Weaning issues...

[Courts21]

Riley will be 10 months old on Tuesday.  For the past two weeks I have been trying to wean him from 4 bottles a day to 3.  (It will be the same amount of milk just bigger bottles at a time)  But he is having none of it.  The bottle I am trying to get rid of is the 4pm one after he wakes up from his nap.  So he just has one at breakfast, lunch and then before bed.  Problem I am having is that he always wakes up from his nap cranky... don't know why and is being absolutely hysterical until he gets his bottle.  He will not be happy and play until he gets that bottle.  I am really unsure at this point whether he wants that bottle because he is actually hungry or if its just a comfort thing.  I try to offer him a snack instead of the bottle but he generally just throws it at me or cries.  Should I just give up and try in another month or do you have any tips when it comes to weaning?  Unsure how to tackle this problem.

[Freya'sMum]

Why do you want to drop to 3 bottles if it isn't to reduce milk intake? We still have a 4-a-day sort of structure to our routine for milk, dd2 is almost 2. Perhaps rather than drop to 3 bottles that coincide with meals, why not stagger the meals and milkfeeds, so that the milkfeeds are set to become snacks between the meals? Like this (2 nap strategy):

7am milk
7.30am breakfast
10am nap
11.30am milk (becomes mid-morning snack at slightly earlier time)
12.30pm lunch
2.30pm nap
4pm milk (becomes mid-afternoon snack at slightly earlier time)
5pm tea
6.30pm milk
bed

Just a thought?

Ax