Weaning off the bottle

Kristy - posted on 12/13/2010

i just changed my daughter over to a sippy cup at 12 months and there was no problems at all. Munckin sippy cups are what i use. I would hide or throw all of the bottles out if you want to get him on the sippy cups now but if you want to wait then keep the bottles just don't give him easy access to a bottle all day long. My daughter has hard top sippy cups during the day and soft top sippy cups for nap time and bed time.

Danielle - posted on 12/08/2010

I'm going to recommend you at least introduce the sippy cup sometime soon (even if it doesn't get regular use) because I waited until 12 months to try to get my son to use a sippy cup and I now have a 19 month old who is still using a bottle. I have bought 15 different types of cups varying from $1-$15 and he knows HOW to use them he is just so stubborn and stuck on his bottle he absolutely refuses to use them. I firmly believe if I would have tried to show him a sippy cup before he developed such a major attachment to the bottle I'd be having a much less difficult time now. I'm not saying this will happen with your baby, every child is different, I'm just saying that based on my experience I will be doing things differently with my 3 month old daughter.

Sarah - posted on 12/01/2010

Trying to wean my son from his bottle to a sippy cup has been quite the challenge. My son is 14 months old & still has a bottle at night before bed. He refused to drink out of sippy cups for the longest time & obviously he had to get a certain amount of milk during the day. I didn't want to take him off the bottle too soon to where it wouldn't allow him to get enough calories (he's already a tiny boy). As of late, we are having better luck with sippy cups & he's doing quite well with them. I just recently weaned him off his naptime bottle. I will be soooo glad when he is off bottles completely. I'm tired of washing them constantly lol. My son uses the Nuby sippy cups.

Heather - posted on 12/01/2010

Katie, We had some of the same issues. She wouldn't drink much of anything out of the sippy cups. She wouldn't even try to hold her bottles! But, we got our daughter off the bottle between her 12th and 13th month, and it wasn't that bad. First, we got her to start holding her own bottle, then we just started replacing the bottles with sippies. She really didn't fight it. We might've had a few funky days, and I worried about her getting enough milk, but she got into the new rhythm.

We have had the best luck with the Born Free sippies. Everything else seemed to leak or come out too slow.

Prudence - posted on 12/01/2010

Hi ... i didnt wean my man off his bottle till he was about 10 months old....then just sometimes gave him a sippy cup and sometimes the bottle then just started to give him the sippy cup more... they tend not to drink much from the sippy cup at a time because it does come out faster when they are sucking....so dont worry about that, just keep giving it to them, then give them a breather.....they will get used to how to use it and how to have breathes in between. It takes a bit of time.

Sue - posted on 12/01/2010

Make sure the sippy cup is easy for him to suck on. Some take a lot of force to get milk out. I switched my daughter when she was 1year with no problems.

Shauna - posted on 12/01/2010

As long as your child is getting enough fluids, and having enough wet diapers it really doesnt matter how they get the fluids its up to you. As far as the sucking reflux that is a trait of a newborn not an older baby such as an 8 mo old, and many babies dont need to such their thumbs or use a pacifier. Just use your judgement if your baby takes to the sippy then go for it, In my opinion and most dr's would agree you dont want your baby stuck on the bottle much longer past the age of 1 unlike pacifiers it does pose a risk to tooth decay as well as problems with their teeth. good luck with whatever you decide Katie!

Tine - posted on 12/01/2010

Hm, have to ask if there is a pressing need to do it now? Babies have a very strong innate urge to suck, and if you take away breast or bottle too soon they will just need to suck something else .. thumb, pacifier, whatever. I can't really see any advantage to trying to wean him off anything at 8 months, it's really way too soon. Sometime in his second year, later rather than earlier is probably better, and introduce the cup then let him make the transition himself - no need to create problems or conflict for no reason!

Stephanie - posted on 11/30/2010

One day we just gave her bottles for morning and evening and switched to straw sippy cups for the day. She took right to those.

