Hi, I have an 19 month old girl who is still taking her bottle through the day and night. We are still giving her sma milk as I have tried to give her cows milk but she wont drink it. My Mum works beside a health visitor who has advised us that Hannah should be off baby milk and only drinking cows milk and she shoud deffinately be off her bottle. I can't even get hannah to drink her baby milk from a cup! i am totally confused and stressed out by all of this. I don't even know where to start. I know we have probably done the wrong thing by still giving her baby milk but as a first time mum i never really knew when i was supposed to stop giving her baby milk.  I have always struggled giving her cows milk. she takes it in cereal but will not drink it as she knows the difference between the two milks. Is it ok if she doesnt drink cows milk if she is getting her calcium elsewhere? or getting the cows milk in food? Should i just concentrate on getting her off the bottle through the day? Another problem i have is that hannah uses her milk to go to sleep even in the afternoon. Help I really need it. 

S

HI S

 This a a tricky one and I find it hard to advise cause JT was so amenable she didn't even notice what it was or what it came out of as long as it was wet!!

Can your health visitor be of any help?

I've probably been quite tough in my approach and never really given in when trying to get JT on to the next stage of something. It might take a few days or week or even 2, but I wonder if eventually she will forget what it tasted like and drink what you give her. If she doesn't drink milk for a short time I'm not sure it'll do any harm. so you could go cold turkey on any kind of milk for a period of time and then introduce Cows milk only.

Try and find another routine for her day time nap, a story or song, or a different kind of drink. Perhaps take her out and get her to choose a new 'big girls' cup with her favourite character on it and make a big thing about it.

It might be unsettling and a bit painful for a while but I have found they do adapt eventually.

P 

 Thank you for your advice. I have decided not to give her any milk through the day (sma milk) and only give her her milk at night. Then I am going to mix the two milks until she is taking the cows milk only, then i am goin to deal with the bottle at night, try and get her to have her milk in a cup before bedtime. Through the day I will just need to find another way of getting her to have her nap. Someone also told me that if they dont like the taste of cows milk to try goats milk as it is a little sweeter but not sure myself. Another thing i was going to try was adding some milk to a yogurt drink and eventually have more milk than yogurt in it. hannah seems to really like the yogurt drinks. I will let you know how i get on.

S

Hi, I had the same problem with my son. He was still getting baby milk in a bottle until he was over two. He point blank refused to drink cows milk. I gradually added cows milk to his bottle over a period of about two weeks, starting at one oz cows milk to 7oz baby milk, and every couple of days putting the cows milk up an oz. He now drinks all cows milk and has no problem with it. The only thing is he will only drink it warm and from a bottle before bed. He does not drink it cold or through the day at all. Thats why I still give it to him though because he doesnt drink milk through the day. If anyone has any ideas how to resolve that problem I would be delighted to hear them!!

Hi all

 When this was happening to me, I thought I was the only mummy with the only toddler doing this!! It seemed everywhere I looked there was a toddler drinking out of a cup! I also felt I was being judged by other people.

Aaron loves his milk. Hot or cold but he gets it hot at nightime. At first he didn't want to drink cow's milk, but as LTC said I started to add cow's milk to his formula and gradually he went onto just cow's milk and didn't seem to notice.

As for getting them off the bottle, that's not so easy! Aaron is 20 months this month and although will drink from a cup during the day (just started this in the last few weeks) he always has a bottle to get him to sleep at night time. I have got to the stage that I am doing what is right for my baby and every child is different, for example Aaron never liked a dummy so his comfort is his bottle. He does look for it if he's not well or very tired. I don't care anymore what other people think, they are too quick to judge!

The only thing I worry about is when we go on holiday, as it's a cruise it's the UHT milk they have onboard and not fresh milk, so I am going to have to try and get him to sleep without the bottle at night!

The joys of being a mummy!!!!