Cutting Back
This week Bean had his one-year doctor’s appointment. We had to switch doctors because of our move and I really didn’t like the one we went to for this appointment. She was one of those doctors who talks to you like you don’t know what you’re doing. That really drives me crazy. I’ve kept the kid alive for a year already. It’s safe to assume I know at least a little bit. The good news is that the practice came highly recommended and there are a lot of doctors there, so it will simply be a matter of choosing a different doctor until we find The One.
But what this doctor said that was helpful was that we needed to cut back on two things now that Bean was one. We needed to cut back on the binky and we needed to cut back on his formula bottles.
(Bean would like me to state for the record that he opposes both these cut backs.)
The binky we cut cold turkey. It now lives in his crib and he only gets it when he takes a nap or goes to bed. When he wakes up, the first thing we do is leave the binky with Mr. Bear. This is okay with Bean for a little while. Bean isn’t too dependent on his binky. He was already using it primarily for sleeping and in the car. But there were usually binkies laying around and if he happened to find one, he’d pop it in. He has this one whiny cry he does when he wants is binky and this week I’ve noticed that cry coming out a little more, so I know he recognizes that it’s gone. But all in all, I think cutting the binky out now isn’t going to be so dramatic.
What has been a little more traumatic has been cutting out the bottle. Bean has never been a really strong eater. He’s a good eater in that he likes a lot of different food and he’s interested in food. But he doesn’t eat a whole lot at any meal. Even for someone his size, he’s a pretty light eater. Because of that, I’ve always been hesitant to cut back on his formula because I know he needs to get those nutrients. But when I told the doctor that he was taking 32 ounces of formula a day, I thought she was going to fall off her chair. She suggested that the reason he wasn’t eating enough solid food was because he was filling up on formula. I hadn’t really thought about it that way before, so I agreed to start cutting back significantly on his formula intake.
She warned me that he would be hungry and probably unhappy for a day or two while he learned that when he got hungry, he now had to eat food. And she was right. Bean has been none too happy with this new solid food only arrangement. I do give him one full formula bottle when he wakes up because I know he’s starving in the mornings and then he gets one when I rock him to sleep at night, but I’ve really cut out all the ones in between. It’s been sippy cups of milk all day around here and Bean thinks I have lost my mind.
This has been really hard on me because when he’s whining and crying and I know he’s hungry for a bottle, it goes against my maternal yearnings to withhold that from him. I just want to feed my baby!! But I know that I need to stick this out for a few more days so that Bean learns he can get full from his solid food instead of a bottle. Teaching Bean healthy practices and decision-making is part of the job description for moms, but that doesn’t make that any easier to teach. When you know your child is whining for something specifically that you can’t give him, well, that is no fun for anyone. But I’m really sticking to the new plan and I’m hoping that today (Day Two) is better than yesterday (Day One).
What about you? Did you have trouble breaking the bottle habit? Did you do it gradually or cold turkey? How did your wee one react?
43 Comments
Sarah D.
I have twin 3 year old boys, and around 10 months I started cutting back on bottles and using sippy cups so that by the time they were 1, they would be used to the sippy cup. On the day of their first birthday they switched to whole milk in a sippy with no more bottles. Cold turkey. I honestly didn’t notice any complaining. They quickly learned to fill up on food. I think it was easier for me to go cold turkey because it was a lot of work giving twins bottles and I couldn’t wait to be done with buying formula and cleaning bottles. Stick with it Katie! I am sure it is harder for you than it is for Bean.
deepa
I have been thinking about this a lot lately, as Rohan will be 11 months soon. He drinks water out of his sippy cup with no problem, but he does still get about 25 oz of forumla a day. I am really hesitant to cut back, since that is about 500 calories a day that will have to be replaced by food…
The pacifier is less of an issue, but I think we will cut it out of nap and bedtimes at 1 year too, mainly because I say a pacifer for a 3 year old in the store and freaked out.
