Weaning a 13 month old

[Aliohare]

Hi,

I am not sure if this is the right place to post this. My LO is 13 months and so far BF. I currently work from home, but am soon going to have to go to work (in a couple of months). I have never been able to get her to take a bottle. I have tried since she was 2 months old, but gave up. I now have every sippy cup and bottle available. She likes milk and will happily drink a few sips from both a cup and a bottle, but that's it. She then pushes it away. I have tried getting other people to give her the bottle/cup, but although she will have a couple of sips that's it. As she still doesn't eat that much solid food, milk is still going to be the major source of her nutrition. She won't take a spoon at all, so all food is finger food.

I am just not sure how to wean her. I don't want to make things unpleasant, but I need to encourage her to stop bf. Any advice appreciated.

Thanks as always
Alison

[*Ali*]

Hi, what sort of milk are you giving her in the cup or bottle? Cows milk is fine for her to have a drink but she doesn't need it as a food nor is it a full food for her like breast milk would be. She cannot get all the nutrients she needs from cows milk so the aim at this age would be to switch her to a balanced solids food diet when you choose to stop BFing. How many feeds does she have now and when are they? And NFs?
Do you want to wean BFing completely or would you want to continue with one or two feeds at morning and bedtime for example?
Have you tried an open cup with a regular straw? My ds2 loves drinking anything from those.
Have you tried giving her a spoon or fork to feed herself? We did BLW and my ds2 has been attempting to feed himself with a spoon and fork for a few weeks now. Sometimes he'll even let me load it for him and guide his hand to his mouth. And don't feel that self-feeding with fingers is limited to certain foods, almost all foods can be finger foods if you just expect the mess it will entail