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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

16-month old refuses drink from cup or bottle, just a few sips... How to wean him off breast?

2 replies

philosophomummy · 11/10/2014 23:10

Hi! I was hoping from some weaning advice from seasoned mums. I've been breastfeeding my son for 16 months now: 6 months exclusively, then supplementing with solid food. He eats a fair amount of solids, but doesn't want to drink from cups or other recipients. As a baby, he has refused the bottle, even when it was filled with breastmilk. I work mostly from home so breastfeeding on demand hasn't been an issue. However, soon I will work more in the office. Also, I need to attend a multi-day conference for work - far away - where I can't take him along, in about 7 weeks time. Also, while I've really enjoyed our breastfeeding relationship (especially given that bf failed with my older daughter), I have come to the point that I would like it to stop.
Gradually, I've been diminishing drinking moments, going from about 8-10 or so to about 5-6 over 24 hours. However, he drinks very little from cups - he dislikes cow's milk and refuses it. He does drink water but only 1 ounce or so at a time. At night he usually still has one or two very big drinks where he seems to compensate for diminished drinks by day. How can I get him to drink more water? I tried buying soft-spouted sippy cups (disaster), hard spouted sippy cups (disaster), doidy cups (a few sips), and normal cups. Sometimes he will push away the cup and say "Drinking Mummy!" How can I encourage him to drink more water?

OP posts:
TheCharWoman · 12/10/2014 21:46

I remember being very worried about this too - I stopped feeding DS at 15 months. I was very worried because he would never take a bottle and wouldn't drink cow's milk in a beaker either. So what worked for me? People telling me that as long as he's having cheese, yoghurt, milk in his porridge then he's probably getting enough dairy! So stop worrying! Keep offering water and the occasional cup of milk too.

Weirdly, my son is now 3 and quite often asks for a cup of milk. Smile

cilldara · 12/10/2014 21:49

My DD gave up the breast at 9 months and never drank from a bottle and only took small sips from cups at the time. She is a beautiful 16 year old now. Please do not worry.

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