Did you start giving the Bean any milk before his first birthday? Rohan has had milk in food (pancakes, etc), but we haven’t given him any as is. I hope he likes it…
Erin
Deepa….Actually he will not have to totally replace all those calories with food. After one year they still drink a lot of whole milk (16-24oz/day and in a sippy cup instead of a bottle.) So don’t stress too much about your son having to eat an extra 500 calories.
Thanks for posting this Katie! My son will be turning 1 in July and I have been wondering how we will transition him from bottles to getting milk in a sippy cup. I am so sick of washing bottles to I really look forward to this and think that will give me the motivation I need to cut out the bottles:)
Question….are you thinking of cutting the night and nap pacifier? We have only ever let my son have the pacifier for sleep and he is cool with that. At one point he only used it for naps and not night, but now he gets it at night too.We really don’t want a 3yr old who still uses one.
Reba
Owen was still having a nighttime bottle after his first birthday but only until we ran out of formula….It is a good way to calm them down at the end of the day I will admit. After that we pretty much quit cold turkey but made a point to really emphasize his bedtime routine with a bath, book, snuggle etc where as before it was pretty much quick bottle, book, bedtime.
If it’s any motivation for you just think of how much cheaper an ENTIRE gallon of milk is compared to formula!
With the pacifier it was about the same as your are doing. They whine for a day or two but then it’s no big deal…I had a friend tell me, “get rid of it before you have to EXPLAIN it” which is totally true. I am so glad we did that. No binky fairies in this house 🙂
Robin
The good news is that you’ll be saving a lot of money not having to buy so much formula! Good for you for sticking with it despite his cries. My daughter (4 1/2 now) gave up her pacifier at about 2. Before that, we had cut back to just bed time when she was one, like you are doing for Bean. She kept biting them too much and would bite holes in them, so when that would happen, we would throw it away and not buy a new one. Once they were all bitten through, we just said they were all broken and no more. She did fine after about 2 days of having to fall asleep on her own.
My son never got into the pacifier thing, but he has a little dog blanket that he is just as addicted to. We’ve now made it only a naptime and nighttime thing, and he’s 2 1/2. I’m nervous to take that away because I value my sleep. It doesn’t seem as bad as the pacifier in my mind, so I’ve let it go this long, but it might be time soon. Maybe I’ll let it go until he’s 3. 🙂 (Really, it’s just me hanging on to my baby!)
jaymee
this is tough. One: pediatricians are well educated and therefore do know a lot of stuff but they do not know everything and each one has their own opinion. Two: a Mother’s instinct should never be questioned.
My ped is a saint. A super nice guy, well educated, respectful, good listener, etc and on our first visit when my daughter was three days old he told me how all visits would go – I would tell him what I thought and then he would tell me what he thought b/c he believes that mothers really do know best *most* of the time but there are some cases where they might need a bit of guidance.
The bottle and the binky are controversial issues and I’ll be the first to tell you (without shame) that my daughter who is 22 months still has both (enter gasps here.) She still gets one bottle a day for medical reasons. She has to take a powdered medicine once a day and the only way to get her to drink all her milk at once and thus take her medicine was to put it in a bottle with 6 oz of milk. She sucks it down every morning without question and I can then rest free all day that she has taken her meds. I also let her keep her binky for nap and bedtime all this time b/c she was a VERY late teether and frankly I needed some damn sleep. The guilt about both of these things was consuming me, like I was hurting her in some way b/c it was frowned upon by some people. I told my ped about this and this is what he said in a nut shell.
“Jaymee you are a good mother, no question and I trust you to do the right thing for your daughter at the right time and right now I’m ok with both of these things.”
He also then pointed out that every day he sees kids who are abused and more comonally, neglected. Bed bugs, lice, tooth abceses from teeth that are never brushed, infected wounds b/c no one took the time to put some neosporin and a band aid on it, etc and he then said if the worst thing I’m doing is making sure my daughter gets her meds and giving her something that helps her sleep, well, then CPS can come and get me. : ) Love that guy.
Just remember that YOU ARE THE MOM. You will do what is best Katie, I can’t possible see you doing anything but the best thing for Bean.
