question for 17m daughter..respectful, thoughful answers only. no criticizing please.?

Question

how many ounces of milk does a child this age be taking in? she will only drink 2 bottles of milk a day, her morning & night bottle, 9 oz in each,18 ounces all together. sometimes after her nap, she will (very rarely!) have an afternoon bottle of about 6-7 oz. PLEASE do not criticize, since this brings me up to my next question. how did you wean your child COMPLETELY off the bottle? though, she does drink from a cup, like her juice & water. what are some ways to get her not to have that milk bottle at night time, to fall asleep to? we brush her 12 teeth everyday and night (sorta pointless at night since she goes to bed with milk bottle, thats my problem) i know prolong bottle feeding causes tooth decay, which i wanna try to stay away from.she takes a pacifier at night, so that may help for awhile. but jus wanted to see, how other parents exp. handled these areas? and again how many ounces of milk(in a cup hopefully soon!)should she be getting?and how to stay just on the cup only? thx.

thank you so much to all the answers so far! very much appreciated. im more so wondering all this since this is our first child, even though i may be asking the same thing for our 2nd, 3rd child lol, but everyone has made a good, valid point, im going to take many of your advices during this time. only problem i also have as well, my husband not completely supporting this decision of weaning. he likes to "cheat" and give her juice/water in her bottle thru out the day behind my back! Ladies, looks like i need to teach him a few things too! i mean i am being reasonably correct with this weaning decison. well time will tell. but thanks Moms!

Answer 1

Don't be so hard on yourself. You sound like you have a guilty conscience. I have 3 kids, and my younger two still drink milk at night. I have a 20 month old and a 3 year old. My 3 year old drinks from a sippy cup and he gets his "milky-milky" before he goes to bed at night. My 20 month old still drinks from a bottle and we give her milk during nap time and before bed. You sound like you are doing a great job and want to make sure you do what is best for your baby, I commend you on that.

What I did with my 3 year old was I told him one day that he was a big boy now and we were going to throw away all his bottles. We made it a game and we gathered all his bottles and we threw them in the trash. From that moment on he drank from a sippy cup. He still asks for a bottle sometimes and I have to be firm with him and tell him he's too big for a bottle now. He still loves his milky-milky though. Drinking it from a cup hasn't stopped that...yet.

Truth is, you decide when your baby is ready. Don't let other people and doctors tell you that it's really bad for them. As long as you get him/her off the bottle and to a sippy cup full time by the time he/she is 2, you will be just fine.

Good luck!

Answer 2

My wife and I have three children three and under. At the last doctor's visit, we were told that we were letting our middle child, then 22 months, have too much milk. He was drinking about 24 ounces a day at that time. At 17 months, you child should be drinking 16-20 oz a day. The rest of the time she should be drinking water and -juice as a treat only - juice is extremely harmful to baby teeth as it has a high acidic level and way too much sugar.
She needs to be weaned not only from the bottle but frm the pacifier as well. Both do equal damage to the baby's new choppers. To wean her from the pacifier, just "lose" it. Tell her it went bye bye or, if you have a friend with a younger baby, tell her that your friends baby needs the pacifier and she is a big helper!
The bottle can be a tricky thing. Both of my boys gave the bottle right up. they were both aroound a year old when they did. Our youngest, daughter (18 months) still wants her bottle at night. She is good all day, but really misses ity at night. What we did was buy her special sippy cups with the soft tops. We are stepping her down to traditional sippy cups and eventually she will only have open cups like her two older brothers. So far is has been quite successful.
Good Luck!

Answer 3

The WIC nutritionist told me around 14 oz a day & I told her that she drinks about 18 - 20 & she said tha is fine. About the bottle I just took mine of the bottle & she's 16 months. I just took it away from her & she was fine. I was dreading it forever thinking she would throw a fit, but she didn't. If she doesnt like the hard sippy cups, try the soft ones. Thats what I had to do & now she drinks from anything... She even has a tinkerbell cup w/ a lid & staw & she loves it when I tell her its her "big girl" cup. About the pacifier try not to use it for too much longer because it will be harder to get her off it the older she gets. People have told me that it causes buck teeth, but I really don't think it does, bc my nephew was on it until 2 & had no teeth problems, but it was very hard to get him off it. My daughter never liked a paci. & still at night my daughter has to have a soft sippy cup to go to sleep & tosses it away once shes ready to sleep... so try that if you can : hard sippys during the day w/juice, water, etc & soft sippys @ night w/milk (and also a sippy of milk in the morning) thats my lil girls routine... hope I helped & good luck to you. I don't think you'll have much trouble w/it...