She got the hang of those long before she got the hang of regular sippy cups. I'd go with the Nuby straw cups!

Kayleigh - posted on 11/30/2010

I started introducing my son to sippy cups around eight months, but I still gave him a bottle at night so he got used to it, once I felt he was doing well with the sippy cup, I just removed the bottles and used only sippy cups for the first couple of days after removing the bottles he was a bit unsure but then was fine. He was totally off bottles by 9 months. They will get used to it in time. I have found the Nuby cups worked best for my son, but like everything else, all babies are different so you may have to try several before finding the one he likes best...I tried three types before finding the Nuby

Shauna - posted on 11/30/2010

This is my Advice based on the the fact i work with infants and have seen this topiic come up alot with the parents i work with and my own son.======Usually around 6 mo old its ok to give a sippy at meal times with water in it to introduce sippy. In my opinion a good time is at 1 yr old to switch fully to sippys at that point a child can be taken off of formula or BM and put on cows milk which they dont need as many oz as formual Or BM. I think by putting formula or BM in a sippy cup it can be confusing when you switch your child to cows milk its a new thing so its a good time to put it in a new container. But that is complety up to you! if your child seems ready for full on sippy go ahead and do it! I Like "BORN FREE" brand sippy cups its a rubber tip they like to chew on when they are teething and its easy to release fluid for begginers, you can always later switch to a different kind meant for older babies.

Shauna - posted on 11/29/2010

Both my girls were off bottles and on sippy cups by 8 months. I found the Nuby cups with the rubber tops to be the best for the transition, not much leakage and I think they are easier for them to hold. At least they were for my girls.

Misun - posted on 11/28/2010

my son dylan let me know at 8 months that he was ready to stop breastfeeding (search baby led weening) and we were on the hunt for a sippy he would drink from. in the end he will do take and toss cups and playtex spoutless cups (they kind of look like coffee cups and keep drinks colder longer which is a big plus). dylan loves the playtex cup bc it simulates drinking from a regular cup and unlike spout sippies is actually spill-proof. BIG PLUS when the kids get to the age they like to see their drinks spill from their cups.

Kat - posted on 11/24/2010

what i did to wean my son was put water in the bottle (he HATES water) and put the good stuff (juice, strawberry milk, etc) in the sippy cup. he came to associate the bottle with water = yuk and the sippy cup = yummy. it worked really well

Natasha - posted on 11/23/2010

I think that it depends on your child. My son was 7 months yesterday and he has not had a bottle for almost a week. But he took a cup easily and he does not have any problems drinking from it all the time. I believe his cup is one of the graduates cups. The first day I gave him his cup it was hard for him to get anything out of it. I took the stopper out for one feeding and after that he knew what to do. It just really depends on your child. Everyone is different and learns at a different pace.

Emily - posted on 11/23/2010

Most parents don't start until the baby is 12 months old and lots of babies do not get weaned off until months after starting. My son never really cared where he was getting milk as long as he was getting milk haha. Once he turned 10 months and was hating being still long enough to suck down a bottle, we switched to cups. We used Gerber cups. I would suggest a cup with a soft spout to start off with. There are some that look a lot like bottle nipples too. Good luck!

Nina - posted on 11/23/2010

try using a cup without the sippy spout.

Shawna - posted on 11/23/2010

I introduced my daughter to the sippy cup when she was 9 months old like her dr suggested. Do it during the day or when you're home from work so there's no pressure on him. When she turned 1 I tossed all the bottles and she had to go with the cup. It does take trying a couple different ones. My daughter likes the Nuby ones that you have to bite to get liquid out. Good luck!

Gemma - posted on 11/19/2010

I wouldne be pushing the bottle thing to early. My girl is now !9 n half months n still has 3 to 4 bottles a day of formula. She did stop herself for a month or two at 1yrs of age but then moving house it became a comfort thing. Even tho it is a comfort thing now she is dairy free so its hard to more her to milk as she doesnt like the taste of soy milk n she needs her intake of dairy. He will tell you when he is ready to move to a cup.

