I'm trying to bottle wean a very bottle dependent baby. He eats 3 big meals a day but also takes 4 5oz bottles a day. There's no way he's going to match that with a sippy cup. Am I thinking too much about this? He's happy and not fussing with less oz so should I stop trying to match his intake to when he was on bottles. I'm stressin
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don't stress! O never drank milk - ever, bottle or cup - and my ped is not concerned. she said that i tried, she doesn't like it, and that's that. as long as i'm making sure she gets her vitamins and yogurt/cheese.
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It took L about a month to get interested in drinking milk. Now she eats three big meals, two snack, three nursing sessions, and about 14 oz of WCM.
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DD is almost 14 months and still drinking four 5oz bottles plus three meals a day. I've tried to bottle wean but she refuses to drink from anything other than her bottle. Eh I'm not gonna stress about it. She can't possibly drink from a bottle forever right?
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We were in the same boat! We were on three 8oz bottles/day at 1 year, and I saw no end in sight.
Week 1
- Switched to WM for the first two bottles of the day (kept formula for bedtime)
- Offered the sippy cup WAY more frequently (like, once an hour), with water. I also offered a sippy cup with meals.
- Introduced two snacks (AM before 1st nap and PM before second nap). This kept their hunger down and their desire for a bottle was much less!Week 2: Ditched the midday bottle. They were thirsty and decided that the sippy cup didn't suck as badly as they thought
I offered milk at every meal and snack and had a water sippy cup available during play time. (FWIW, my kids thought the straw cup was AMAZING, so that helped...it may not have been my most shining parenting moment, but I gave them a little bit of milkshake through a straw for the first time to give them some motivation to learn to use it!). We still did a full formula bottle at bedtime.Week 3: We ditched the am bottle. I was scared....REALLY scared. They seemed to really need this bottle still, but instead, we started feeding them breakfast pretty much immediately after they woke up. Worked like a charm. About halfway through this week, we started reducing the formula in their bedtime bottle (reduced by 1 ounce every two days).
Week 4: We (finally) got rid of formula in the bedtime bottle. They didn't even notice.
...and that's where we're at. I think we're about ready to ditch the bedtime bottle, because they're getting almost 14 ounces of milk each day through the sippy cups. I'm always scared of screwing with their nighttime sleep, but I think they're ready! We'll probably reduce the bottle by 2 ounces each night and then move dinner later. TBD!
Sorry for the novel! I hope it helps. I know it's really stressful, but it helped me to relax about the EXACT amount of milk they were getting. ABOUT 16oz is the rule...some days are more, and some days are less
I offered milk at every meal and snack and had a water sippy cup available during play time. (FWIW, my kids thought the straw cup was AMAZING, so that helped...it may not have been my most shining parenting moment, but I gave them a little bit of milkshake through a straw for the first time to give them some motivation to learn to use it!). We still did a full formula bottle at bedtime.Reply
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