Katie
Thanks, Jaymee. You had me cracking up at the “I need some damn sleep” comment. Word!
andrea
great comment. every kid, parent and situation is different. neither of my kids ever wanted a pacifier they are both thumb suckers. my son is 3 and still does it but only when he’s tired, if that’s the only thing I have to worry about, I’m ok with that!
Whitney
Evie never even made it to a full bottle of formula so she was never really a big drinker to begin with so we had no problem there, really. Plus, she had 12 teeth by the time she was a year old and I’d pretty much had her on mainly table food from about 6 months on.
As for the binky… It wasn’t so much HER not wanting to get rid of it as it was ME not wanting her to get rid of it. I never forced the issue and she kept it until she was almost two. But right at two she simply decided she didn’t need it anymore and she quit cold turkey. I think they’re still babies at a year old so I didn’t see any problem in letting her keep it even though I know most docs suggest having them give it up at one.
Re-reading this entire comment I now realize that I provided absolutely no useful information… So, you know, there’s that.
Heather in ND
We have a mom at the daycare who only gave the Nuk to her little guy at nap time or when he was really fussy. About a month ago she cut everything cold turkey and he took a few weeks to adapt, but he barely notices that it’s gone now and goes right to bed without it!
Same with bottles, Bean will eat when he’s hungry eventually. He’ll learn that milk is yummy and this sippy cup thing makes him feel like a big boy!! You aren’t doing anything bad as a mommy, so don’t worry about it! Like somebody else said, you’ll probably have a harder time than he will.
Little guys are sooooo resiliant and take change pretty well for the most part… so when you take away that bottle or nuk, they get a little mad to start out with, but the forget about it pretty fast and adapt to what they need to.
Hang in there, it will get better pretty fast!
Holly at Perrydise
Good luck! Tuesday was our first day with no bottles at all.. only sippy cups. So far we are doing well with it. I think it was harder on me to cut out that last bed time bottle. Her appetite for solid foods went way up once we cut out formula and switched to milk only.
I’m glad you are finding a doctor that is more supportive of your parenting style. I love ours and I love how easy going she is with us.
Nate's Mom
On some of these baby/mom blogs (that seem reputable), the menus laid out for one-year-old kids are bananas. They get a full breakfast, lunch, dinner, plus two snacks. It’s more food than I’ve found the time to eat since giving birth. Nate’s never been a big drinker. At school, we’re now lucky if he’ll take 8-10 ozs of b. milk from a bottle. (He cut himself back from 15+ for 6 hours at school.) He’s also stopped breastfeeding as much. But he’s not much of a chower either. (Is this why he’s in the 23rd percentile for weight? Prolly….) I’ve got bowls of snacks laid out for Nate in his play space. He takes the bowls, dumps them upside down, and hoovers the snacks throughout the day. I’ve just given into this way of eating because it works for him. He’s a grazer for snacks. And for big meals, it’s a crap shoot for us. Day care is shifting Nate over to sippy cups for milk (no more bottles!). I’ve heard that’s the wrong thing to do though – isn’t it milk in bottles and everything else in sippy cups so Nate knows the difference? Or does it not really matter?
Anyhow, chow down, Beaneriffic! Nate wishes he was there to eat snacks with you. And way to go with sharing your bink with Mr. Bear. I’m sure he’s appreciative of it! 🙂
PS – Get thee a pediatrician that you like pronto! Having just lived through a bad one, and just found one of our dreams, don’t wait until Bean’s sick and you find yourself fishing around the practice for some lovely doctor to help you!!!
Heather Ben
kate is 16 months old and i’m sorry to report we still give some bottle. i’ll give her one in the morning while i am changing & dressing her – she knows she gets this as soon as she sees me in the morning. and, we give her one at night. she has exczema and gets itchy medicine in the bottle and will drink it all. if we put in sippy cup she generally won’t drink it all. now, these are both milk not formula but still. i know i should break it off now, especially with baby number two on the way. i would love for her to be totally off the bottle for a while so she doesn’t see the baby with that bottle all the time and want one then. but, easier said then done. BUT i can say that they associate different things with different people.
