So many questions about milk and bottles and sippys! Help!

[Ashley1021]

My son turned one the 21st of September. We have finally sorted out the formula to milk switch. He had massive runny poop and gas with whole milk. His doctor recommended almond milk. We started him on almond milk and he loves it! Even cold. But he will only drink it out of his "babo" (bottle) my doctor strongly recommended taking away the bottle like it is Satan itself!

He loves that dang thing and just started sleeping through, I don't want to cause any more upset. We made it seven hours before he started asking for it and had a meltdown. So I caved. Daycare will not give milk in a bottle as he is in the toddler room and I don't know how we are going to handle that. I'll give him one in the morning, and one at night, but he's going to want one during the day. He refuses a sippy and I don't know what to do. Am I a terrible mom for letting him have his bottle?

I work at his daycare and share a wall with his classroom, so I'm going to hear his upset from 7:30-4:30 wanting his "babo" all day long.. Suggestions?

 

[_Meep_]

Have you tried a straw cup? It's not a bottle as such, but still provides a degree of sucking action. You can get them with or without a non-spill valve. They are much better for teeth and actually very good for the mouth muscles necessary for speech - therapists often use them with kids who need help strengthening their mouths due to low oral tone.

My LO is breastfed so she isn't familiar with bottles, but she was absolutely crap with spouted sippys and just couldn't get it right for the longest time (taking huge gulps and coughing). We put her on a valve straw at about 11 months and she was amazing! We moved onto a free flow straw a couple of months later and it's been great and really helped her to regulate how much she takes into her mouth with each sip - I tried her with a sippy again the other day and she had no problem at all.

Worth a try, at least.

 

[MindUtopia]

I think it's terrible your daycare doesn't allow bottles now that he's suddenly 1! It's not like a switch magically flips and they suddenly just take to a cup. (Personally, I don't think I'd be happy sending my daughter anywhere that couldn't personalise their care and meet her needs - but obviously, you work there, so don't have other choices - just a personal pet peeve, really). I would say just give it time with the cup and try lots of things. My daughter absolutely refused a cup at 11 months. We tried again at 13 months and she loved it! We never looked back. They just need time to be ready and if he isn't ready at 12 months, try again next month and the month after, etc. Also, try other cups. My daughter was quite a bit older before she'd happily have milk in a sippy, because she wanted to drink it faster than she could from the sippy. Like she literally just couldn't hold it up in the air and tip it back in order to consistently drink from it at that age. She just wasn't strong enough and it was awkward. We tried a straw cup (recommend Moma straw cups) and she loved it. She didn't have to hold a whole full cup of milk up in the air for 10 minutes while she drank it. That made it a much smoother transition. Then when she got bigger and stronger, an actual sippy and then an open cup was easy too.

Also, just some experience with milk. My daughter also had runny poos and nappy rash when we switched to cow's milk. It lasted like 2 weeks and also coincided with teething, so it's hard to know what really caused it. But then after that 2 weeks, she was totally fine and much prefers cow's milk to formula now. So it may be you just need to make a slower transition (over a couple months), especially if your LO otherwise eats dairy just fine in foods. It doesn't immediately sound like a dairy allergy or lactose intolerance (especially if you've been offering formula before this), so personally I wouldn't eliminate it without having a medical investigation. I think some doctors are too quick to push people off and say "avoid this" because it's easier than actually looking into it, doing testing, asking you to keep a food diary, etc. Also, just be careful about what almond milk you get. They are often loaded with added sugar unless you get the unsweetened kind.

 

[Ashley1021]

It is unfair that they don't let them have a bottle, because if a baby is still breastfed after one, they are allowed to have the bottle. He started having nasty poops for about two weeks after we mixed half and half, and it was terrible. We bought the unsweetened kind, and he loves it. The doctor really wants him off formula because he's gaining too much weight, but not getting taller. He's 29 pounds and 30 inches. He also isn't a fan of the straw cups. ��

 

[Disneyfan88]

We started the transition for DD with the Nuk learner cup. The silicone spout is bottle-like, and although she was very picky when it came to bottle nipples, she took to this sippy cup fairly easily. We use the taller version with the sippy spout for her before-bed milk, and then we brush her teeth afterwards. The sippy spouts are interchangeable with some of the Nuk silicone bottle nipples, too.

https://smile.amazon.com/Disney-Win...qid=1444030076&sr=1-8&keywords=nuk+sippy+cups

https://smile.amazon.com/NUK-Design..._sim_75_9?ie=UTF8&refRID=1QZW2H7QTGNDXCFMCN6B

DD drinks from straws and from my cups (with my help holding the cup). Those skills took a little longer to master, but she got better every time we offered it to her. I offer her water in a 10 oz Tervis cup with a lid and straw throughout the day. She loves Disney characters, and it excites her to use cups with the characters on them.