Jennifer - posted on 11/19/2010

Logan likes his milk warmed a little but I don't have the problem of finding somewhere to warm it up whilst out as he only has it in a beaker with his breakfast and in his cereal for breakfast =]

Katie - posted on 11/19/2010

That is a good idea he will drink his milk luke warm or a little chilly but if it is freezing cold he won't

Karen - posted on 11/19/2010

katie - heating the milk is up to you, most people stop heating when they get to cow's milk..when my son was 10 months i gradually lessened how warm i made it until he was taking it from the fridge by 1y. each week i would lessen the heat time by about 5 seconds. i find it much easier now that he takes it cold because if i'm out somewhere and he wants a drink i don't have to search for someplace to heat it up

Katie - posted on 11/18/2010

Here is another question too ever since my son was little we heat up his milk, when we switch him to cows milk when he is a year old do I heat that up to or let him get used to drinking it cold? lol

Laura - posted on 11/18/2010

the best sippy cups i can think of are the nuby cheap ones

Katrina - posted on 11/18/2010

I am in the same boat as you Katie. I tried the playtex with the flat rubber spout but he didnt like those. Now I have the Nuby cups that I bought yesterday. Like you said he took a couple of sips from it and then went berserk, so I gave him his bottle. Im just going to try to get him to sip on it each day and slowly stop giving him his bottle after a while ( when he seems to sip from it more than a couple of times).

Karen - posted on 11/18/2010

i started my son on a sippy for water at 7 months (although he much prefered a straw cup). by 9 months he was on a cup for all drinks except a bottle at bed time and by the time he turned 11 months he was completely on cups. we really like the tommy tippee cups and the playtex click top cups and straw cups we like the heniz baby basics..we haven't had a leak from either of those brands.

Laura - posted on 11/17/2010

my daughter pretty much did the switch on her own and would only drink out of sippy cups or straw cups during the starting at 9months and only took a bottle when she went to bed, on monday we took her bed time bottle away and gave her a cup of milk before she went to bed and on today she turned 1 and we are bottle free

Krys - posted on 11/17/2010

Im sitting here laughing. Im not exactly sure why either. I think being stuck in a house on a rainy day with a 15 month old can do that to ya. Anyways, I swear I listened to people tell me that it goes fast, but never had I imagined THIS. To think, Im starting this fiasco all over again soon. I suspect it may go even faster :~

Jennifer - posted on 11/17/2010

No worries =] The recommended age is 12 months. I chose to wean a bit earlier as he had lost interest in the bottle, combinaiton of teething and being too interested in everything else around him! Logan turns one on 27th Nov!!! It goes too fast!

Katie - posted on 11/17/2010

I am not planning on weaning him quite yet just wanted to know when the "recommended" age is lol
Thanks for the advice ladies!! Just can't believe he will be a year old in only 4 short months lol just trying to be prepared : )

Jennifer - posted on 11/17/2010

I made the switch a month ago when my son was 10 1/2 months old. He had been using a sippy cup since 4 months for water and juice though so he had plenty of practise. At 8 months it may be a little early to switch completely but there's no harm in trying. Just try giving him his milk in a sippy cup one time and if he doesn't take to it, or only drinks a little bit, try in a few days time. My son has the freeflow ones - I was recomended to use these as they develop the muscles needed for speech, as they teach them to sip rather than suck, which is what they do on the non-spill ones.

Krys - posted on 11/17/2010

Its hard to say if its a little early to make the switch yet. I made the switch when my son was 15 months, so he was quite a bit older than your little man. I recommend the nuby softspout and the avent softspout (this one is good for younger children I found because it works the same as the bottle, all they do is suck) I did do the cold turkey with the bottle, but in all honesty I dont think I would have done it with my son as early as 8 months. I would do it when he no longer takes formula or breastmilk and gets all of his nutrition from solid foods (ie. what you are eating.) If thats now then maybe you can give it a try, but I wouldnt press to hard on the issue just yet. Good luck