Leslie
I had to do the same thing with my son. At 1 yr he showed very little interest in food. We were nursing though, and my milk was starting to thin out real bad so he wasn’t getting the nutrients he needed. So at 15 months we had to stop cold turkey. It was hard. He is now 19 months and hasn’t put on any weight since we made the switch, but he eats food now. I know the Doc say it’ll be rough for a few days, but it might be rough for a month. OH and my son is extremely picky with his foods. If bean is this way just be willing to let him eat what he wants to eat. Offer him everything but let him get his calories where he can. And try not to stress it too bad. Good Luck!
Courtney@NeverCookonaSaturdayNight
I don’t have children (yet, two weeks away from my due date!). But when my sister was little my mother could not wean her off the bottle, she was a terror. I mean, she was like 2 1/2 – 3 years old and still drinking from a bottle. So my mom gave her one of those picnic ketchup bottles (the kind where the cap is attached by a little plastic string thingy) instead. And then she couldn’t get her off of that. So,in public, my sister would scream “I want my ketchup baba!!!!” It was quite embarrassing for me as the older sister. I know that doesn’t help you much but I think I can safely say that replacing the bottle with a “ketchup baba” is not the answer.
Sara Rickman
That ketchup bottle thing is hilarious! And as an older sister I can totally relate. I used to get so embarrassed when my baby brother would put his hands down my Mom’s shirt in public. He did it all the time, for no apparent reason, and I can remember just wanting to die. 🙂
andrea
AJ refused a bottle at 5 months, luckily I was also still breastfeeding. It took him a few months to then get used to a straw sippy cup, he didn’t want to lay back, afraid he would miss something i guess. but by the time he was drinking out of the cup I was just about done producing milk. the time in between though I was very worried that he wasn’t getting enough liquid. it was more stressful for me then him i believe. Ryan is now 8 months and takes a bottle fine, every once in a while I will give her a straw to see how she does, i’m already freaking out that she will never get off a bottle. and yes I know i’m being totally neurotic. bottle weaning is a new endeavor for me so I guess I’ll see how I do in the months to come. so I guess I’ve done it gradually, but I’m not opposed to cold turkey in the future. both of the kids seem to handle change very well. maybe i’m just lucky and it has nothing to do with what I’m doing.
I’m sure you have thought about it but watch out for bean getting constipated, that is always one of my big worries with the kids during a diet change. that’s a big drop in liquid, especially when he’s still getting used to milk, just a thought.
it is heart-wrenching to hear your little one cry, know what they want and not be able to help them 🙁
Jessica
Beware of the binky only at naps and bed. My sister would only give the binky to my niece at those times, but she also used the crib as a timeout spot when she was bad. Well she realized that my niece was getting in trouble on purpose in order to get the binky. My sister was so mad when she realized what was going on, she opened the window, told me niece to “say bye bye to binky” and threw it out the window!!!
Ahh the highlights of parenting 🙂
Margaret
So my son is one in scant days, and I’m still breastfeeding him. I’m ok with him weaning himself, and he’s definitely started doing that. But for US the “habit” has been baby food. I mean, we went to Colorado on vacation and when we got there we bought 12 jars of baby food for him PER DAY. My sister-in-law was the one falling out of her chair. And I realized (as did Ezra, who started liking the baby food less and less) that this needed to change. I think we’re having less issues than you, since Ez started refusing the third or fourth jar of baby food and was constantly making chewing faces, but the thing that comforts me when I don’t think he’s eating enough is that my mother always told me about how she would nurse my little sister twice a day and the rest of the time she ate NOTHING. And she thrived. I don’t think it’s because breast-milk is magical or anything, I’m just saying that it’s ok if he’s eating a little less as he adjusts. He’ll be eating like Chris in NO time (and I don’t just mean when he’s a teen – my two-year-old niece ate like a MAN… at one and a half!).
Danielle Melnyczenko @ danimezza.com
Aidan is just shy of 10 months and I’m considering giving the dummy the flick too. He only has it when sleeping and spits it out as soon as he’s asleep so I’m not too worried but I also think that if he’s not that dependent I should get rid of it now.
