Cold Turkey

I have been saying throughout Caleb's entire infancy, that I would be taking the bottle away at 1 year.  This was not a maybe thing, but a for-sure-gonna-happen-no-question-about-it-thing.  Some encouraged me that it would work, while some gave me the "Yea Right" look.  Well, I am happy to say that it worked!! Less than one week after Caleb turned one, we are BOTTLE FREE!!!! How?  The cold turkey method.  I don't think this is one you can read in books, but it was more or less, a lets try it and see how it goes method.

 Here is what I did....

• Caleb has always been introduced to the sippy, and he used it to drink water daily.  I found a sippy he loved, and stuck to only that brand.
• At one week before one year, I started giving him his formula in the sippy for his daytime feedings.  His bedtime and morning milk were still given in a bottle.
• At one year, I started giving him his bedtime feeding in a sippy.
• 3 days after one year, I attempted the sippy for his morning milk.  IT WORKED.  Right then I said Bye-Bye bottles, and I cleaned and put them away for bundle.
• I started decreasing his milk feedings throughout the day after we said bye-bye to bottles.  Now he only gets a morning and a night sippy of milk or formula.  I still have used formula this week, because to be honest I have not been to the grocery store. 
• He eats snacks in place of his daytime bottle feedings.  There were only two feedings in which I had to supplement snacks, and that seems to be working great.
• Caleb does not take a middle of the night bottle.  I used the Baby Wise method around 5-6 weeks to help wean him off nighttime feedings, and I think he has only had one middle of the night feeding since 7 weeks.  I slowly decreased his milk by an ounce every night until he no longer wanted to eat. This only took about a week, and we have been night feeding free since then.  If he wakes up, I figure out what else he needs, because I know that a bottle in the middle of the night would be more out of habit than need, and I know he does not need it.  My little man eats like a champ during the day, and his little pot gut lets me know he is well fed. 

I am not the mom of the year, but I am very proud of my little man for giving up the bottle cold turkey.  The method/not really a method really does work!

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