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| taking portraits in Sabie |
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| a whole load of negotiation going on |
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| again, trying portraits, this time in Pilgrim's Rest |
My friend asked me about dummies on Saturday and I realised that not only are we off the dummies, but we are also off the bottles!
And I've forgotten to tell you about both of those very big milestones.
I think it's because I wait to see what the effect of it all is and if there are going to be any relapses and then I forget to blog it.
So I got this bee in my bonnet one day out of the blue.
Clicks had some bottles with straw attachments on special and I was in there for my "prescription" so I grabbed two.
I got home and suddenly had a brainwave.
I took out these nice, new bottles and made a Big Deal about the Lovely New bottles they had and said to them all (V was still working here), "from tomorrow we'll have our milk in these bottles. V will wash them tomorrow and put your milk in there, okay?"
And they were all, "ooh, thank you Mummy".
Well, the next evening, I put their milk in the clean bottles and said to V, "please hold this plastic bag while I pack ALL the bottles in there "for the kids who don't have any bottles""
(that's my thing when I want to give away or toss things - "there are kids who don't have any and we should give them these ones". It works beautifully - they now willingly tell me when they outgrow clothes, "Mummy, this is too tight. Please give it to the kids who don't have any clothes" Too sweet)
D was a bit horrified that I was going cold turkey but I figured if the bottles are actually not in the house then I won't be tempted to give in, nor will we be forced to lie about it.
I made V take the packet of bottles with her (I hope she kept some for her baby) and we all made a big production of waving "BYE" to V and the bottles.
The evening was fine as they were still high on the idea of giving (it is exciting, I will admit) but the next morning I woke because of all the screaming.
They didn't want to drink their milk from the sippy cups; they wanted the bottles.
D told them, "remember we gave your bottles to the kids who don't have any?"
Them "yessss.... but we want our bottles"
Anyway, it was obvious - you either have your milk in the sippy cup or you don't get milk.
Connor boycotted his milk for about 3 days and was grumpy as anything but we offered him a biscuit (ProVita) instead and that at least appeased his hunger .
And that was that.
I was sure to not make a big deal and just stay calm and I'd change the sippy cups so they had the ones that were easy to drink out of (turns out my cute bottles are terrible for milk - they are now water bottles only - so when they spill, it's only water).
D really was not convinced and wanted me to ease them into it but I said, "no way" and "no more bottles = less dishwashing for you" ---> that seemed to convince him quicker.
So there's the story.
This was late Feb/ early March because I remember we saw the nutritionist on 9 March and she told me I'm very brave for my "method", such that it is. I don't think it was brave; I just got annoyed with these bottles and when I get a notion in my head, that's it.
Otherwise, I'm sure they would have been on the bottles til they were 5 :)
Are your kids still on bottles? If not, when did you get rid of them and how did you do it? Eased them off it or sudden like me?
I am strict here as well. With my first- on his first birthday we threw out the bottles and the formula. He did great because he was such an easy going child. Prior to his first birthday I was diluting his formula with whole milk by about 2oz every week or so and by his first birthday it was time for 100% milk. He was at that point drinking water in the sippy- so we just got soft spouted sippies for the milk.
ReplyDeleteMy second child had severe reflex and had to stay on formula until 15 months old and couldn't drink whole milk at all- so he stayed on bottles until we were finally able to get soymilk to stay down- then bottles where gone.
My third- threw away the bottles a month after her first birthday. I would have done it sooner but we just moved and I didn't want to take them away during a move. She also didn't seem to care.
Our girls lost bottles around their first birthdays. I went cold turkey. I didn't have the counter space to give into their demands. Besides, they were still babies and couldn't fight me on it then! Bwhahahaha!
ReplyDeleteGosh, I am trying to remember what we did with the boys and will look back on the blog. The Princess was the easiest thing ever because she did it on her own somewhere between 9 and 10 months. She was drinking water from her sippy top on the bottles ( the avent soft sippy top) for a while. One morning she refused to breast feed - I then put formula ( which she was having during the day sometimes when my milk supply was low) and put it i her bottle. Nope, she refused and kept pointing at the sipp top on - so I just put it in there and that was the end of it.
ReplyDeleteThe dummies - different story
Ah, went to read back and it was super easy too. Gradually introduced the sippy tops until at 13 months we were off the bottles.
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ReplyDeletePS forgot to mention... they'd been drinking everything in sippy cups but absolutely refused milk. One time I spoke to Dr S about it and he said it was part of their bedtime routine and if that was the worse problem I had, then really, there was nothing to worry about. Even if they had the bottles til they were 5.
ReplyDeletelol
Both girls stopped bottles at a year. I breastfed both till 6/7 months so neither were very attached and they were never allowed a bottle in bed. Older children with dummies give me the creeps I'm afraid. Zoe gave hers away when she turned 2 and thankfully Ava never even had a dummy. I think cold turkey is the way to go and we've done it with everything so far - bottles, dummy, nappies, cots,etc.
ReplyDeleteAt 22 months, we are still doing the passies or dummies (LOVE that you call it that! So cute!) I would like to just toss them (and so would the babysitter, from my guess), but my husband seems to not be in any hurry. Anytime they whine in the slightest, he's quick to grab a passie. I may work on it this summer when I am home with them.
