My 10 1/2 mos. old son will be 1 yr. in a few short weeks & I'm trying to set things up so I can begin weaning him at that time. He breastfeeds about 4x a day. My dilemma is we've been lax on giving him a bottle the past few mos (he used to take one, no problem), hence he rejects it. For 2+ mos. I've given him a sippy cup w/ water a few x a day. He really hasn't taken to it and I'm surprised when I see him take 2-3 sucks off it. We've tried breastmilk in a sippy cup. The breastmilk tends to get wasted & I end up breastfeeding him. Realizing in a few weeks I am going to be transitioning to whole milk and need a way to get approx. 16 oz a day in him (as per his pediatrician), do I focus on getting him back on a bottle or getting him to take the sippy cup? He also has been drinking sips of water out of a cup at each meal for 2+ mos, but it is a giant mess. I just want to focus on what is realistic. By the way, I do have my husband or mom give him breastmilk in a bottle and sippy, not myself. Thank you!
I'd say go to a sippy cup. Its an easier transition to a big cup. My first born held on to his bottle after breast till age 2. My 2nd one went straight to a sippy from the breast and is on a cup at age 21months. They'll do what you lead them to
J.,
I think you are going to get some moms with strong opions on putting him directly onto a sippy cup and other moms who say he is still young enough to be weined onto a bottle but what I think you need to do is what you and your little boy can do with as less stress on you two as possible.
Yes, you are supposed to no longer give a bottle after a year but some children just are not ready. I always weined from the breast to a bottle because my children really found comfort in sucking and being held. Try using the BreastFlow bottle, it is designed by lactaion consultants and it was the only bottle my second child would take. Weining from a bottle has proven to be a lot less stressful than weining from the breast for us. If you choose to go with a sippy cup just remember to give him lots of cuddle time just as you would while nursing. Good Luck!
One of my kids hated the sippy cup, but when I gave him one of those kid cups with the straw, he was thrilled. I think the sippy cup was too much work, and he could get to his milk faster thru the straw. I had one that was box shaped, so I could squeeze it to teach him how to suck out of it. I just sat him up (he was just over 1 yr old) and placed the straw in his mouth and sqeezed until a little milk came out - then he would suck that up, and it took a couple of days before I could just hand him the straw-box. It was great at restaurants too, because they would bring him milk in a cup - just like big sister!! Look for the Rubbermaid Litterless Juice Box - Amazon sells them - Target used to.
Neither of my babies would take bottles at all--both went right to sippy cups. The only issue we had was getting them to realize that the sippy cup was for drinking and not just for chewing. So we got the kind with the removable insert (the part that keeps it from leaking). We took out the insert for a while so the liquid flowed freely and they got the idea that there was good stuff in there. When they got the sucking idea down, then we put the inserts back in. It worked for us.
My son never would drink from a bottle. Out of desperation, my husband gave him a sippy cup at 5 months with breast milk. We have not regretted that choice. There was no weaning from the bottle and he has the straightest front teeth. We also used goat's milk for the first year for allergy purposes.
Definitely find something that works for your son. Maybe add just a hint of juice to the water for a little flavor to get him to favor the sippy cup. Also realize that weaning at a certain time (12 months) may take a little longer than you think and want. Work on it in terms of feedings per day. 4, then 3, then 2, then 1. Forcing it will most likely make the cup versus bottle issue even worse. You want to keep your little hydrated.
sippy cup or why not just keep breast feeding?
I wanted to wean my first daughter off the breast with a bottle. My doctor said NO!! The bottle is just another thing you will have to wean your son off. It is best just to go straight to some kind of cup. I did breastfeed my daughter until she was about 16 months though. It was nice though not to have to wean her off of a bottle too.
J.,
I don't recommend weaning him to a bottle, because then you'll find yourself having to wean him from that down the road, which will be MUCH harder, as he will be a headstrong toddler. Drinking from a regular cup is far too difficult for a child this age. Try various sippy sups; you'll eventually figure out which one he likes best. I agree that the straw cups are great. When he's older he may like the traditional kind with the handles (which are great for carrying along on outings).
I would focus on the bottle for his milk for now. It's much easier to get the stuff out of the bottle than a sippy cup. I would continue to give him water/juice in a sippy cup to get him used to it. I know some people take the bottle away when their kids turn one, but my daughter took her milk in a bottle until she was 2 and it worked great for us.
I used this method with both of my children and it worked really well. When it came time to transition to milk I eliminated my midday breastfeeding and gave them a sippy cup of milk. After about a week I did this with the morning feeding. The last feeding that I transitioned from breast to cup was the nightime feeding. I started by giving the cup of milk to the child with dinner and then I had them finish the cup while rocking and reading a story. Over time they began to finish the entire cup with dinner which paved the way towards eliminating liquids after dinner for potty training purposes. I decided to go straight to the cup with milk so that I wouldn't have to wean them twice. My children were also supplimented with a bottle once in awhile when I was breastfeeding, but since there was never a strong attachment to the bottle I thought it better not to start one:) This method helped ease both of us into the transition and made it so that my milk dried up gradually, so that I did not become engorged. Good Luck!
Hi J.,
I'm another advocate for the straw cup. None of my 4 ever went to a sippy cup. They were just confused by it. And with the cons of dental damage going through my head, I just opted for the straw cup. They all learned very quickly at 1 year old how a straw works. We just started with putting a straw in a cup of liquid, covering the top of the straw with a finger so the liquid wouldn't run out, and then giving them the other end to suck on while slowly letting the liquid out. It actually taught them very quickly that sucking on that strange thing gave them a drink. I may get some flack about this from other moms, but it was super easy for them to learn when there was something in there like a soda of some kind. However, our family really doesn't drink sodas much at all, so I've never actually put any in their straw cups for actual drinking. I do feel like straw cups are better for the teeth and much easier for the clean-up, as long as you can find one that doesn't leak. We tried our fair share of sippy cups, but the one that seems to work for us every time is the Playtex brand, and we use the "insulated sport" ones so things stay colder longer. Of course I always have to throw in a disclaimer, though. I really believe it's all individual, and in the grand scheme of things it really doesn't matter if your baby transitions to a straw/sippy cup at 12 months, 14 months, 15 months, whatever. It's just not at the top of my list of things to stress about! Good luck and God bless.
If he's nursing, I would recommend sippy/straw cup as well. My little one never took to a bottle, so sippy was easier.
I'd have to second the cup with a straw. My son just turned 11 months & @ 6 months refused a bottle from anyone.
So I thought I'd try the sippy cup, hoping like you, when the 12month rolled around I'd be able to give him his milk in a sippy cup, but he just sat there and chewed on the spout. I discussed with my ped. and she recommended not even using the sippy cup, stating that the sucking mechanism is totally different than breast feeding and the babes usually just get really frustrated.
of course they recommended going directly to a cup. Yeah right, my son just likes to tip it over and suck on the bottom. So our chiropractor recommended the straw cups and they work wonders. He recommended to start with a really short straw and put something sweet on the tip to get them sucking. Once they realize something comes up, its all history from there. & this worked the 1st time with my son.. although he still gets a puzzled look when milk (breast or formula) comes out and only takes a few sips but we are working on it. He does drink juice and water perfectly fine from the straw cups!!!
