No more Bottles for B-Boy

I waited to share this news with you to be sure that it was working.

At the time of our 11 month meeting with his teachers, B-Boy was getting two bottles a day. The first was in the morning when he woke. The second was in the evening, right before bed. At daycare, he drinks from a cup.

At the meeting, his teacher mentioned that since he was drinking so well from the cup that we should go ahead and stop the bottles. We immediately stopped the morning one. I missed the morning cuddle, but B-Boy seemed to make that transition pretty well, consuming many a pancake instead.

He remained getting one bottle a day, right before bed for two reasons. First, I really enjoyed the last moment of cuddle time with him. It was the one time of the day that B-Boy would get snuggley and we would have some quality time together. Second, I had several business trips in October and November. I didn't want Neb to have to deal with the transition or any possible negative repercussions, with me out of town, so we decided to wait.

Last weekend, we decided it was time to stop the bottle. I admit, I thought it would be a difficult process. Thankfully, I was wrong. On Friday, I gave him a bath, got him dressed, read him a story and gave him a pacifier. I neared the crib and baby boy leaned toward it, clearly ready to go to sleep. I obliged and put him in... B-Boy grasped the extra pacifiers in the crib and proceeded to fall fast asleep.

He has done this every night for the past 9 days. We got lucky, he made the trasition really easy for us. His teachers were right, he was ready to get off the bottle.

We also stopped the Soy formula, and started him on Lactose-free milk (Lactaid). He is making that transition really well too. We have struggled with his milk allergy, and have had to go back to the Soy Formula several times. If the Lactaid doesn't agree with him we will try Soy milk. Fingers crossed that this goes as well as the transition off the bottle!

Another milestone he passed? At daycare, they were finally able to turn his crib around so that one side is open. That did not go so well the last time, but last week they tried again. One day, he was misbehaving (a sure sign he is tired!) and so his teacher opened the door to the classroom so he could go back inside. He crawled to his crib, put his pacifier in his mouth, crawled in and lay down to take a nap. He has slept with one wall open ever since. YAY! That should make the transition to the cot a lot easier in his new class room.

The last item we will need to transition off will be the pacifier. I don't think any of us are ready for that, and daycare has said we should target around 18 months of age to have him stop using it. Yikes. I trust their advice, they have guided us well up to this point. It will be here before we know it, but I for one don't want to rush that one.