How am I gonna get my son off the bottle and on whole milk?

Question

My son is almost 11 months old. He wakes up at least 2 times a night to eat. I give him a small bottle then he falls asleep. He should be sleeping through the night but he wont. He wont go back to sleep until he is fed too. I have tried to with hold and he literally screams all night long. What am I going to do in a little over a month when he will be on regular milk? Also, during the day . . . how often and I suppose to give him milk and how much? Am I suppose to give it to him in his sippy cup or bottle? I dont want him to be on his bottle if he doesnt have to be. When should I be doing all of this? I am clueless . . . its sad lol! Please help, thanks1

Answer 1

Are you feeding table foods? Usually once they get table foods they stop waking as much and need less formula/milk. And you should be starting now. During the day, only offer a bottle during feeding times like breakfast, lunch and dinner, and only offer a sippy cup otherwise. Then start taking away the bottle during these times, first during lunch, then maybe breakfast, then dinner. Each time replacing it with a sippy cup. I had started offering sippy cups with snacks when she was 6 months. She gave up her bottles on her own when she was 11.5 months then caught a nasty cold and regressed for about a month, then just started refusing them again. So by 12.5-13  months she was off the bottle completely.

Answer 2

Every mother is clueless!  Who do you think they get advice from?  Other mothers!  Lol...you have nothing to worry about.  To get him off the bottle, I would give him a sippy a couple times through out the day, instead of the bottle at feeding time.  I didn't get rid of the bottle all at once with neither of my boys.  My youngest just turned one...I give him sippy cups of milk every 3 hours...because that is what he did with his bottle.  He still takes a bottle before bed...but I slowly have been taking him off...by next month hopefully he will be strictly all sippy cup.  If you want to get him off the habit of waking up...try giving him a snack before you give him his night time bottle.  When he wakes up go in there, don't pick him up...try to tap his bottom, so he knows you are there, if he cries try your hardest to not give in and give him a bottle....because he is developing the habit...of waking up in the middle of the night, and knowing he will get the bottle.  With both of my boys when they got up in the middle of the night, I would substitute the bottle for a pacifier.  Good Luck!  

Answer 3

At night, start to give him watered down formula. He'll stop wanting it, will be angry for a few nights, and then will stop waking because he's not liking it. Or, put a sippy of water in his crib and hand it to him when he cries. To get him on whole milk, mix it 25% to 75% with formula being 75%. Do that for 3-4 days, then do 50/50, then 75/25, then all over to milk. Give it to him in cups throughout the day, as well as when he wakes at night. He'll need to rebrush his teeth, too.  

Answer 4

Your son should be past waking up at night to eat.  You may need to feed him more solid foods during the day.  My daughter is 15 months old, and I give her between two and three 8 ounce servings of milk everyday.  She also drinks water and juice.  Switching from formula to milk shouldn't be too difficult.  Try mixing 1/2 formula and 1/2 milk to transition and eventually just give him whole milk in his bottle.

I decided to take my daughter's bottles away when she was 13.5 months old.  We did it cold turkey and she never had an issue.  At this point I wouldn't worry so much about taking him off the bottle, but getting him to sleep through the night.  Your son doesn't really need a bottle at night.  The bottle has become a soothing mechanism.  If he uses a pacifier try giving him that instead.  

You can also try giving him water instead of formula at night.  My daughter used to wake up at night and I started giving her a few ounces of water instead of milk and about a week later she just stopped waking up.  I guess it wasn't worth it for her to wake up for water.

Answer 5

Whoa.  First off, don't panic.  If he is still drinking from a bottle when is is 13 or 14 months, the world shall go on.  

Why can't you put regular milk in a bottle?  That's what I did for my daughter to transition her to milk.  There are no hard and fast rules regarding sippy cup or bottle, it depends on you, your child, his capabilities and your expectations.  You should think about starting him with a sippy cup with water just for practice, he is definitely old enough now.  I started my daughter with a sippy cup at around 7 months, but it took her a few months to get used to it.  By the time we were ready to stop the bottles, she was good with her sippy cup.  I'm not sure about the amount of milk required for a child that age, ask your pediatriciain for advice on that.  My daughter drinks milk with all of her meals, plus diluted orange juice at breakfast and water the rest of the day.

Answer 6

Def. give him a sippy cup, he needs sometime to get used to it.  Call your doc, and he/she can give you some advice.  And he may not be getting enough to eat during the day, if he still is waking up at night.

Answer 7

It's a power play.  The battle of wills begins.  Welcome to the wonderful world of parenting.

Answer 8

I gave my son whole milk in a bottle until he was about 16 months then one day I took it away and would give it to him in a sippy cup warmed up like it was in the bottle.  Eventually he will get over it and drink the milk the way you give it to him.  I wish I could help out about the not sleeping and waking to eat but I don't know what to say.  Ask his doc and good luck

Answer 9

I remember worrying about this too!!  Seriously, let your son tell you how he wants to transition.  Try whole milk in the bottle.  If he refuses it, mix the whole milk with formula and decrease the amount of formula till it's just whole milk.  The whole milk only at age 1 is only a guidline... it's fine if it takes a while for him to adjust.

"I dont want him to be on his bottle if he doesnt have to be"  Well, if he's drinking from a sippy cup well then he doesn't *have* to be using a bottle.  You could just stop offering the bottle and he will learn to adjust, but personally, I think that's harsh.  I liked the sippy during the day and a night bottle to transition.

Try offering him water in a sippy cup at night instead of a bottle.  He's more than likely waking because he's thirsty or just wants to interact with you.

Answer 10

when you transision him to whole milk, he can still be on the bottle and you can start the sippy cup with him aswell. As for how much, it should be about 4 cups a day. My daughter is now 1.5 and gets 3 bottles a day, cutting back to two... one at nap, one at bed time.

As for him waking cause he is hungry, i bet he is just waking cause he knows he will get a bottle...

feed him his supper, then before bed he can have a snack and bottle then its bed time...you shouldnt need to feed him after that...soother to get him to sleep, or just soothe him back to sleep...try to avoid giving him the bottle in the middle of the night,