Mums of older bottle/cup refusers - when did you stop BF, and how?

[BakingBunty]

Title says it all really... DS is a year old, and whilst he happily takes water from a cup, he won't take any milk. He hated bottles too - eventually stopped trying! I'd be really interested to know when/how you weaned your DCs off the breast if they refused bottles and cups. I'm hoping that DS will just lose interest eventually... But have no real idea of when that might be! I do love feeding him but have a job that requires occasional travel and can't take him too (much as I'd love to stick him up my jumper and bring him along!)

If you only need to do occasional travel then you could just carry on if your happy to. You'd probably need to pump once or twice a day while away for comfort.

My DD wouldn't take any kind of milk from a bottle or cup until I gave her cold cows milk straight from the fridge (I think it was 1 that we were "allowed" to do that). She seemed to see it as a drink like water and would happily take it. We carried on the bedtime BF til about 18 months when she just lost interest and we stopped. Good luck. xx

when I say pump I mean express if you learn to hand express then no need to take anything with you.

My first stop when I was pg with my seconded she was almost 3. I replaced day time feeds with snakes we didn't replace morning or bedtime feeds with anything.

Don't kno the answer but am bf a 14 month Ols refusenK here. Dd won't even take water. No liquids other than bf. I Am tired.

bakingbunty I could have written your post! I was actually going to post something similar!

DD is 12 months now too and won't take a bottle or beaker of any milk. She will have water though, but only out of a certain beaker after testing about a thousand of them

I've tried cows milk, breast milk and combination of both. I was going to try goats milk and soy milk or similar - just to see if it is the taste I think I'll be flogging at dead horse though! Have you tried them? or anyone else?

I'm of the camp that if baby is hungry, they'll ask in their own way. I know my DD would happily take more solid food if she's hungry and I'm not around. This has happened only recently when I was late back from a meal out with a friend, DP gave her some weetabix as she refused milk. She took a few gulps of water and settled in to him waiting for me. I've also been out and about before now and it hasn't been appropriate for me to nurse (in a car driving!) so I've given her a banana and she's wolfed it down!

Obviously a baby weaning off breast milk ties in to them increasing solids and eventually them eating enough to not want breastmilk any more.

DD has decreased a little in the last 6 weeks but I still think we're a long way off weaning. She still feeds morning, early afternoon (3pm), bedtime and late evening 11pm. We started night weaning the other week (have a separate thread on it) and are following a very gentle method which is slow and still involves lots of cuddles, just not nursing her to sleep!! We've had instant results with regards to the sleep and milk intake on waking and at bed time has been more 'meaningful' if that's the right word. She almost knows I won't feed her at night so takes more at bedtime and 11pm and seems ravenous on waking in the morning!

I hope my post makes sense, just thought I'd share our experience. It sounds like we have a similar job too with travelling. I take DD with me and work out childcare the other end! (job is v flexible though!)

My dd1 never drank milk from a bottle or cup and very rarely ever drinks milk. Even when she was at the childminders all day she wouldn't have milk. She would happily drink water from a beaker.

I breastfed her until she was about 22 months. I just made sure she had plenty of yogurts / cheese / milk on her weetabix in the morning to ensure she had enough calcium.

She has grown just fine.

Same situation and DD lost interest in the boob at around 14mo. She still won't drink milk from a cup or bottle so I make sure she gets lots of yoghurt and cheese instead. She's 17mo and is a chubby bundle of loveliness and most healthy.

I guess if it worries you, you could dilute milk and gradually up the ratio of milk to water?

DD2 is 11 she still won't drink milk, never has (hates water too!).

BF forever (well into junior school). Perfectly happy to drink squash from a spouted beaker and eat yoghurt if I left her as an 8 month plus baby.

Thank you so much everyone for sharing your experiences, really helpful.

godisadj it really does sound like we are in a similar boat! We night weaned two months ago. We also seem to be in the process of dropping the mid afternoon feed - the last couple of days he just hasn't been interested at all, and has then fed better at bedtime (less gentle wrestling and chasing around the bed required...). So he's only feeding morning and bedtime which seems unbelievable to me vs the early days!

DS is also, erm, particular about how he drinks water... Through a regular straw (I'm always raiding Starbucks as they come in paper sleeves so are perfect for my bag... Sorry Starbucks) and only from a clear cup in case I try to sneak some MILK or something into it... bedhopper DH and I drank all our drinks through straws for three days like mad people until DS was totally desperate to copy us!

He eats some cheese but I struggle to get yoghurt down him (BLW, hates spoons... Yes, he is a boy who knows his own mind!)

queenofthepirates diluting milk is a great idea, will try it.

migril do you think DS will be ok with no milk at all when I travel then at 12 months?

Thanks again all

If he's having lots of dairy and cheese then yes. Some Babus completely go of milk at this sort of age and do well on just food.

I've always felt the most important thing about breastfeeding at this age is your still supporting there immune system. But plain milk (cows our other type) is just an easy way to get more fat into them this can easily be replaced with other full fast dairy products.

That is an idea actually you could try different tips of milk if cows milk is a no go. Some of the nut milks or soya milks are suitable from 1 year a long as there are no allergies.