How to stop .....

[sissy16]

Hi all.

Just after a bit of advice really. My ds is 10 months and is still breastfed which is fine for now but I am hoping to stop at around a year when he can go to cow's milk. My problem really is that he has never taken a bottle (just cries) and although will drink juice/water from a sippy cup he will just 'spit' formula out if I try to give him that (this is also true if I try a normal cup). He currently has three/four feeds a day and was planning on probably dropping the afternoon feed then the morning and finally the night. Can anyone offer any ideas on how to begin the stopping process.

Thanks everyone, look forward to reading any helpful advice.

Sarah

[Mariek]

Hi Sarah

I don't have any direct advice on this, but there's a great thread in the bottle feeding forum on getting your BF baby to take a bottle which might be a good place to start.

http://www.babywhisperer.com/forum/tips-for-getting-your-lo-to-take-a-bottle-vt35385.html

From what I have read from the other ladies on here though I think most of them would recommend trying to bypass the bottle and going straight to a sippy cup if you can manage it.

HTH

love

[Lilah'sMommy]

Hi,

My dd was (still is!) breastfed and never took a bottle.  I weaned her off the mid-day feeds at around 13 months.  She had been taking water no problem from a sippy, but also balked at milk in the same sippy.  What worked for us is a straw cup.  I've read that some breastfed babies prefer a straw-type sippy as the action is more like breastfeeding.  So the straw cup (Playtex makes one) become her "milk cup" and she continued using the other sippies for water.

There's really no point in trying to get your lo to take a bottle now, since you should wean from the bottle at one year anyway.  Just try some different sippies to find one that works.

Oh, and don't be surprised if your ds doesn't take much milk at first; my dd didn't.  What finally got her hooked was mixing her milk half and half with drinkable yogurt (so it was very sweet and yummy), then slowly decreasing the yogurt until she was only drinking milk.  Now she loves her cup of milk.

HTH!

[sissy16]

Thanks for the advice. I wasn't going to try a bottle as I agree there is just no point, i haven't even tried to give him one for at least three months. The advice with the straw cup and the yoghurt sounds great, I'll have to try and get one and see what happens.

Here's hoping!!!!!

[GraceKellysmom]

They change so much over these two months that you will be amazed. Just make sure to add healthy snacks and a sippy cup to substitute a nursing.

Both of my lo's dropped day feeds at 11 months. My dd dropped the other two on her own by 12 months. My ds dropped the am one too, but is still nursing once per day.

You may notice that the milk intake is not very high at first, but as time goes on, it will increase. A 12-18 month old only needs 10-16 oz of milk per day, and they can get their calcium in other ways if they won't drink that much.