In Australia it’s common to give your child “Toddler Formula” in a sippy cup or bottle once a day rather than cows milk as it has added nutrients. Thats what Aidan will have once he’s one. He is currently having 3 bottles a day (=630mls) as well as breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner and supper as solid foods. I know I’ll have to drop one feed and I will most likely keep the night time one as it relaxes us both.
oh I could dribble on about this all day. Katie, you just get in my brain sometimes 🙂
Michelle, Mom of Henry (12m!)
I’m in the same boat with nursing. We are trying sooooo hard to wean- but then he started teething him eyeteeth- so I felt horrible since he was in so much pain. So we were down to once a day- only to go up to 3 times a day and then once at night. Ugh. I figure we will eventually get this down. Maybe another week? I’ve heard just take your time in weaning from anything. Good luck!
Mom of 3
Why wean him from nursing? It’s recommended to to nurse for a minimum of 12 months. There continue to be benefits after that. In many other countries extended nursing is the norm. I always felt reassured that my toddlers were getting their nutrients (in breastmilk) even when they didn’t eat so well on a given day. He will wean himself when he’s ready.
Elisabeth A.
The whole food/bottle/formula/eating/drinking has been such a HUGE stress point for me since the beginning. Rowan has always been small (4th percentile) and we’ve struggled with getting him to eat and drink well since day 1. We’re a point now where he will eat 3 meals a day of baby food and still drinks about 30 oz. of formula from a bottle. He’s 8 months and everyone tells me I need to move him to table food and cut back on the formula but it I just can’t do it. I keep telling myself he’s not ready but maybe it’s just me and my issues.
Katie, this is of no help to you, I’m just babbling. You should do what you think is right for Bean and go with your instincts.
carla
My biggest mistake was not getting Joy used to a sippy before she turned one – my ped wanted us to be rid of the bottle by 15 months. So it was a bit of a problem getting Joy to accept a sippy. I finally found a trainer cup worked and now that she is almost 16 months, she’s getting used to a sippy with a hard top. She too didn’t like baby food, so I made a lot of my own and she went on solid adult food rather soon. I think that helped transition bc she wasn’t starving for a bottle. At age 1 she had 4 7 oz bottles a day…i took away the mid day ones one at a time and then the AM, then PM. Within 2 weeks she was bottle free and on solid milk. I don’t give Joy juice unless it’s really hot or she’s thirsty but already had a lot of milk.
Donna
We didn’t really have a problem giving up either. My daughter went cold turkey on the paci and with the switch over to milk we taught her to drink from a straw and we simply didn’t give her anything but milk, water, and juice from her big girl cup.
A easy way to teach them to drink from a straw is to use the caprisun pouches – put the straw in their mouth then squeeze some of the juice into their mouth, they will want more and need a little help but will soon be sucking away.
Rachel
Little Man didn’t have any trouble giving up his bottle… but then by the time he was 1 he was exclusively on sippy cups, with formula in them. When he switched to milk from formula, he didn’t even blink, as long as he was getting something to drink he didn’t care. We did have a horrible time with the disappearance of the binky though. He had a hissy fit, he would ask for his binky, so I would put him in his crib to drive home the fact that he could only have his binky in the crib, for an out and about type of child he was not happy with the situation at all.
Katie van der Meer
My doctor told me to cut back the formula bottles as well because I was having the exact same issues. I didnt cut back as quickly as you did though, I took away one bottle a week i would say. I started with one in the middle of the day and then worked it all the way down to just one at night and then, poof it was done. He still hasnt been the greatest eater (the doctors started making a big deal about it but now they just know that it is just my son being him) but now I can coax him to eat by telling him once he is done he can have a treat (he is old enough to fully understand the award system (not yet two but three months away). If you find it is overwhelmingly hard with only two bottles, it wont hurt to give him one in the middle of the day too for the transition. Good for you though. All of those changes and transitions are rough on mommy and baby. But I think more so for mommy.
