Feeding Questions...bottle feeding

Angel - posted on 11/13/2011

My son was off the bottle at 10 months, but he didnt want a bottle so I had to do the cup, but regardless, I would let your son drink from the bottle as long as he feels the need to because he has a medical condition and he might have issues with the cup, and he very well may not like water, so I reccomend milk or juice in the sippy cup. I know they say use water until they get used to it, but really? If u give my son water he will dump it on ur head, lol. He's 4 now and he will only drink water if we r at my boyfriend's house because he has a fridge with the water thing on it, otherwise u couldn't pay him enough to drink it. So maybe ur son doesn't like water. Also gerber has these special cups to "wean" them from the bottle. http://www.nuk-usa.com/products/c-10$p-67/learner-cup-latex.aspx This is similar to the one I used, they evidently don't sell the one I used anymore. But regardless, there are a lot of options, you just have to find what works for you and your son, u might want to just go right to a regular cup. If you think about it back when our parents and grandparents were babies they didnt have sippy cups, which is what my mom always says. lol. My son STILL uses a sippy and it really is a comfort thing for him. If your son is still on the pacifier use it at bedtime and to soothe him other then using the bottle. Take the bottle before the paci, he's still little and wants/needs the "sucking" soothing action babies crave, that's y my almost 4 year old wants the sippy still. Do what works for you, but there are options out there. GOODLUCK!!!!!!!

Carrie - posted on 02/12/2011

Hi Traci & all,
My name is Carrie and my son is almost 18 months he has CP (mild). I was breast feeding and formula feeding him. He weaned himself off the breast about 5 weeks ago (that's been hard on me) anyway about 4 months ago we tried a few sippy cups but no success then I started to think he know's how to suck ie: bottle & boob so we got an apple juice box and started there, we would take them every where. We would put the straw in his mouth and squeeze the box just a bit and eventually he sucked, I think because he realized that the liquide he was getting (apple juice being squeezed into his mouth) could be accessed if he sucked also we put his hands around it and eventually got the just. Now we use a rubbermaid juice box looking thing with a flip top straw it worked almost immediately, same idea I flipped the straw up and he started to suck. Now he is still on the bottle (formula) but we feel that Goats milk is best so we are mixing the two and eventually we will be done with formula. Also we are introducing the cup to as offten as we can think of it.

As for the sleeping through the night my son was around 6 months that we finally felt that it was time, he was waking up to wanting to feed. Now I don't think or believe that you should not feed a child if they are hungry but with Quinn his weight was good (he would not starve) we decided it was time we started on a Friday night and put him down and when he would wake was usually around 4-5am I would sneak a peak with out him noticing and my husband would hold me untill Quinn (my son) stopped crying and fell back to sleep and it usually only took two minute on average (I timed it) any way we felt along with some other parents that baby's like routines, so it took us 4 nights to break his habbit.

That's my story I hope it helps.
Thanx for letting me share.

Mary - posted on 02/01/2011

Hi, i would not worry. Like my mum has always said kids don't go to school with a bottle or dummy in there mouth. They will drop them (with a bit of encouragement) at some point.
My son was BF till he was ten months then on bottle till 18months. ( his only health issue was a dairy allergy)
Miriam is now 2 and she is still on the bottle. She BF till 8 1/2 months then onto Neocate as she has dairy, soy and goats allergy. They wanted her on the formula from 6 months to try and get her to gain weigh but she would not take the bottle, even after we paid a nanny for two days to try and make it happen. She never had much bottle and was a terrilbe feeder on the breast. However that was her. She did not gain weight any better once on the bottle. (much better for me as i was able to each a normal diet again and not have to be dairy and soy free) She will drink out of a sippy cup now, but not milk. Not enough to keep her weight up. I think i will move to morning and night bottles and cup in the day, it is hard to do when we have had two years trying to get her to gain weight. You dont want to do anything that may comprimise that.
Sorry for the long story. I would just got with what works for you. If they are eating well and dont need the milk for the weight gain. Then reduce and see. But if you are still worried about their weight then keep the bottle.

Anette - posted on 01/02/2011

Hi, \Our son is almost two, we are going through the transition of weaning him off the bottle. He won't take the sippy cup either but I have noticed that if you use a small cup, he will drink from the cup directly. Our son is not able to use his hands very effectively so I think that we will forgo the sippy cup altgether and simply go to drinking straight from the cup. At the moment we are letting him keep a morning and night milk feed from the bottle but during the day we squirt water in his mouth with a squeeze bottle and let him drink from the cup with things like cereal and smoothies.

Kimberly - posted on 05/10/2010

hi there...my daughter is spastic quad, she is 6 and just now starting to use a sippy cup more....it has always been offered to her, but she has a hard time being able to hold it at an angel ..... oral motor therapy has really helped :)

Karena - posted on 02/23/2010

My son is 2 years old - he has nursed succesfully up until just a few months ago.
I don't know who pushed the weening him or me - but I'm having huge problems getting enough liquids into him. He won't drink out of a bottle (even though he did when we were in the NICU) we have a sippy cup with wide holes and I try to make his milk as thick as possible so that he won't choke on it..but he won't suck from it all the time - just periodically.

Tammy-Lee - posted on 12/01/2009

Hi, I have a 4 1/2 year old daughter with CP. She has Spastic Triplegia. To be honest, I cannot get her to drink from a cup...I have bought every sippy cup I can find and none of them work for her. I still give her the bottle because it's the only way I can get fluids in her. We were in the same situation with the thickeners also, and Madisyn is now on Pediasure because of weight issues. I wouldn't stress about him still being on the bottle.

Claire - posted on 11/21/2009

Hi tracy my name is claire our youngest son joseph was put on paediasure cartons of milk about 2 years ago because he wasn't gaining any weight and he loves the stuff sometimes when his prescription hasn't arrived at home we give him full fat milk with a couple of spoonfulls of nesquick in a bottle either strawberry or banana and he sometimes doesn't notice the difference. but going back to you saying about the sippy cup joe won't even drink out of it so we are still on the bottles and he is still having a bottle at night so i wouldn't worry about it maybe he just using it as a comforter for bedtime hope this helps claire

Melissa - posted on 09/27/2009

Hi there, my son was awful he was on bottle until he was about 4, I found it better not to push the issue and not to worry what others say or thought even health visitors, my opinion was as long as hes getting what he needs I dont care what hes using. My son did it all in his own time and now he is 10 and doing really well however all I could get him to eat till he was about 18 months was fromage frais and yoghurty type stuff as he just choked constantly on anything else, so he was on formula milk right up till this point as I felt it vital to make sure he was getting more then just the yoghurty stuff. but I have to say it took a while and as I say now hes 10 and hel eat or drink anything and from anything aswell. I hope this gives you hope even if it doesnt really help :) Take care and good luck Mel.