Toddlers don't need to stop drinking milk unless they have an intolerance or allergy. However, after 24 months, you can reduce the amount of milk they drink from three cups to two cups.
General guidelines for how much milk a child each should drink are: 2 – 3 cups per day for children 12-24 months; and 2 – 2½ cups per day for children 2–5 years old. For children over 5 years old, the daily recommendations are 2½ cups to age 8, and then 3 cups for ages 9-18.
Toddlers can get all the nutrition they need by drinking cow's milk or a fortified soy drink and eating a variety of solid foods. When your child is 2, you can switch to low-fat or nonfat milk. Between 12 and 18 months of age is a good time to move to a cup.
But by 12 months of age, most babies have the coordination and hand skills needed to hold a cup and drink from it. Age 1 is also when doctors recommend switching from formula to cow's milk. It can be a natural change to offer milk in a cup rather than a bottle.
According to experts, you should then start transitioning your child to a regular cup after they turn two. If you wait too long to transition from either a bottle or a sippy cup, your child can be at higher risk for tooth decay and obesity.
While some toddlers may still want milk right before going to bed (or even in bed) many sleep experts warn that giving in to these whims may encourage bad habits.
After your little one's first birthday, milk shouldn't continue to be part of his bedtime routine. When you drop the bedtime bottle, there's no need to replace it with anything. Milk before bed contributes to middle of the night wake ups and this is less than ideal.
Your first option is to simply throw away all the bottles. Then she will just have to put up with the cup if she wants milk. Your second option is to add something unpleasant tasting to the milk in the bottle, then give her a cup and explain that milk always tastes better in a cup.
To prevent your child from getting iron deficiency anemia or protein losing enteropathy, make sure they are drinking no more than the recommended daily amount of cow's milk. For toddlers, the recommended amount is about 250-500 mL, or 1-2 cups per day. Exceeding this amount can lead to problems.
Drinking too much milk can lead to picky eating, as we already discussed. It can also lead to iron-deficiency anemia. It is important to limit a toddler's milk to 2 cups per day or 16 ounces. When it comes to dairy, toddlers do not need more than 2-3 servings per day total.
Limit your child's cow's milk intake to no more than 500ml in 24 hours, and to reduce tooth decay avoid putting children to bed with a bottle of milk.
Healthy children over the age of 1 who have adequate nutrition intake during the day do not need to eat or drink overnight. In fact, children who drink milk between 7PM-6AM sleep less at night (1). If your 2+ year old child is asking for milk or food in the middle of the night it is most likely out of habit.
4-8 years – skim or low-fat dairy milk, up to two and a half cups a day. 9-18 years – skim or low-fat dairy milk, up to three cups a day.
Whether you bottle feed, breastfeed, or do a combination of the two, you'll eventually start to wonder: When is my child too old for a bottle? The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends phasing out bottles between 12 and 24 months of age1.
No worries, but don't wait too long. The American Academy of Pediatrics suggests saying bye-bye to the bottle before your baby is 18 months old. "I'd say definitely before age 2, but the sooner the better," says Keith T. Ayoob, EdD.
If your child doesn't like dairy products or alterna-milks, he or she can get protein from meats, fish, eggs, soy beans, and other beans. Fish with bones, such as salmon, sardines or herring, have calcium, as does broccoli.
Offer milk in a different way
Try offering milk in a different way. Sometimes the novelty of a new way of drinking milk is enough to convince him to give it another chance. A different temperature. if he typically drinks milk ice cold, offer it at room temperature or warm.
At What Age Should You Say Goodbye to the Bedtime Bottle? The first birthday! By the time your child is 12 months old, my best advice is to remove the bedtime bottle from your child's sleep routine even if they know HOW to self-soothe themselves into sleep and back into sleep throughout the night.
For toddlers over 12 months, they advise limiting the intake of cow's milk to no more than 500ml (2 cups) in 24 hours. Water should be the main drink from 12 months. For good nutrition, toddlers need at least 1½ serves of dairy foods per day. They also have specific requirements for calcium.
Offer milk (or something else to drink) in a cup at the beginning of the bedtime ritual -- before reading a story, taking a bath, or brushing her teeth. Reduce the amount she gets in her bottle a half ounce to an ounce a day until it is empty, then take the bottle away. Respond to requests for the bottle with hugs.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends making the switch from bottle to cup at around 12 to 18 months. Since toddlers have a habit of drinking milk at night and falling asleep without brushing their teeth, using the bottle for longer than necessary can lead to “bottle tooth decay”.
According to the AAP Pediatric Nutrition Manual, children are developmentally ready to give up sippy cups by 2 to 3 years of age.
You can use a gradual or an immediate approach to weaning off the bottle. It depends on what best suits you and your child. You could reduce one bottle at a time every few days, swapping the bottle with a cup each time. Some parents cut out day-time bottles first and leave night-time bottles until last.
Sugars and other food remnants in your mouth nourish these bacteria, especially while you sleep. Bacteria feed on the milk sugars that linger in your mouth, which can grow and cause cavities and tooth damage. Bacteria, especially if your child has baby teeth, can create acids that destroy tooth enamel.