Weaning from the Boob...

We're going through this with our 10.5 mo daughter. We've been trying to wean for 6 weeks now, and she just goes without. Not good. :( I have finally found she will do water from a Born Free cup or an Avent trainer cup with no valve in it. For formula, I mix 4 ounces of Kefir with 2 scoops formula and add water so it's pourable, maybe an ounce. She'll drink that from an open cup. The first few days were lots of changes of outfits, but now she can drink from the cup with no problem. We just hold her and offer the cup. We sometimes give her an open cup of water to experiment with herself. She does also like Pediasure, but I haven't heard back from the doctor yet on whether or not that's okay. We use the strawberry flavor for both. I hope this helps. I know it's frustrating. :) Our daughter also is only nursing about 5 or 6 minutes and she does need more. I give her the cup after nursing. She occasionally will take the Haberman bottle made buy Medela, but only from my husband, and if she's in the mood. She did take a bit of Kefir in it from me yesterday, but not enough to be worth the hassle of using and cleaning a bottle. GL! I'll be checking back to see what other moms say to see if we can get more progress, too! As a side note, my dd used to take a bottle, too. :)

I would suggest that you ditch the bottle. You don't want to have to wean him from than in a few months (experts say babies shouldn't drink from a bottle much past one year since it contributes to tooth decay). It would be easier in the long run to teach him to drink from a cup. And I don't mean a sippy - a regular cup, small with handles is best. At the advice of the WIC counselors (child nutrition program) I taugh my babies to drink from a cup starting at 6 months, and they had it pretty well down by a year old. Juice, cow's milk (once they were a year) and everything but water and formula came from a cup, not a bottle (my younger 2 were exclusively breastfed, never had a bottle at all).

With the move, you're going to find he'll want to nurse more again. Big changes usually cause some regression in young kids. But keep teaching him the cup, and restrict nursing to bedtime if you want. Then you can gradually start taking that away. Some kids practically wean themselves -my child #2 did this a 11 months - just was too busy to nurse for more than a few minutes at a time. It almost sounds like your son may be doing the same thing. Other kids need mom to wean them - my #3 was like that. If that's the case, you're going to have to put up with a few nights of crying and grumpiness, but they get past it just fine.

It might be easier with the move to keep breastfeeding, it will really comfort him and help him feel safe in his new environment. If he is showing interest in real food you might have someone offer that while you are at work, and that is the way I weaned my first son, just taking away a feeding at a time. He might be sucking faster now that he is older too, and babies do stop growing quite so rapidly after the first year.

Do not force a bottle at this point, he is so close to one and after that it can become a bad habit to break. Do strawed cups, try some milk and you can get toddler formula to supplement him for the next month or two. After the year mark he should be getting what he needs nutritionally from solid foods, three meals a day and snacks. He has changes enough just stopping and sounds like he is weaning himself. Just add more solids to his diet, even what you are eating with every meal. Exposing him to different textures and flavors now will help prevent him being picky.
Just do not start the bottle if he doesn't want it consider yourself lucky. My son at 10 mos was off baby food completely and ate what we did, he did not want baby food. He was drinking from straws at that point and didn't care for sippies much.
My kids loved the fun strawed cups, he will not starve himself, he instinctively will eat if hungry.
Do not start the bottle now though. If you need to still pump then offer it in a sippy or strawed cup. Try whole milk for him too and ask your pediatrician about supplementing with formula for the next month until he hits a year. Both of my kids were off formula and bottles on their first birthdays.
With moving, new changes coming up the best thing is for him to just go straight past the bottle stage.

La Leche league has a great book on weaning-- One thing I remember most from it was that when you want to start weaning, you don't offer and you don't refuse. If your child wants to nurse, nurse. But don't be the one to bring it up. Also, sometimes all your child wants is to be close to you and have your attention so try offering an alternative-- story time, singing songs--something that will allow that one on one time. I hope this helps. Bravo to you for breastfeeding! I can tell you're a wondeful mother-- keep it up!
M. B.

When he's hungry enough, he will take the bottle. You are just going to have to put up with a lot of crying for a day or two. I've been through it twice. Be strong and hold your ground. Good luck!

If your son is 11 months old now, and only nursing for a few minutes on each side, it sounds to me like he is ready to be done with nursing. I know the american academy of pediatrics recommends one year of nursing if you can, and it sounds like you are just about there - he is just weaning himself! That makes it soooooo much easier on you! I wouldn't even bother with a bottle - that is just one more thing to wean him off of later - Talk to your pediatrician; When my three older ones weaned off, we just started them on whole milk with their meals in a sippy cup and it worked out great.