Sara Rickman
I think one of the biggest mistakes a parent can make is to try to schedule their child’s eating/sleeping/whatever according to their doctor or a book or their friends kids. Every child is different! Luckily, I had an amazing ped. who took a very laid back/you-know-whats-best-for-your-baby approach to these things. I am not at all ashamed to say that my daughter used a pacifier until age 2 1/2. Then one day she just lost interest. All by herself without any intervention. No crying, no fits, nothing, becuase it was her decision.
As far as the bottle goes, I switched to milk after age one with both kids mostly for the cost. Also, I don’t understand the point of sippy cups. To me, they are not any different than bottles (just something else I have to buy and wash). When my kids are seated at the table to eat they use a regular open cup like everyone else (and have since age one). But, when we are in the car or out shopping they use one of those reusable water containers with the straw.. and so do I for that matter. Of course there is an occasional spill at the table, but it’s worth it not to have a cabinet full of special plastic cups/lids for your kids.
My son is 2 and he still drinks lots of milk. Eventually he will start eating more regular foods, but I don’t see any medical reason to force him into a certain diet at any certain age. Do what you feel is right for Bean. And if you don’t agree with your doctor’s advice, find a new doctor. Bean is obviously healthy and happy because you are such a great Mom, so just keep doing what you know is best!
Kaitlyn
Thanks for the post Katie. I’m 20 weeks pregnant with my first, but moved to a completely new area (Indy) right before we got pregnant. While it’s still early, I’ve already begun looking around and talking with a few other moms about pediatricians. I’m also in your boat of just starting to meet people in the area so it’s been harder to get recommendations from others. I have such a great OB (best doctor I’ve ever had that fits my personality) and that has really taught me what I need in any type of doctor- super casual, very thorough, listens to all of my questions without making me feel inferior, and doesn’t let ego get in the way of anything. I want someone to thoroughly offer their medical knowledge, but also hold my hand when something gets to be trying or tough.
Any suggestions on what you liked about the other pediatrician or what others look for in a pediatrician?
susansamson
If it is that Bean doesn’t like the milk, it may be the temp. Warm it up a little, to room temp in the bottle warmer and try that. We quit the bottle 2 days before my son turned one simply because I timed it so that we would run out of formula then. And we never used a binky or a thumb, so I can’t offer much help there. You are doing a great job with him and you care enough to think about his well being and that is what matters the most.
Tenesse
I come from germany and we have a, lets say, recommendation from the pediatrician to start giving solid food, when the baby turns 6 months. I replaced the lunch bottle with glasses of fine purred carrots, a week later i added some potatoes, etc. And monthly you should replace one meal with a solid food meal, depending on the teeth development, more or less mushy. Now my girl ist 10 month old and she only gets a bottle after she gets up and a mix of milk and cereals at night. In the morning she eats some fruit or yogurt, for lunch is always vegetables with noodles, rice oder meat and in the evening she loves a bread with Kids-Cheese (or “Ba¤rchenwurst”, some meat spread) to eat by herself.
Although its not so jawdropping to pediatrician if you would breastfeed (or give formula) in the whole first year. We are very open with these things and the choice is completely yours.
In my opinion you should just let it flow, let the kid decide. Not matter what, at some age, every kid will eat solids, every kid starts to walk, every kid will sleep through the night and every kid will get rid of the diaper (damn my english is so bad, i really just had to look this word up, although its mentioned a thousand times in this blog).
One last note to the binky: My pediatrician told me, that my baby should use it too often, but to calm her, when she has hurt herself oder when she goes to bed, we can use it without damaging the teeth until she is 3.
(Once again, sorry for the bad english)
Melissa
I slowly weaned my son. I started cutting a bottle at nine months. The night one was cut first on an accident. He fell asleep without it one night so I never brought it back and it was the best instinct I had because I thought that would be the hardest bottle cut. So I started backwards, dropped night bottle, then evening bottle, etc. He had his last morning bottle the day before his 1st bday and that was it. Never whined again after that. I will say they that I feel for you because I know my son took to solids easier than Bean. I think you did good considering how hard it was to get him to eat solids. My son was eating off a spoon at 5 months. I just had a motherly instinct he was ready and he was.
