Bye-Bye Bottle

When I went in for Gia's 12 month check-up, the doctor was adamant that I should wean Gianna off of the bottle as soon as possible.  So, being a first time mom, I listened and took away the first bottle.  But Gianna didn't like to drink milk out of the sippy, so I couldn't take away her other two because the doctor was also adamant that Gia get 24 onces of milk per day.

Well, two months rolled by, and Gianna was still on her nap-time and night-time bottles.  I had decided, the heck with our doctor, I was going to enjoy this time of feeding her a bottle.  I wasn't sure how or when we were going to wean her, but I wasn't in a rush.  Then, this past Monday, Gianna stopped drinking her milk with Kenna at nap-time.  And then she pushed the bottle away when Bobby fed her at night.  And then on Tuesday she wouldn't take the bottle from me, either.  The weekend before she had also started to really love drinking milk out of her sippy cup.  So, we figured that she had decided it was time to let go of the bottle and start using the sippy.  As you can see, she's adjusted well.

She likes to carry her sippy of water like a football at her side while drinking out of the sippy of milk.

No more pictures, please, Mom.

I cried at first when she gave up the bottle.  I mean, I had no warning!  I figured we would set a time to switch to the sippy, and then I could have like a week to get used to the idea and really charish those last few bottle feedings.  But we are quickly learning about our daughter that she does things when she's ready.  When she was ready to stop being swaddled, she just got her arms out of the wrap and slept free.  When she was ready to stop falling asleep with her milk while being rocked, she stayed awake and then put herself to sleep in the crib.  I don't need to worry about her giving things up (like the pacifier), because I know that when she's ready, that will be it.  She'll be done.

I thought that I was going to be really sad for a while when she gave up the bottle, but in fact, I think the times of reading to her before naps/bed are even sweeter.  She just leans against my chest, looks at the book with me, and helps me flip the pages.  It's sweet times of snuggling with each other (which doesn't happen often, or at least for very long).  I do feel like I'm letting go of her "babyhood" a bit, but each stage just gets better and better.  I look forward to when she'll be able to read the book to me :o)