Working Mom - Advice on Weaning and Switching from Bottles to Cups

We're working on the same thing - I started with bottles of 1/2 cow's milk, 1/2 breastmilk, slowly decreasing the amount of breastmilk. He's now getting about 90% cow's milk (I'm still pumping a little at work so use that for his bottles). We've also just introduced straw cups (Playtex Twist and Click are our favorite but the Nuby ones are good too), and have been giving him juice/water mix in those. I hope to transition to all cups (no bottles) over the summer. I figured one big change at a time was enough for us (breastmilk to cow's milk first), but hope to be on cow's milk and straw cups by the end of the summer.

I say if she's interested in her sister's cup try a different type of cup w/ her. My 2 year old was about 6 months old when he picked up his cousin's sippy cup and drank out of it and never touched a bottle again now we are working on an open cup he uses one fine at playgroup but we are only doing them outside at home because he plays with them.

Milk tastes and feels different from breast milk and/or formula. When I switched my daughter I gradually mixed in a small amount of whole milk each day over a week or two, gradually increasing the amount of whole milk, to get her used to the different flavor and texture. I don't think she ever realized that there was a change.

I went with a gradual approach with my son as well. He was already drinking water from a cup, so when I was ready to transition him to whole milk, I first started by replacing nursing or bottles with a cup of breast milk. Then I would add in an ounce of whole milk with the expressed milk. After a few days, I would add in a little more whole milk and a little less expressed milk, and he never had a problem with the transition. I still nursed him in the morning and at night and during the day, he had milk in a cup with his meals. If she does resist, it might take a few tries for her to learn that this is the way it is now, but it shouldn't take long! Good luck!!

I remember struggling with exactly that same question when my little one was turning one last summer. A slight difference was that I had also been using formula since about 9-10 months as I wasn't producing enough milk for her needs by then and she had stopped nursing except for one feed first thing in the AM.

Anyway, I think what we did was a combination approach. At meals, I would give her a different sippy (she always has a water sippy out all day within reach) with whole milk, In her bottles, since I was already mixing formula and EBM, I replaced formula with cow's milk.

I don't recall her ever balking at it - I agree that those three things are completely different (EBM, cow milk & formula) so my guess was that she just thought of them as new drinks.

NOw I still pump but only twice a day for a total of 2-3oz, which I mix with whole milk for her pre-bedtime bottle. Yes I know it's time to start getting her off the bottle since she's almost two but she just has two a day - one before her nap and one before bed.

Hope that helps, congrats on breastfeeding so long and good luck! I am sure she will be fine.