Megan
I started giving Q-Tip sippy cups of water and rice milk around 10 or 11 months I believe. As well as introducing more foods. I couldn’t wait to get rid of the bottle. Mostly because she was on Nutramigen and it cost a fortune. And we had to thicken everything that was put in a bottle due to liquid penetrating her airway. When I started filling the sippy pretty full with liquid…so she didn’t have to tip it up so high…she got the hang of it quickly. So by the time she turned one she was good to go. The bottle went bye bye.
I have friends who’s babies were picky about their sippy cup. You might try a different brand and see what he thinks.
As far as the binky…or paci as we call it…she still uses it during naptime and at night and she is 19 months old. She’s never been an all day paci user so it doesn’t bother me that she still uses it at those times. I’m not sure when we’ll send them off to the “little babies that need paci’s” but I’m not really concerned with it. We’ve made it a point to throw it in her bed right when she wakes up so she knows that is where it stays. I know I’m completely dreaming here but I’m hoping that maybe one day she just won’t want it. LOL…
Your a good mommy Katie and you are doing a fantastic job! Doing things that he may not like but you know are best for him is a huge thing! Hang in there…you are doing great!
🙂
Megan
http://reddirtandcrazy.blogspot.com/
Cindy In Owensboro, KY
I agree with a lot of the posts above that say that every child is different. I have 2 children that I gave birth to and 2 stepchildren and all 4 of them were different in their development and habits.
My son who is 11 now would never take a pacifier and when he was 11 months old I weaned him from breastfeeding completely with no fussing. I wanted to keep him a baby though so I didn’t try to completely wean him from bottles until he was closer to 16-18 months old– I would let him have a night time bottle of cow’s milk. But then one day I just stopped offering it and he didn’t even seem to miss it.
Now my little girl (who is 20months old now) was a whole different story. She stopped using a pacifier at 6 months but then at 15months I started getting her to use it again so that I could get her weaned from breastfeeding. It took me until she was 17 months for her to completely be weaned and just use a sippy cup of cow’s milk. The pacifier is her best friend now though so I really need some advice on that because my babysitter doesn’t allow it at her house and so she is really encouraging me to wean her. But I say what does it hurt now. I actually talked to another mom today that said her pediatric dentist doesn’t feel like it becomes a problem until they are 4 years old. And my pediatrician and her pediatrician don’t find it as a problem either. So I say let’s so with the experts and keep my sanity for now!
Lissa
One other suggestion is to stop all apple juice/juice drinks. Kids don’t need apple juice at all…all that sugar cuts down their appetite for real food too. And way too much sweetness. I advise my patients to avoid constant grazing and stick to 3 meals with 2-3 snacks (and not processed food at all). I’m sure this will all be worked out in a few weeks, but the transition can be a little rough when a natural window is overlooked.
Abigail
I’m in the same position right now with weaning, except from breast rather than bottle. It’s just as difficult, though it seems to depend alot on the child. My first born was surprisingly easy to wean from her bottle to a sippy cup and also off her pacifier. Now at 4 (or she will be at the end of the month) she drinks from a regular cup like a pro. Our one year old on the other hand seems to have realized I’m trying to put her on an eating plan like her big sister and has refused to eat any solids at all. It’s delightful (heavy sarcasm). So I’m very glad you asked the questions you did and now I’m going to scroll up and read everyone else’s comments.
Abigail
BTW- it is so much easier to transition a child from bottle to cup than from breast to cup. I’m rather envious of you about that at the moment.
Nicole
Both of my kids, 5 and 2, went cold turkey from the formula. Honestly, I didn’t think much about it, I just did it. With my daughter I had to warm the milk for her a little bit but I only did that at nap time and bedtime. I guess I was so relieved not to have to buy formula anymore! I agree with Lissa though, NO JUICE! There is no need what so ever for a child under 4 or 5 to have juice. If they won’t drink water at all, you can put a 1oz. of juice (or less) in 5-6oz. of water. But I would rarely do that.
Rebekah M.
What about you? Did you have trouble breaking the bottle habit? Did you do it gradually or cold turkey? How did your wee one react?
