Bottle Weaning - CONFUSED!!
mel_emeraldeyes
member
Hi,
I hadn't really thought about weaning my son off bottles until I took him to the doctor's this week and she gave me a handout saying he should be having 3 bottles (6-8oz each) a day for a total of 24oz. We were giving him 5 bottles...at a total of 28oz a day still. Oops! I had been giving him sippy cups with meals but he has zero interest, bites on them, chokes and makes a big mess. We since discovered there are transition cups and picked those up and he is taking to those a bit better. I also switched to 3 bottles a day but now he seems cranky but it could be my imagination. My doctor also said he could start to have a little bit of homo milk now too (haven't started yet) as long as he is eating 12tbsps of solids a day which he is. My son's weight is above average (the doctor never mentioned any concerns, I was the one asking about how much to feed him).
Would you still give 28oz or go by the doctor's handout and do 24oz as in 3 bottles a day?
When they get to a year, is that when you just switched to sippy cups only? Did you do it cold turkey or gradually?
Did you add homo milk and formula together or give the homo milk separately?
So, confused, how did you go about weaning from bottles?
PS - I know that you don't take them off formula until a year.
Re: Bottle Weaning - CONFUSED!!
I will (and always have) feed my child as much as he wants to eat. If he's satisfied with what you've been doing, keep doing it until you feel like he could do without one.
I've always read to do it gradually.
You mix the two together. Our pediatrician recommended we do half WCM and half BM one bottle a day for a few days, then two for a few, then three for a few, then four.
We tried a lot of different brands of sippy cups and I feel like that's where your DS' problem is with refusing them. We tried Munchkin, Nuby, Playtex, and finally found one that DS liked with the Nuk Learner Cup (which a lot of mamas say works for their kids). It has a silicone spout, so it kind of feels like a bottle.
As far as weaning him from a bottle, I'd try to do one "bottle" in a sippy cup every day, then go to two, then three, etc.
SCANDAL!
Like pp said, stick to what you're doing just start transitioning the bottle feeds into a straw or sippy cup.
You always want to listen to your pedi. At that age, ours also told us to feed DS 20-24 oz of formula a day but it didn't have to be in 3 bottles so what I did was split it up into 4 bottles, wake up bottle at 6 oz, then 2 in the middle of the day at 4-5 oz each, and 7 oz right before bed for a total 21-23 oz.
When LO was 11.5 mo we introduced WM in very small amounts (4-8 oz a day) and continued increasing once he was a year. I still used mostly formula until just before a year because the nutrients in it are so good and LO is not a big eater so I wanted the benefits in it.
As far as sippy cups, we are still working on it. He has water and juice in sippies only but as far as milk goes, he still gets mostly a bottle. Every few days I give him his middle of day milk in a sippy but I find that he drinks less milk when it's from the sippy and I'm ok with him still having a bottle (he is now on WM only and drinking 3 bottles for a total of 16 oz). I think my biggest concern at a year was moving him to WM and doing both WM and a sippy might have been to much for my LO. Once he becomes better at drinking his milk from the sippy, I'll probably move all bottles to the sippy but I'm guessing he'll be more like 14-15 months before that happens.
What I started doing when I reduced the amount of milk was to feed him right after. So when we moved to less formula in the day (4-5 oz), I would also offer something to eat afterward or soon after so that he wouldn't go hungry. This helped him increase the amount of food he eats although he is still not a big eater. GL!
Married 8/27/2011
BFP #1 9/28/2011 DS born 5/22/2012
BFP #2 4/24/2013 m/c 4/25/2013 at 4w
BFP #3 1/31/2014 DD born 10/14/2014
BFP #4 1/20/2016 m/c 2/12/2014 at 7w2d
BFP #5 8/19/2016 DS2 born 4/29/2017
BFP #6 3/7/2018 EDD 11/18/2018
feed if LO is hungry. I feed until she starts to throw food on the floor or push the spoon away that's how she tells me very clearly she's done lol
as for bottles, I've only nursed but LO uses a straw cup now by herself with water (she never did "get" how to use a sippy, straw was easier)
you do everything gradually. my ped doesnt want my LO transitioning to a sippy cup. they told us to start letting him sip an ounce of water here and there when he was 6 months.
go forward with adding the yogurt, cheese, etc. i started adding 2 ounces of milk to 6 ounce of formula... take your time and be patient.