When is it time to take my son off the bottle?

Question

My son just turned one. When should he go off the bottle? I'm having a hard time with this one.

He is using his sippy cup during eating times. However when he goes to bed he still uses a bottle.

Answer 1

well u could take him off at one or so

Answer 2

At 6 months of age he should have been offered a cup. Introduce the cup a couple of times a day. It's hard to get a one year old to go "cold turkey" if he needs a bottle in the morning or for nap/bed allow that. However at meal times offer the cup. Then slowly eliminate the bottle one setting at a time. First the nap, then at bed, etc. Eventually, he will realize he doesn't need it. Don't worry if your son is 15 months and still occasionally on the bottle but in my opinion anything over that is too old. Good Luck!

Answer 3

for starters its not good on childrens teeth to go to bed with a bottle. That is more of a problem then the fact that he is still using a bottle. My daughter was off her bottle before one but my friends little girl was using her's until she was 2 1/2. I wouldn't worry about it too much, I would try getting him off the bottle at bed time though, try teaching him that all drinks including bottles have to stay in the kitchen and make him drink it there. We had to do this with my daughter when she was one because she figured how to shake her sippy cup and spill milk on the carpet, you have to make sure every one in the house abides by the rule too. It worked great with my daughter, you will be amazed how smart they can be. good luck

Answer 4

if he is using a sippy cup . Now is a good time to start weening him off the bottle. He should be off the bottle ,when he has several teeth and is drinking well from the cup. A bottle is not good for teeth.especially a night time bottle.

Answer 5

Both of my children went off the bottle on their first birthday. My daughter only had two teeth but went to full solids and a sippy cup. I was worried about her lack of teeth but it didn't slow her down in the least. It's also when the bedtime bottle was taken away. It took about a week for her to get used to, but we have been good since.

Answer 6

One year is a good time to start. At this age mine were only getting one bottle a day between lunch and dinner; a cup was used at meals. I took the bottle away cold turkey and offered the same formula/milk in a sippy, take it or leave it. They took it.

Answer 7

The turth is he is showing signs of being ready to make the change from bottle to sippy cup. if he hads just started daycare i would wait a month or two if you are home he is more then ready start by giving him the cup at bed time and see what happens and after about 10 mins give him the bottle but tell him he is a big boy now and he need to drink out of a cup more now

Answer 8

A child doesn't need formula after 12 months, they can begin to drink reg milk. Thats when I think it's time to switch. On my daughters 1st birthday we both went and threw all her bottles away and went shopping for "big girl" sippies. She loved it. I was never one to let her have a bottle at bed time, so we didn't have that transition. But at the beginning I always let her pick out her sippy.
Good luck!

Answer 9

it sounds like a comfort thing for him, its alot easier to break a child of the bottle when they are ready to let go
maybe you could try giving him a sippy cup full of milk or whatever before he goes to bed and hopefully he wont be still hungry enough to take a bottle at bedtime then maybe a bedtime story while you are rocking him would get his mind off of it?
im sure you have probably tried that already but if all else fails you could play tough and take the bottle away but you might want to ask his pediatrician for tips

Answer 10

I always thought it looked bad when I saw a baby running around with a bottle in his/her mouth. I always said at 1 years old I would take it away. I breastfed all 3 of my kids. My middler daughter weaned herself at 10 months and ended up taking a bottle. At a year she was not ready to leave the bottle and take the cup. I waited untill I felt she was ready to take the cup fulltime ( I offered it each day). It took untill she was 18m and she was fully ready.
As far as damage to the teeth. This ushually only occurs to babys taking the bottle to bed, that are offered sugar drinks. A bottle also does not cause the teeth to be miss shaped.

Answer 11

When my oldest daughter was about 7 months old, she threw her bottle across the room...That was the last she saw of it...Give him a drink before he goes to bed, dont let him have the bottle or sippy cup in bed as this can damage his teeth...Good luck.