No bottle, no pacifier...please help

vwsfy6

I am a SAHM, and am EBF.  My 11 month old son has never had to use a bottle, and never really took to a pacifier.  Now, he has no idea how to use any of these things..bottle, pacifier, sippy cup, etc.  He eats solids and finger foods, but still nurses a lot.   When offered a bottle, tc. He just chews on them and pulls them out, no sucking at all. 

He only nurses to sleep, and 99% of the time he sleeps on me.

 

How can I get him to sooth himself, or put himself to sleep? I would love a date night, or some time to go get a massage...something. 

 Thanks for your suggestions. 

belladonna11307

I have no suggestions on how to get him to put himself to sleep, but keep offering the sippy cup.  DD chewed on it for the longest time and eventually figured out that there was something in there and began using the cups.  Good luck!

boogerbearoriginal

melpatbat:

With DS I had to to show him how to drink and suck from a sippy, with no model he was clueless.  When we transitioned to a cup we spent lots of time drinking water in the bathtub for practice.

At 11mo if most of th nursing is for comfort he might surprise you and be perfectly fine.  The people watching him will find their own ways to soothe him.  My son was similar and sleeps well for others with or without a bottle.

ITA with the bold - my H can get LO to sleep quickly/easily by rocking him. He can even get him to bed at night without a bottle even though I nurse him to sleep 99% of the time. I think you'll be fine to leave him with someone if you want/need to go out for some adult time.

My LO never took a pacifier and begrudgingly took the bottle when I was at work. Once he got good at solids, around 10m, he started dropping bottles quickly. Since your LO is 11m I wouldn't even worry about him taking a bottle.

We started with an open cup, you may want to try that. LO did really well with a regular cup, eventually he got the hang of a straw cup but it took some practice. 

sugarbear0524

I agree with the PP.  I would add that you may be happy he never took a pacifier.  It's one less thing that you eventually have to wean your LO from.  My DS never took one, and I was happy about it.  My sister had world war III trying to wean my niece. 

tarahnpaul

I time it so that I'm only gone for 3 hours or so.  They can easily go 3 hours without nursing at this age.  Especially if they are offered solids as well.  If we want to go for dinner on our own, we go a little early and are home by 8 (she goes to sleep at 9:30).  We left her with my friends a few weeks ago, they took her to the park, walked home and she fell asleep in the Ergo!  She also used to fall asleep for my MIL and mom while they held her, which would never happen for me.  So I think my point is that they will accept other forms of comfort from different people.  You just have to try leaving her and see how it goes.

vwsfy6

Thank you all for your suggestions! We have a lot of friends that don't have kids and always have get togethers that are no kids allowed, and they are always late.  We always miss them, and H is starting to get upset about it (I am more understanding that once you have kids, life changes).  I will try some of the PP advice, and at least get a dinner date in.

 

Thank you! 

Que*Syrah

DS never took a bottle either, but by that age I could leave him for a few hours and he would be fine. Babies are often totally different when you leave them with someone else! I would just try it out for a few hours at a time and see how it goes.

As far as sippy cups go, what kind are you trying? Around 10-11ish months DS had the straw kind figured out, but still at 2.5 doesn't get the concept of the spout kind and tipping it back to get the liquid out.