When to stop giving milk

awec

At what age do toddlers tend to stop taking milk during the day, every day?

Our 15 month old would quite happily go all day without any bottles at this stage, and with her meals and snacks she drinks water. Food wise she eats brilliantly, we've no issues in that department.

We still send a bottle to creche, but it's more out of habit than her actually wanting it. She'd happily eat a bowl of fruit or pretty much anything for a snack, rather than specifically wanting a bottle. At weekends when she's not at creche we don't tend to give her one.

Are we supposed to give milk still? Is there a recommendation here? I googled but most of the results were about trying to get them off the bottle when they still want bottles, which is not what I'm after.

margo321

I don't know but my eldest around that age jusy started getting attached to bottles and started drinking more and more to where her appetite for food decreased. i will try get rid of bottle earlier on next baby.

Charles Ingles

Keep giving her milk as long as she loves it.
Maybe time to switch her over to a beaker or sippy cup

Sono

Our 14 month old gets a bottle in the morning and then at night, no bottle during the day just water, I do think she misses the bottle during the day but she eats enough to make up for it.

Hoping to get her off formula soon onto cows milk if possible, could be tricky.

salmocab

Mines the same age as yours awec, seem to remember discussing it on the rugby forum, she’s down to one bottle before bed and we plan to finish that up in a month or so after holidays. She really only gets it as a prompt that it’s bed time.

awec

We gave her a bottle before bed but for about the past month she hasn’t needed it.

Been on cows milk for about two months now.

She’ll take the bottle if we give it to her, it’s more that she’s stopped asking for it during the day. If its fine for them to not take at least one bottle a day we’ll just stop giving her one and just give her a sippy cup of milk now and again instead.

Loveinapril

I thought you had to give a certain amount of milk for calcium. My son is 17 months and has about 14 oz of cow's milk in a 24 hour period, usually about 7oz in a cup in the morning and 7oz in a bottle in the evening.

salmocab

If she’s not looking for it I’d be dropping it, let her have some milk during the day from s sippy cup. Less hassle with cleaning bottles too.

Sono

awec wrote: »

We gave her a bottle before bed but for about the past month she hasn’t needed it.

Been on cows milk for about two months now.

She’ll take the bottle if we give it to her, it’s more that she’s stopped asking for it during the day. If its fine for them to not take at least one bottle a day we’ll just stop giving her one and just give her a sippy cup of milk now and again instead.

Any tips for getting them onto cows milk?

Tried it this morning and it was an epic fail!

awec

Sono wrote: »

Any tips for getting them onto cows milk?

Tried it this morning and it was an epic fail!

We just started mixing formula and cows milk, gradually reducing the amount of formula. Took a few weeks.

She never refused it at any point so we probably could have gone faster, but we just played it safe. Didn’t want to upset her stomach or anything; not sure if that’s even a thing though.

Sono

awec wrote: »

We just started mixing formula and cows milk, gradually reducing the amount of formula. Took a few weeks.

Will give this a go thanks.

michellie

Sono wrote: »

Any tips for getting them onto cows milk?

Tried it this morning and it was an epic fail!

I gradually reduced the formula by 1oz and added 1oz of cows milk each day. Completely on cows milk since 12 months, she drinks 2 bottles a day now 7am and 7pm and eats all day long, she doesnt stop eating lol

Sono

michellie wrote: »

I gradually reduced the formula by 1oz and added 1oz of cows milk each day. Completely on cows milk since 12 months, she drinks 2 bottles a day now 7am and 7pm and eats all day long, she doesnt stop eating lol

Sound like you’re describing my daughter!!

jlm29

As far as I remember, the recommendation is to stop using bottles from about 12 months.
If she will drink the milk from a cup, give it to her that way instead. If she won’t (none of my kids would ever drink milk once it stopped coming out of boobs or bottles), then she doesn’t have to have it, once she has plenty calcium in her diet.

Digs

Yep just to echo others once past 12 months there’s no need to give it to them. They should be getting sufficient calcium from a varied diet (milk in a cup if she’s interested is one angle, cheese & yoghurts etc also). So if she’s not looking for it you can avoid the battle some have of getting the bottle off them!

awec

Excellent, we'll just call it quits so and save the hassle of having to have clean bottles!

She'd eat her own body weight in yoghurt if she was allowed so no concerns about calcium.

Anne_cordelia

Loveinapril wrote: »

I thought you had to give a certain amount of milk for calcium. My son is 17 months and has about 14 oz of cow's milk in a 24 hour period, usually about 7oz in a cup in the morning and 7oz in a bottle in the evening.

Not really. There are lots of sources of calcium that’s not from dairy - broccoli, beans, lentils, seeds. Lots of dairy free and vegan children are perfectly healthy