Stopping BF at 9 months - bottle or sippy cup? or something in between?

[minipie]

DD is 10 months but 8.5 corrected (was 6 weeks early). at the moment she has 4 BFs a day, not sure how much she takes but I suspect not as much as she should as she loves her solids.

I want to stop BFing gradually over the next month or so, planning to stop a feed a week. But do I switch to a bottle or to a sippy cup? DD takes a bottle no problem so it won't be a fight. she is ok with a sippy cup (has water at meal times from tommee tippee free flow) but can't quite feed herself from it yet.

it seems a bit daft to introduce a regular bottle at this late stage, but I'm worried she won't take enough milk if I use a sippy cup, as she associates it with just sips with meals iyswim.

thoughts?

Your dc may well make the decision for you and totally refuse a bottle (as mine did!). But tbh better to go straight to a sippy cup if you can and avoid the hassle!

I'm stopping now at 11 months, we cut down to 3 without replacing any (hv told us to at 9 months) and I've just replaced his mid-afternoon one with cows milk. We've gone halfway between a sippy cup and a bottle as I didn't want to introduce bottles at this stage but wanted him to still have the comfort of sucking, he has his water from the tommee tippee ones too. We're using one of these - www.nuby-uk.com/view-product?path=66&product_id=825 - they sell them in Boots. It's only been four days but seems to be going ok so far.

thanks! Suz that nuby soft spout cup looks good, does your DS take a proper milk feed from it? and do you think it's easier than a tommee tippee free flow? that's my main concern, I want her to be able to take a full milk feed easily since she's not all that bothered by milk at the best of times.

actually I'm hoping she might drink more milk once I stop BFing, I think she finds BFing boring...

Stealth I'm hopeful that she wouldn't refuse a bottle, she had one daily up to about 6 months (ebm) and then has had one every week or two and never refused it yet...but you never know! but as you say best not to start if I can avoid it.