bottle countdown
I’m not exactly sure how it happened since the transition was so gradual and unforced, but we are down to one bottle a day. First we had made it down to three a day, early morning and after each of the naps. The post-morning nap bottle was only 4 oz so it was easy to just eliminate and replace with a sippie-cup of milk with lunch. Then we were down to two, early morning and post-afternoon nap. All it took was gradually offering them a cup of warmed milk after their afternoon nap. Logan moved much quicker and I had even decided to not worry about Forest and just keep giving him the bottle but one day he took the cup with no problem so I just went with that. Now I can offer them a cup of milk at each meal, after snacks and naps and they do really well.
I got rid of the before bedtime bottle months and months ago on advice of those pesky “sleep experts”, so the morning bottle became the fill in as “favorite.” I’m really in no hurry to eliminate the early morning one after doing some research. We’ve considered it to make it easier when the boys are with just one person. I can attest to early mornings when Brad is out of town and worrying just how it was all going to go down but really it’s only gone crazy like once with them both waking at the same time, every other time it’s been one at a time and manageable. And now that we’ve got Forest (finally!) sleeping in his bed ALL NIGHT and ALL MORNING, yay!
So anyway, back to the subject - we are now at one 8 oz bottle in the morning and 8-16 oz in sippie-cups throughout the rest of the day. The reasons for getting children “off bottles” by this age aren’t issues for us since the boys don’t suck on the bottles all day or get to carry them around. They understand sippie-cups and use them. The morning bottle is about comfort and cuddles and Brad and I both agree that we enjoy it as much as they do. I know, insane right? To realize that you worked so hard for 5 months to get your kids to sleep through the night on their own - under all sorts of circumstances - but the 5 am bottle is ok because it fulfills our need for baby time. But there it is.
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it is funny, the morning thing, huh? i almost look forward to the waking because of the snuggles, but as long as it is after 5. the bottle thing is something i think about but not stress about. i marvel that they are down to five a day as it is. remember those early days with 12 feedings per day each? yow! the boys are not really into the ’sippy’ cup they would rather hold it upside down, thank god it is leak proof. when did you notice your boys really transitioning to the cup? just wondering. by the way, i am enjoying finding other twin blogs through your links. there are some great ones. thanks, dawn.