Answer 4

You probably want to talk to your pediatrician and ask his/her opinion, but here's what my pediatrician said. She said my child didn't need more than 16oz of milk a day by that age. She discouraged giving her too much milk, because it often takes the place of eating other more nutritious food. The easiest way to wean your child from a bottle is to simply take it away and give her a sippy cup at meal times. By 17 months your daughter really shouldn't need milk in between meals or before bed, and she doesn't need to be using a bottle. It will probably be hard for her not to have the bottle in bed if she's used to it as she falls asleep, but you need to just take it away and give her something else to pacify her...maybe a new cuddly animal. Just remember that once you stop the bottle don't give it to her no matter how upset she gets. It will only take a day or two for her to adjust without her bottle.

Answer 5

when I was weaning my son off of his bottle I did what you are doing, introduced water/juice in a cup to him with meals. Then I'd put milk in there after he got used to drinking out of the cup. I was very lucky with him, he switched to the cup easily for me. I started to at nap times having him drink milk from the cup instead of from the bottle. After a week I did the same for bedtime. For the night time, I would take the cup with us to his room, rock him and cuddle him and he'd drink right from the cup. Just be patient and she might surprise you and switch to the cup easily for you too.

As for how much milk, they say between 16-24 oz a day so that they are not filling up on that and not wanting any foods. So what you are doing with the 2 9 ozs twice a day and the bedtime bottle seems to be a good amount.

Answer 6

My daughter - 3 next week, only just about 2 months ago maybe 3 was "weaned" off a bottle and now uses her sip cup for her morning and night milk. Although she doesn't always want it when given. I just started telling her that the top on the bottle was broken and she had to use the cup. As far as how much? I don't think there is a specific amount, 18 ounces is a good amount. Mine doesn't drink milk at other times, so I have to keep up with her morning and night routines.

Answer 7

According to my pedi and lots of info on-line 24 ounces is the norm until age 5. Quit using a bottle asap and stop the pacifier too; both destroy teeth - bottles provide sugar that causes tooth decay and the paci can deform mouth and tooth development. Cold terukey will be hard but may be needed at this age... keep a cup by getting rid of all the bottles, then there's no temptation by you to give in to crying. Extra hugs & cuddles will help the transition. Remember this will be very hard for your dd but it's VERY important. Cut the juice out completely and replace with a few ounces of milk. Milk is far more important than calories from juice - unless she's constipated, then a little juice might save the day. My kids, 2 & 3.5 both drink from sippies... it's the when that is even more important than the what. My kids get milk with meals and ONLY water between, no tooth decay from water. If children can walk around with sugar - milk or juice - it invites decay into their mouth. Eat, drink, brush, water - repeat. Make it habit and routine and you'll learn to love it! And so will she.

Answer 8

Her quantity of milk is perfect. My pediatrician told me to aim for exactly that amount at my son's 15 month check up, and was still happy with it at 18 months. I am sorry I can't help with your other question as I was very lucky in my son not being too attached to his bottle. We were told that once he showed he was able to drink from a sippy cup (which your child obviously is), to take away the bottle cold turkey. I would start by getting rid of all bottles and providing milk in the cup during the day. If she needs a cup at night, then only give her water. My guess is that it'll be a tough few nights, but if you don't give in, she'll get used to it. For reference, at that age, we were feeding my son at 6pm and letting him have his milk until 7pm when it was bath and teeth brushing time. He didn't get anymore until breakfast. Best of luck to you.

Answer 9

16 - 24 oz. milk a day is fine for this age, so she's just fine.

Take her to the store and let her pick out her own special Milk Cup (either a sippy or a straw) and her own special Water Cup. Then take her home and let her help wash it in the sink and then throw all her bottles away. Clap your hands and give her a big hug for being such a big girl!!!!!

Give her her Milk Cup about a half hour before bedtime. Clap your hands and give her a hug for being a big girl. Then have her help wash it and choose a special place in the cupboard for it. Tell her to say Night Night to the Milk Cup and then get out the Water Cup and say, "This is the one you get to take to bed."

Brush her teeth, get her in her jammies, etc., then give her the Water Cup. Clap your hands and give her a hug for being a big girl.

Answer 10

You can find sippy cups that have a softer spout to them and sometimes that makes it easier as well as if you start getting her used to having milk in the sippy cup. If you explain to her that it is time for her to have a big girl cup and try it with a sippy cup, she will probably cry but all you need to do is be strong and not give in, or that will teach her all she needs to do is cry and she will get her bottle. She will adjust to her sippy cup at night versus a bottle fairly quickly. But it will take some patience for a few nights.