Advice on Weaning Baby from Bottle/formula

I don't think you MUST wean her completely off the bottle at 1...there is no magic number. I mean she is still young and there is no harm in letting her still have a bottle from time to time as it soothes her and it does allow her to get the milk or formula she needs/wants. My son is almost 15 months and takes a cup/sippy cup at "school" (what I call day care) all day...he uses a sippy cup with his meals at home as well. Before bed I do offer him a bottle (we finally got him to not want the breast before bed) and occasionally in car rides we also offer a bottle as it's less mess than a sippy cup.

Why do you want to wean her from the bottle? Without that question being answered, I can't help much here. I guess that I would suggest you let her keep using the bottle until she shows signs of disinterest in it. Have you tried a sippy cup with organic milk(not Horizon brand--something truly organic) whole milk? It is okay to offer her a sippy cup while she is taking a bottle. Give her a really boring bottle and a really decorative sippy cup with handles. She will make her choice and at that age, probably begin gravitating toward the sippy cup.

My daughter is on second step completley after about ten months of nursing her. It took a little while before she would take the bottle, we just tried every other day until she would take it. Now she loves it and so do I. I miss nursing but am glad to be done and have my boobs back. We are trying to get her to take whole milk now, she is 11 and a half months old and doing great. She is not too keen on the whole milk but I will keep on trying until she loves it, adding chocolate or strawberry as a last resort.

I agree with some of the other mothers who say it is easier to wean now when she is young, although it doesn't hurt to wait another month or two. As they get closer to two they get more set in their ways which makes it harder for them to change. Not all children do not decide to give up the bottle on their own! I seen more than one child walking around with a bottle past the age of 2. It isn't good for their teeth. When I weaned my first child I found it was harder on me than it was on him. Good luck!

My advice would be to get her switched to milk, then worry about the bottle. What my ped. suggested was to do 3/4 formula, 1/4 milk the first day, mixed together...then 1/2 formula and 1/2 milk, and so on...of course, let how fast you go down depend on your girl. Then after she's done with formula, start her on a sippy cup...I started my son out with a flexible spout, it was kinda like a bottle. Honestly he didn't have any troubles going with the sippy. This way, it's less likely to be too big of a change all at once.

Good Luck!

We weaned our first son now 2 1/2 at a year. I am glad we did because he didn't even seem to notice. The older they get the more they have an opinion. With him we started introducing the sippy cup with solid food at 5 months, then gradually switched out the bottle for a sippy until all of his feedings were in a sippy cup. He had his last bottle the night before he turned one.

We used the second step formula & liked it. Our daughter drinks soy due to a lactose issue. We used the second step formula from about 1.5 years to about 2.5 years. In the end, we only used the formula at night.

I put the formula in a cup for the highchair, so that all meals of solid food were served w/ a cup. From there we changed the before bed bottle with a cup. We used the Avent bottles & they have a sippy cup attachement/conversion.

It all depends on your child. My son is very strong willed and stubborn. As harsh as it sounds, the "cold turkey " approach worked best for us. It was also helpful for a non-parent to do most of the weaning (in our case Grandma). She had him weaned from bottle to a regular cup (not a sippy) in 3 days! I was worried that he would refuse to drink and get dehydrated (it was summer time) but the doctor said his body would overrule his stubbornness and he would drink before that happened (and he was right).

Why wean at one? Is this a magic number? Bottles are comforting to babies and a one year old is still quite a baby. You can easily "wean" her when she shows an earnest interest in using a sippy cup.

Try to let go of the idea that there is a date and time when a baby should be weaned. Keep in mind that babies all over the world nurse until they are two years old. A bottle is as comforting to some babies as nursing ~ why take comfort away?

My son was 6 weeks premature and has been a little behind developmentally, but he's pretty much caught up now. I'm sure you're daughter is pretty much caught up as well. However, I just started weaning my son to whole milk this last week. He takes a 7 oz bottle of formula, so I mix 6 oz formula and 1 oz milk. I'd do that for about 3-4 days and then 5oz formula/2oz milk, etc, etc. Once he's completely on whole milk, I'll work on taking away the bottle. With my older two I went cold turkey and just took the bottle away completely. My son right now drinks juice from his sippy, but is a little more picky about his milk! :) They're all different, but everything is about exposure! I have never used the second step formula so I can't help you out there. I'd say just go to whole milk and then you don't have to mess with mixing formula anymore. I don't know about anyone else, but I'm certainly getting tired of it after a year! :)

Congratulations on your little girl and Happy Birthday to her!

I have 5 children and I must say that weaning each child was a little different. I breastfed all of them for differing amounts of time. My last child very rarely had a bottle. But, my other children seemed to get tired of the bottle the more that I offered them a sippy cup or something similiar. I think that a lot of the cups that they have now still need the "sucking" action to get the fluid out, so in a sense, I think it makes the transition easier. I was never one to say that on a first birthday the bottle should be gone, but I do know mothers that have done this. I guess I was lucky that just my offering a cup more often was enough for my kids. There were older than one year when they were completely done with the bottle, however. Maybe 18 months at the latest. I think that I did do a little bit of "oh no, your bottle is broken" stuff, like cut off the nipple of the bottle, etc. That worked too.

Maybe since your daughter was premature she should have a little more time anyway.

As far as the second step formula... my sister has a daughter that is lactose intolerant and used the second step formula in her sippy cups until she thought she was ready for regular soy milk. She thought that it was great.

I hope I have helped a little. Good luck!!!

I breast fed for 9 months. My son weaned himself. Instead of going to formula (my son had never had it), I checked with my doc and we went right to cow milk. No problem. I mixed my milk and cow milk in the bottle for about a week.

My twin girls turned 1 last Wednesday and have been off of the bottle for about 2 weeks now (they were 6 weeks premature). For the month prior to being completely weaned, I put gave them sippi-cups instead of the bottle at the regular bottle times. The only time I gave them a bottle was at bed time. We just had them sit in the kitchen before our nightly bath and gave them a sippi-cup of milk to drink. When we were done with baths, we just rocked them to sleep. They never even missed having the bottle. I think it helped that we slowly took the bottle away during the day first.

If she has been using a cup it should be pretty easy. Just remove one bottle feeding at a time or go cold turkey. I have not used the 2nd step formula-just went to whole milk.

My daughter is 14 months and we are in the weaning process. I have been slowly diluting the formula. Right now, we are down to 5oz water to 1/2 scoop formula. Our doctor told us that it was ok to keep giving her water before bed because she might need that comfort to calm down/unwind from the day. She said to switch her to a cup when we get there but to keep working on it. Im hoping to have her off the formula by the end of the can. My first daughter was so easy and she was off bottles at 12 months. I think every child is different and needs different things. I do daycare and my second child is more needy. She is only on a bottle before nap/bed. I think for her these are times when she can sit with me and have some alone time. Take your time and dont worry about when she is done with the bottle. She might need a little more time since she was premature.

When I weaned my children I started giving them water/juice/formula in a sippy cup during meal time and during the day. When they used the sippy cup well. I gave them a sippy cup instead of breadfeading them in the morning/naptime/bedtime. I started with naptime then bedtime and lastly morning. It was a slow progression over a couple of months. That worked really well for my children.