Weaning baby off formula/bottle

mrssamuels2b

Ladies who have been through this could you please share your experience...I know I have at least a month before we begin looking at this but I am already becoming anxious about it...I think it's b/c Preston was such a champ and weaned himself off of the pacifier. I know I can't be that lucky twice...when did you start? Did you have a plan or just went for it? A co-worker told me that at her daughter's 12 month check-up the doctor immediately took her off of formula...I just want to know what I need to prepare for. TIA!

Soon2BMrsWiley

Anxious to see responses.  James hates the taste of milk. 

sdkrlm

At our 9 month appt the pedi gave us the go ahead to start introducing milk. I was bf ing still but around 10 months, I started adding milk once or twice a day in small amounts. By one year, A was drinking milk during the day and nursing morning and night. As far as the sippy, I gave her a sippy of water with meals at 6 months so she could get used to it. I started giving her sippies of BM/milk during the day. She had no issues with it.

mrssamuels2b

I will say that we have introduced sippy cups and well as regular cups. We give him a prune juice/water mix several times a week and I put it in there. He seems to be more comfortable with the regular cup. He holds the cup fine but is, obviously, wasting it everywhere. I have read not to put formula in anything other than the bottle but I've also read to put formula in the sippy cup in order to help them transition...idk.

Temp206787500007404

We introduced a sippy at 6 months and by 9 months she was drinking water out of it at meals and right before 12 months we introduced milk.

Having said that, we still do two bottles (with formula) each day and she just turned 14 months.  I'm in no hurry to get rid of them as long as she wants them.  If I was breastfeeding (which I'm not, since she is adopted), the pedi wouldn't push me to wean just because she magically turned 12 months...in fact, he would encourage me to pursue it until age 2 if possible.  When I brought that up and asked him what the difference was, he said there wasn't and if she wanted her two bottles a day that it was fine to continue offering them, especially if she was drinking out of the sippy the majority of the day.  So I don't feel the least bit guilty and expect she'll probably drop them herself within the next few months.

If you think your baby still wants/needs the bottle (and formula) for comfort, I wouldn't pressure yourself to drop it just because baby turns 12 months. 

star21gazer

Aubrey started refusing straight formula around 9 months except for her night time bottle, so we didn't really have to work to wean her we had to work to get her to take it until she was a year old.  But the pedi started having me mix half formula/half whole milk at about 10 and a half months.  I had her to complete whole milk at 11 and a half months per the pedi so it really wasn't hard for us.  She likes whole milk so much better than formula. 

We also were free of the bottle 100% by 11 and half months.  Like you I introduced the sippy early with water, and at first it was a bit of a struggle to get her to take the milk from it...it was like she had started associating the sippy with water.  But after a few days she just started taking to it...at first she wouldn't drink as much but it's one of those things that she has just gotten better at over time.  

So probably not to helpful, but I think it's one of those things you'll get different responses to.  I have heard some people just cut cold turkey at 1 year and others wean off. 

MrsAO

We're one of those cold turkey cases. I put the whole milk in a sippy and he drank it. He had already been introduced to the sippy though. DS also weened from the paci easily. Never mixed the milk or anything like that. He was right around 1 year old, maybe a week or so later. I just did it whenever the last of the formula disappeared.  I'd say it's at least worth a shot - you never know!

hamillm

J was mainly on breastmilk until 11 months, but we started mixing half milk/half bm or formula, and he did fine...then completely switched around 13 months (after the last of the bm/formula ran out).  We started him on a sippy early, and he was off the bottle by 9 months.  He never cared where the milk came from, so I just tried stopping the bottle cold turkey, and it worked   Good luck!

lilcrablegs

I agree with MrsB that 12 months is no magic number.  IMO getting rid of the bottle (or breast, for that matter) is just a cultural expectation and not necessary.

We were like hamillm in that we stopped breastfeeding and mixed formula and milk towards the end of the first year.  The transition to milk was not difficult as far as taste.  I did 1/4 milk, 3/4 formula for a few days then gradually increased, so it was slow but painless.  He would not drink much milk at all out of a cup, so I continued with bottles for a few months.  He eventually started drinking larger amounts out of the cup, and that's when we stopped bottles.  No rush!

I know this isn't really what you asked, but if your kid happens to not like milk... One more thing to consider is why you are giving milk in the first place.  It's just a convenient way to receive the nutrients that are already present in a balanced diet.  If your kid is a great eater, he may not need much milk.  Just something to think about.

SeasideBride06

We did not come off the bottle/formula completely until 15 months.  The main reason for that was because of her low weight.

However, we introduced the sippy with only water at 6-7 months, so she was pretty good at it at the one year mark.  We also introduced whole milk at 11 months.  We mixed the bottles with whole milk and formula, and as the time got closer to 15 months, we did less and less formula.  This also got her used to having pretty cold bottles/milk.  I will say that we only did a morning and night bottle those last couple of months and did just sippy's with milk during the day.  We weaned the morning bottle first, and the night bottle last....just making sure she had a big table food dinner.