18m still having lots of bottles

[supergolden88]

My son is 18 months. He eats solids ok - has good days and bad. When he is unwell or teething he refuses most solid food.

My problem is that he is still having bottles of formula - one when he gets up in the morning and one or even two before he goes to bed - even if he's had a really good meal. Sometimes he even has one at night if he wakes up hungry. Tried switching him to full fat cow milk but think it upset his tummy.

I am not sure how to make him stop having bottles or having at least fewer of them. What is everyone else doing at 18 months? He can take water and so on from a cup or sippy cup or straw but I think he likes the comfort factor of the bottle and the fact that he associates it with going to sleep.

He did not really take to bottles or formula until about 10 months - he would have them but not with enthusiasm and certainly did not use to drink as much (but he was still breastfeeding/mixed feeding).

I am not overly concerned with him still drinking from a bottle - it's the frequency and quantity. I can't remember how I did it with my daughter I think one day she stopped having them and basically refused to have milk in a cup.

[Knomester]

I'm not sure I can help with any specific advice on how to decrease the number of bottles, but you asked what others are doing so thought I'd respond in case it helps.

Baby Komester is coming up for 20 months. He dropped to 2 BF per day (morning and night) around 10-11 months before I went back to work. Then sometime after Christmas when he was 16-17 months old we dropped his evening BF and replaced it with a small amount of full fat milk in a sippy cup because I couldn't always guarantee to be home at bedtime. He didn't drink much at all at first and sometimes none at all, but stopped asking for a BF after just a few days I think. Then around 18 months he began to be less interested in BF at his morning feed and gradually self weaned (with a little persuasion when he tried to come back to it after a few days!). We never replaced that BF with anything - he just has a drink of water if he wants one and then his breakfast. He now just has milk at bedtime (and is more enthusiastic about it!).

I seem to recall that in the early months when we were weaning him off exclusive BFing and onto solids we would just gradually increase solids and decrease milk, but I guess it would be different with a bottle?

I guess from our (limited) experience, it doesn't take them long to adjust to a new feeding routine if you can bear to go cold turkey (if you are working towards reducing the number of bottles).

[Claire29]

Hi,

My 19 month old son still has 3 bottle's of full fat cows milk, one in the morning, one after sleep in day and one before bed. He eat's well but given the chance he would have more milk, as soon as he see's the fridge door open he makes a bee line for it! He wasn't brestfed so I switched from formula to cow's milk when he was around 1. I did it gradually and I think from memory mixed some cow's milk with formula so he got used to the taste and his body got used to it.

If your son is eating well otherwise I wouldn't worry too much, I've tried putting milk in a cup with a lid for him, which he wont take so will just carry on letting him have milk until he grow's out of it.

[Saffron]

Hi did you try goat's milk or buffalo's milk (sainos sells both) instead of cow's milk or formula? They are meant to be easier to digest.

My daughter still has bottles at 27 months old. (And, yes, she still has one in the night sometimes too, usu during a growth spurt.) She has always hated any type of sippy cup. I think it has to do with the shape of her hard palate. She has a very high arched palate, which probably makes sippy cups uncomfortable for drinking (never really liked soothers either).

I've been diluting her milk for months. She now has something like 70:30 (water:milk) in most bottles. Mostly she just likes a warm bottle to hold. Well, I like a warm cup to hold, so like mother like daughter I guess. I think recommended toddler intake is between 12-24 oz/day, depending on size, growth spurts etc.

If you're concerned about the quantity of milk, just do a slow fade until you're happy with total intake maybe?

[supergolden88]

Glad he's not the only one still having bottles. He has gone through phases recently of eating a lot - clearly a growth spurt - and then he'll have more bottles as well. I may try to reduce the intake in the morning and see if he will have more breakfast but to be honest mornings are frantic.

[Sanne Panne]

My nearly 21 month old still has a bottle before her nap and one before bedtime. Pure habit that we haven't made the effort to break yet. At naptime she holds it herself in the buggy. If we're out walking she falls asleep without her milk. At bedtime we sit in her room, she holds the bottle while on my lap. I love the intimacy of it. She sleeps/eats/develops fine so we'll keep doing it until we think RIGHT and now you're too big for this :)

She gets Yeo Valley skimmed milk as that's what the rest of us drink.

Our eldest moved on to straw cups at 12 months. Different kids, different preferences...

[Fuschia]

My littlest is 16m and bf... Has a huge feed at dawn, one before his nap, one before bed and little snacks in between if I am to hand. Otherwise drinks water. Eats well. Just for comparison. None of mine dropped milk much before 2

[number 2]

our boy started using cups like these http://www.tommeetippee.co.uk/product/tip_it_up_beaker_9m__/ and it was the only way i was able to get him off bottles as he LOVED it. i think that amount of milk for such a little person is absolutely fine. my 3.5 year old still has 2 good sized sippy cups of milk every day. i see it as a good, wholesome drink. he only drinks that or water so i'm happy. i would try to persevere with cow's milk. maybe try semi-skimmed. a friend of mine had to give her daughter that as soon as she stopped using formula as she gagged on full fat stuff.

[lswilkinson85]

I wouldn't worry about it children do things at different times. My daughter loved her bottles at that age even though she was fully weaned, she could easily drink out of cups but if she saw milk was in it she refused it. I didn't really see the point in distressing her by forcing her to do something she didn't want to do when the bottles weren't causing her any harm. She decided when she didn't want them anymore and it happened over night when she was about 20 months.