I'll be going back to work in the fall after being home with my LO for a full year. She's my first child so I'm not always sure about the timelines for when you should start/wean different things. Currently I'm stressing about the bottle. She's 11 months and takes 4-5 bottles of 8 ounces of formula throughout the day. She is only moderately interested in a sippy cup. She doesn't hold the bottle by herself even when I try to force her to and she can hold the sippy cup but hasn't gotten the tilting her head back/cup up motion to really do it herself.
If I was staying home with her full time I wouldn't be concerned because I would just do what I've been doing and follow her lead with weaning on her own pace. However, I *think* the daycare isn't keen on bottles after the child turns one. I believe it is milk in a sippy cup and finger foods that they offer. I know I need to double check. LO does eat some finger foods, but is still on stage 2 solids. She gags and acts like I'm torturing her if I try anything remotely chunky.
Sorry for the length, but at what point should I really work on getting her off the bottle, onto the sippy and move away from formula?
Re: Opinions on the bottle
Bar tab = $156,000, Bus to Foxwoods = $0, Puking in the Stanley Cup = Priceless
When we started weaning little one off bottles we would cut out one bottle every couple of weeks, replacing it with a stage 2 food or a finger food snack. Now he takes a bottle first thing in the morning, one before his afternoon nap and one before bed. It was actually a much easier transistion than I expected.
As far as a sippy cup goes, it's still a work in progress. He knows what to do but he's not a huge fan of water.
My daughter is like your LO in the fact that she does not understand the concept of tilting her head back for a bottle/sippy cup, and has no interest in holding it, unless it is to chew the side of it. I am not sure if this is because she never had much practice with a bottle because I am breastfeeding, or whether she just doesn't feel the need to learn. Regardless, I was in the same situation as you ... until last week.
I asked my H to go to the store and pick up some more wipes and he came back with a new cup for our daughter. It is a Playtex cup with a straw. The bottom has a softer grip so that the parents can squeeze it to get the liquid to the top, which is great when they are first learning how to suck out of a straw.
It only took a day and a half and now our daughter drinks from a straw by herself.
You may want to try looking into that instead of a regular sippy cup.