K, please remind me what the 'steps' are in moving forward with solids

[Sarah O]

My two are 8 months next week.  We're on three meals of solids plus the usual bottles (waking, 11, 3, 7, DF).  What will be the first bottle 'dropped' and does it happen on its own or is this something I have to actively 'do'?  Then which bottle gets dropped after that?  Essentially, I'm looking for someone to tell me what comes next...and then what comes after that...all the way til they're on table foods and no bottles.

Thanks!!

Sarah

[ryan's mum]

Ryan dropped his bottles on his own . we used to give him half his bottle feed then solids when we first introduced solids , then as he got the taste of solids we fed him solids first then the bottle to wash down. gradually he was drinking less and less of his feed . he dropped the dinner time one 1st then the evening one . he still has a morning bottle of milk now. instead of the evening feed we gave cereal with milk . Ryan isn't really into his milk so we just add milk to whatever we can.

[tylersmommy]

Well, the "steps" vary quite a bit from baby to baby...I followed Tyler's lead and this is how it ended up going for us. I'm sure other folks will have different variations, but hopefully this will give you an idea of how things progress. We started solids and introduced the sippy cup at 6 mo and got to 3 meals at about 7.5 mo. From there...
7 mo - dropped night feeds
7-8 mo - dropped DF. This left Tyler with 4 bottles a day.
8 mo - finger foods
9-12 mo - exclusively eating finger foods, including age appropriate table foods (his choice...NOT mine)
12 mo - started dropping bottles and transitioning to whole milk

I'm a big believer of following your baby's lead on most of this stuff, especially dropping bottles (except night feeds/DF, but I put those in a different category than daytime bottles). Sometimes bottles get dropped or combined on their own, sometimes folks actively eliminate them. It's really up to you how you want to approach that. Tyler was happy to stay on 4 bottles per day until he turned 1, and he had no problem at all dropping them and transitioning to whole milk. If you decide to start dropping bottles, it's important to make sure your LOs still get 24 oz of formula per day. HTH!

[Sarah O]

Hi!

Thanks for the quick reply.  I've noticed that particularly my DD has started having half bottles at bottle time and has the rest with the solids an hour later.  From what you're saying I guess she's a smart little cookie and knows what she needs and when.    I was a bit concerned because I wasn't sure if it meant maybe she was getting too much solids instead of bottles.  When you say 'dinner time' bottle, is that lunch or supper?  (I know different areas say "dinner" to mean different things).  At what ages did Ryan go through these stages?

Thanks!

Sarah

[Sarah O]

Tylersmommy -thanks for your post too!  We were posting at the same time.   

K - dumb question....when you're 'dropping bottles'...is it assumed that these bottles have been the 'between feeds' ones?  And are you then offering formula in a sippy with meals and eventually that formula gets changed to whole milk?  Sorry about the ignorance...I didn't realize I didn't know all this stuff til I really started thinking about it, LOL!!

Sarah

[ryan's mum]

Ryan dropped his first bottle around 8/9 months . this was the second bottle of the day , then he dropped his 3rd bottle around 11/12 months but wasn't drinking much of this one anyway. by 15 months hhe had lost interest in his milk , solids were yummier ! so since then he only has his morning bottle , he really enjoys this one. i was concerned when he dropped the last bottle of the day , wasn't sure if he could get through the night , but we gave him cereal and milk and had no problems with night time hunger

[tylersmommy]

Sarah, don't worry about it! There's lots of different ways to do this, and it's really pretty hard to find a "wrong" way! What's most important is that it works for you and your LOs.

Dropping bottles usually means eliminating them or combining feeds. For example, when Tyler turned 1, he had a bottle at 8, 12, 4, and 8, and solids at 9, 1, and 6 (about 1-2 hrs after bottles). We first started eliminating formula by giving him milk in those bottles instead to see if he even liked it. He did, and he'd been drinking ice cold formula for awhile, so I think that helped. Once the formula was replaced with milk after a week or so, we started dropping bottles. I did the lunchtime one first for no real reason. At 12, instead of sitting him down with a bottle, I put him in the high chair for a solids meal and gave him a sippy of milk (you'd do formula instead if you were dropping that bottle before it was time for milk). After a few days, I cut out the bottle at 4 and offered him a solids snack with a milk sippy instead. A few days later, I cut out the breakfast bottle and just did solids as soon as he awoke with a milk sippy. Finally, the bedtime bottle went and wasn't replaced with anything.

One of the big reasons why I waited to drop bottles was because Tyler wasn't a big sippy drinker. Even when we dropped his bottles, he still just, well, sipped. I knew there was no way I would be able to get 24 oz of milk or formula into him each day. I was afraid if I dropped bottles of formula and gave him the sippy instead, I'd have a hard time getting a proper amount of formula into him. Since I waited until we started milk, it was easier to make up for lost ounces with other dairy like yogurt and cheese until he got the hang of it. Am I making any sense?