Bottles and water for an 11 month old: advice needed!

[dreamerjo]

Hi all

well I seem to be getting in a knot as made the mistake of reading a booklet from the (useless) health visitor!

Max still has his milk from bottles ( still 4 times a day but that's another story!) He is 11 months old.
I have read that by a year they should have their milk froma cup / beaker etc and I should have started getting him used to this at 6 months!!
I have been trying him on an Avent beaker for a few months but he is not that keen on it. ( with water in)

Just wondered what other peoples expericene of this was and is it OK still to use bottles, for how long etc?? Don't want to baby him for too long if that is not he right thing!

Am also struggling to get him to take water or even juice, so worried about what happens once the milk is cut down and if he will be hydrated enough?

Also, I tend to give him 3 meals a day, 2 courses each but thiss ame booklet indicated he should be having snacks as well: my gut feeling is he does not need this at the moment but what do you do with your 11 month ish old??

thanks for listening , am having one of those days where am doubting I am doing anything right!!!

[bambi06]

persevere with the cups or trya different ones. i had to do a trial and error with my two to find cups that didnt take too much suction to drink..have you ever tried to drink from one of those non leak cups with that valve thing..bloody hard work , no wonder they get put off.. i looked after a little girl who virtuallly didnt drink for her mother .. no wonder she got fed up with trying to get anything out of this cup as i realised one day when hers was dirty and i gave her one of our s and she drank two cups straight off and asked for more.. try even with an open cup .. or straw cup .. plus my two had bottles up to a year and possibly abit over for milk only but juice/water in cups from 6 months because of the risk of damage from the sugar in juice really from teats and from milk apparently.. what about only giving milk in a bottle at bedtimes and make a fuss of cups..put stickers on them and show him them and let him see other children using cups .. i bet if a nother child leaves there cup lying around hell drink it ..it s alway s the way so try leaving the cup around for him to explore when hes playing to introduce it slowly and playfully.. and good luck these kids are meant to try us!!
try also giving lots of milky foods ..cheese, cheese spread etc so that you dont have to give milk as a drink which will fll him up.. he doesnt have to drink milk to fill up on his quota of calcium if that what you`re worried about , he can get plenty of calcium elsewhere plus he will eat better meals as the milk wont be filling him up .. if that s a problem about meals that is..

[bobbybob]

Why shouldn't they have bottles from a year? Who says and why do they say it?

My ds breastfed for 2.5 years, my boob never turned into a cup and it was okay. Same with bottles, the important thing is good dental hygiene, after that do whatever works.

Of course my ds had water, but he didn't manage his own cup until 13 months, so I think the 6 month thing would have just led to 7 months of feeling inadequate. He now drinks water from a straw cup, which is fantastic (and cheap). He can manage a normal cup, but he doesn't drink as much - so what's the point?

Just keep giving him a cup to try, but don't stress. The whole thing is a conspiracy to get mums to spends money on loads of cups, when it's actually just a question of them being ready for any cup. When people say "I tried everything and then I found this and it worked" wasn't it just that the child was a little older?

[LIZS]

Throw the booklet away !! Seriously go with whatever suits you and your ds. There is no bottle police who will admonish you for using one at 1 year and one day and children don't change their habits overnight without a fight. It sounds as if you are doing fine.

We used the Avent bottles with the spout tops as a half-way house. His milk intake may well naturally decline as you introudce cow's milk and you could use that as an opportunity to only offer it at morning and bedtime with other drinks (water preferably) in between. Mine used ot have a cup of water permanently on the go so they could sip as required. He is unlikley to let himself go thirsty unless he is off colour and remember solid foods have high water content too.

As to snacks, he 'll eat them if he is hungry but don't feel obliged to offer them for the sake of it. As you go out to groups and other people's houses you may well find he'll take them because other children do but if you cna avoid sugary stuff altogether you are doing very well.

hth

[dreamerjo]

Thanks all for your replies! I do feel better just having confirmed what I think and what others do!