The Bottle was very easy for our family. On C’s first birthday, i gave him his last bottle & we never turned back. He didn’t like milk-this was our problem. We tried mixing milk and formula. We tried all kinds of milk (yes, even chocolate). We eventually tried milk in a botlle. Because of his distaste for milk, he didn’t like the bottle! It was actually much easier than i expected! We still struggle with drinking milk. Very rarely will he ask for milk, but i always offer it to him 2 meals per day.
On the paci…We instituted the ‘in the bed’ policy before he was one, so i don’t even remember that being a challenge. When he was 2 or so, we took a day trip to Chattanooga and he refused to take his paci in the car, yet he still fell asleep. This i knew was our cue to cut it out all together. So, one night, we just talked about giving our pacis to the babies at the hospital. This was not so bad. He only cried or paci for 2 nights. This was more difficult at daycare, where he had a major meltdown. So, at the end of the week, we took him to the pediatricians office & gave it to one of our doctors there. This doctor is very anti-paci in older children and he has a system. Let the child write on the paci to “mark” it as theirs, put it in the bag for the new babies and in return they get a handful of suckers. Now, if we find a paci in the house, he says “shoo wee paci! thats nasty!” it hilarious!
September
My son won’t drink milk at all–sometimes chocolate but even that is iffy, and I really don’t push it all that often because of the sugar and my older daughter will want it too. I did a lot of research and kids don’t really need all that much milk–the equivalent of two normal adult servings is enough calcium, and since he loves yogurt and cheese that’s good enough for me. What I’m actually more careful about than the calcium (his 2+ cartons of yogurt should take care of that!) is the vitamin D, since it’s added to milk and a lot of people take it for granted. We do a multivitamin and I don’t put sunscreen on my kids unless it’s heat of the day, so they can get Vit D that way.
September
My son was the opposite on the whole food/formula thing. We started late on food because of allergies (7 mos) but once he got food he cut the formula off almost entirely; down to about 8-10 oz day. In his defense, he was on neocate a really foul-smelling prescription formula.
*Sigh* we had binky kids. Both my kids had one until they were almost four. We tried to cut it out entirely but they started sucking their thumbs (can we say oral fixation here??) and I was totally no down with that. House rule instead was that after a year it was for bed ONLY; if I found them with one outside of bed it was cut up and thrown in the trash (this only happened once with my daughter, who had a habit of hiding binks around the house so she could get a quick fix when I wasn’t looking. Keep in mind that trash had to go out immediately because I’m positive she would’ve been dumpster diving; however, it did scare her enough that she followed house rules after that.).
courtney
At 5 months old my son got the flu and didn’t want his pacifier anymore so out it went. I switched to half whole milk/half formula at around 10 months old. Yeah I did it without the doctor’s permission at my mom’s suggestion. She raised three kids succesfully so I trust her. At 12 months we started transitioning into cups and cut out all formula. At 14 months we were down to one bedtime bottle. Then around 16 months my poor little guy got a stomach bug and we cut out the bottle completely. I look back on this and think what was the big deal, but at the time it all seemed so major. Now we’re potty training at 2 and 1/2 and at first I was freaking out thinking, “he’s never going to catch on”. But then I took a step back and thought about all the transitions and changes we’ve gone through – from bassinet to crib, from bottle to cup, from baby food (we never really did a lot of baby food) to table food, from crib to toddler bed (that was a hellish experience), from rear facing to front facing (hallelujah – finally at 18 months old), from sippy cup to big boy cup, and now from diapers to underwear – and I realized that while your in the moment they all seem so overwhelming. But then you survive and you realize that it’s not that big of a deal – I mean how many five year olds go to kindergarten in diapers :)? My point is don’t let it stress you out, the first few days are always the worst (try 6 pairs of wet underwear on the first day of potty traing, but now just a week later using the potty fairly consistently). Now that I’ve written a novel that you probably don’t care to read, I’m going to go cry because I just realized that my baby is no longer a baby 🙁
courtney
Oh yeah – definitely find a doctor that doesn’t treat you like an idiot. How annoying :/