the need to suck at 7mos

[thitz]

Hello, I want to start weaning ds but he won't take a bottle (or anything resembling a soft bottle like spout).  He will take a hard spout type sippy with water in it really well when he has his solids.  But I'm just concerned with dropping a bf and replacing it with this type of sippy because it's not like a nice sucking action like a bottle.  Will his need to suck be satisfied?  Would it be really hard on him because I'm removing the sucking action?  I tried a straw sippy but so far I can't get him to suck on it at all.  Any thoughts?

Thanks Tarri

[* Paula *]

Hi Tarri,

What type of bottles have you tried?

I do know that a lot of people say that their lo will refuse a bottle point blank, but after perseverance and sticking to it and offering the bottle they did succeed.

If you want to start introducing a bottle, I would pick a particular feed that you are going to substitue say the morning feed or the 3:00pm feed and offer it to your lo.  If he refuses it, that is fine, you can try again about 10 minutes later.  Again if he refuses after a few times of being offered it, I would not worry about it and just leave it at that - I would not offer the breast at this particular feed otherwise your DS will learn that if he refuses for long enough, you will give in and offer the breast.

You can then offer your next feed as normal say your solid feed at whatever time you would usually offer it.

It may take a few days for your DS to get the hang of the change, but he does not have the ability to starve himself, and will soon start taking the bottle.

It is going to be a lot harder for you than it will for your DS, so it is going to take commitment and perseverance.

HTH's

Please keep us posted on how you get on.

Paula