Hope this was helpful in some way!

Susan - posted on 06/03/2010

My 14 month old son gets a bedtime bottle (formula/milk combo). We're decreasing the formula so he'll eventually be getting just milk, but I'm not concerned about taking the bottle away. It's probably more of a comfort ritual for him (and us!) than needing the nutrition but we're happy with it for now.

Emily-Ann - posted on 06/03/2010

My son is 13.5 months old and he still has like 2 bottles in the day and up to 3 through the night and will just cry and cry and cry if he dont get one and i dont know what to do i tryed giving him cows milk too but seems like he get an upset belly in the nights, he will not drink much from a sippy cup i dont know what to do either

Lori - posted on 06/02/2010

I have given my babies bottles after one. I think it is important that they learn to drink from cups. I do use sippy cups, and bottles, more because they are less likely to spill, but I also give them drinks from regular cups from the time they are 4 or 5 months old.

I recommend not letting them sleep with them. That is bad on their teeth.

My baby will take either, and sometimes would rather have a sippy cup. She wants to be like her big siblings.

Katie - posted on 06/02/2010

My son is 13.5 months old and is still taking 2-3 bottles a day. His doctor recommends we try to end the bottle by 15 months, so I'm not worried yet.

Kyla - posted on 06/01/2010

My daughter (14 months) still has a bottle 3 times a day. I'm not concerned, just want to get rid of them. We're on vacation now, so when things settle, I may start using the one style of sippy cup I finally found that she likes! she's pretty good with a regular cup too, but the sippy cup sure is great when you're out! i also know of a 19 month old who still uses a bottle. no worries. try to take one away when you think she's ready again.

Kim - posted on 06/01/2010

my baby is the same way it has been hard to break her she doesnt like cows milk only formula im not sure what to do either not sure if giving her formula is still good

Michelle - posted on 05/30/2010

I tried to slowly get my daughter into it after 12 months. She could drink drink out of a cup so I knew she could do it. She just didn't want to. Finally at 14 months I just got rid of all the bottles so she couldn't even see them. She did fine when she had no choice.

Alana - posted on 05/29/2010

My son is the same. He still has 2-3 bottles of cows milk a day but has 3 meals and eats really well. I have tryed to put it in a sippy but he won't drink much out of it and im afraid that if i stop giving him milk in the bottles, he won't be getting enough fluids and get constipated. He drinks water and diluted juice out of the sippy but not alot of it. I know they say to get them off the bottles for the health of their teeth but other than that i don't really see a problem with them having a bottle a bit longer. They are still babies and find it comforting.