No more bottles!!

When we went for Lola's 9-month checkup back in October, Dr. Burgert said he would like to see her finished with bottles by the time she turned 1 year old. I remember thinking that there was no way, it seemed so difficult and daunting to think about. When she turned 10 months I thought it seemed more daunting, and at 11 months I was thinking there was no way! She isn't a great eater so the bottles were providing her with a good portion of her nutrition. Plus, we had gotten into a pretty steady routine. She would have a bottle before her morning nap, before her afternoon nap, and before bed. She would lay on the boppy pillow and drink it. It almost seemed like her 'lovey'. I will say that she is pretty good with a sippy cup and with a regular cup, so that made it seem like it might be possible.

So around a week ago, we cut out her morning bottle. It went fine - we just replaced it with a sippy cup and a snack. But I remember thinking that it seemed like it might be more difficult to just cut out one bottle since she would still get one in the afternoon and evening, and it might upset her more. So on Tuesday at daycare, she had no bottles all day! They just gave her a sippy cup and snack mid-morning and mid-afternoon. Her teacher, Elaine, said she got grumpy when they made bottles for the other babies so they just gave her a sippy cup each time she freaked out about not getting a bottle. Tuesday night I decided to cut the night bottle since she hadn't had one all day anyway. I fed her dinner a little later so she would be full and gave her a sippy cup before bed. All went well!

Let me step back a minute and say that Ryan is completely freaked out by the fact we are cutting out bottles. He originally said he was upset because she is fairly skinny, she isn't a great eater, and he was worried she wouldn't get enough nutrition. I explained that we weren't just taking the bottle away and starving her! we were replacing it with a snack and a sippy cup of milk. He then (kind of) admitted that he was upset because this meant she wasn't a 'baby' anymore. He went on a rant about how she wasn't a 'baby' for very long - she started crawling at 7 months, walking at 9.5 months, and now she was not drinking out of a bottle anymore. It was pretty cute actually!

Yesterday was his day to stay home with her and I thought for sure he was going to cave and give her a bottle. But he didn't! He did blame her foul mood on the fact she didn't have a bottle, and it was probably true. He also blamed her short afternoon nap on that too. I think he is going to blame a lot of things on the lack of a bottle for the next few weeks... It's going to take her a little while to get out of her old routine. Good lord, I am horrible about routine. When my routine gets messed up I freak out! I think she probably inherited that from me. :)

Last night I packed up all the bottles, nipples, lids, and the bottle drying rack (which took up a large portion of our countertop). I looked over at the counter and felt a twinge of sadness...my little girl is growing up! I am excited to get my countertop back, but still a bit sad at the same time.

Ryan sent me this picture yesterday when I told him that her grumpy mood was probably a coincidence and had nothing to do with the lack of bottle before her nap. When we used to mix up her bottle, she would freak out and run to the boppy pillow and lay down. I think it may be time to put the pillow away too!