ReplyDeleteWe went from formula to whole milk around a year. Even at around 14 months, they were very reluctant to use a sippy cup. We tried a TON of different ones. Eventually they started using the straw ones. About February we switched over to the regular sippy and also we use Tommy Tippee cups that have a spout on them like a water bottle. They LOVE those! I was sooooo happy to stop washing the bottles!
About the hair clip organizer, check this out http://shedoeshair.blogspot.com/search/label/Organization She uses a clear shoe organizer on the back of a door, and also she has a tackle box for the rubber bands.
Nicola still gets a bottle for bed but none during the day. I know we have to let it go but I'm dreading the fallout.
ReplyDeleteKendra had a passie until she was 4 months old, but otherwise only breast fed. But then she got bigger and talked while she ate, so I started doing bottles on the occasions we went out in public. She continued to breastfeed until I got pregnant with Vannan. At which point, I just gave her bottles - although she had sippy cups as well. ... On her 2nd birthday, we went cold turkey, boxed the bottles, she was fine, until that night, she wanted a bottle to sleep with (water only). After 2 restless nights and very whiny days, we caved and went and got her a new Pacifier. She was asleep in 5 minutes flat and slept all night, never once stopping sucking on that pacifier. ... Once she passed her 3rd birthday, I put her pacifiers on a set of links attached to her bed, she had to be in the bed to use them. Sometimes she would take them off and loose them, eventually she lost the last one - (I really mean she lost them, we would eventually find them under couches and in a drawer - remember she didn't want to get caught with it off of her bed, and she would hide them!) ... so before her 4th birthday she was off pacifiers.
ReplyDeleteVannan hated pacifiers and bottles. She breastfed only until she was past 2, and wasn't overly upset when I tried to wean her. She was doing cups by 9 months.
Joel was similar to Vannan, but he did take bottles once in a while. But since he was never attached, he was only drinking from sippy cups by 9 months. He nursed until after his 2nd birthday.
Ruezy had a pacifier because of the car accident. But she much preferred breast feeding, and since I was willing, bottles and pacifiers were shunned most of the time. I finally coaxed her to start using cups around a year old, occasionaly she finds her passies and sucks them for a while (in the dolly bucket). And at 2 1/2, she's still nursing at night.
I'm posting a comment - woohoo!
ReplyDeleteI got my boy off bottles real early I think, after I realised that other kids his age were still having bottles. After solids he lost interest in milk very quickly, so hardly had any. Before he turned two (not sure when exactly) he had already stopped taking the night bottle, and only had a morning one. I just replaced it with a sippy cup one day - which he was already using for water in any case, but soon after that stopped giving him that milk too. This was all probably just before he turned two.
The dummy on the other hand.... He has always only gotten it for naps and night time. And when he was smaller to calm him. Now he only gets it for the night - but in the past couple of weeks he has grown very attached to the thing. I hate it! I can see we are going to have a lot of rouble getting rid of it. He has been asking for it at odd times too, and some morning will not let go of it.
I agree with your method and have done it like this with my kids as well. Going cold turkey and milk in a sippy cup or nothing at all. My hubby was just like yours - soft and wanted to ease into it but I wanted nothing to know about that. It worked and that's what matters.
ReplyDeleteAh the great bottle tale! I eased the bigger two out of them - stopping the day ones first and then the night ones - then we went from bottles to sports bottles and they stayed there for ages.
ReplyDeleteJack is still on the bottle - he takes the sippy cup and a straw cup but sleep time he needs the bottle! Will see what happens!
You were brave!
I like the Connor portrait.
ReplyDeleteBoth my kids just lost interest in their dummies. Can’t even remember when exactly it happened – I do know that it was before they turned 1.
Child1 was very easy with the bottle thing. One day I just told him that it’s broken and we can’t buy anymore. I think that it helped that he didn’t use it for bedtime. It was ONLY used during the day and ONLY for milk. I think he just turned 3 when it happened.
Child2 was terrible with that bottle. I showed him one day that it’s broken (he used to bite holes in those teats and I wasn’t going to spend any more money on it) and I explained that the shops no longer stocked them. He BATTLED for days. But, eventually it was OK. It took a while though and I think he struggled because he used it for bedtime. One day (maybe 2 weeks after he’d gone cold turkey) I caught him trying to drink another baby’s bottle at Church. I was mortified! I do wish that I’d eased him off it though – his personality is such that cold turkey distresses him tremendously.
I’m generally all for doing it RIGHT NOW – you know I’m very instant gratification? But I do think that one needs to know WHO your child is before you decide which method will work. Though I can see that this might be complicated for you because there are two of them.
LOL! These are the things I see my children struggling with. Leane and Dewan went off bottles when he was 18 months. Lukas' bottles were given to the dogs to destroy and he sometimes bribes his Oupa to give him his "pink melkies" in a bottle we still have at our house.
ReplyDeleteLOL! You think you are strict! The boys haven't had bottles since they were about 9 months old. They got a stomach virus and had already been used to juice in sippy cups and not bottles, so with the stomach bug, I was giving them Pedialyte in sippy cups all the time. They were not allowed any food or milk. Poor things. By the time they were allowed to have milk and solids again, I put the milk in a sippy cup and they didn't think anything of it. Three days had gone by with nothing but cups, so it was just normal at that point. I think they were also happy to have their milk back, LOL!
ReplyDeleteMine were biting the nipples off, making them spill. Once all the nipples were gone, we just stopped.
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