If your baby is bottle fed, when did you stop giving a bottle?

[petalsinthegarden]

Just that really, and how did you do it?
Gradually drop a bottle at a time and offer a beaker/cup or completely cold turkey?

Sometimes they fill themselves up with real food so you can certainly drop bottles ie just before or after lunch.

I think I got it all wrong!! I could never get dd to eat enough so I'd fill her up with a bottle but of course then she was never hungry for proper food :/

It's all so bloody confusing! Haven't a clue what I'm doing. Gradually introducing food to my DD and decreasing her milk amount.

She's not cut her first tooth yet (she's 6.5 months) but I've read you should be introducing a cup now as well

IMO don't cut any milk out at the mo, she's too little. Food should be fun until one. You might find around 10-12 months she might start naturally drinking less milk but at the mo she need their milk.

I continued giving formula to DD until she was one, then gradually phased it out for cows milk. Before that, as she started eating more and more solid food, I gradually decreased the number of bottles, but she always had one before bed and after breakfast. Until one they still get most of their nutrition from milk, so don't cut it back too much before then.

Mine was about 2.5 when we dropped the bottle, the evening bottle was getting infrequent and if he asked for it, he can have milk in a 'special' cup with a straw. The bottles we had were getting scrappy and with a new baby on the way I didn't want there to be any hint of the bottle being taken from him to give to the new one.

In regards to the other elventy billion bottles a day he had we just slowly started to drop them.

When did you start offering milk in a beaker? Or is it something I shouldn't worry about yet?

I don't think DD ever had milk in a beaker. I started offering her water in a beaker when she was eating solid food, she had one of those cups with a lid and a rubber seal around the edge so she could 'drink' from it, I'll try to find a link for one. Also, we found that DD got the hang of drinking water through a straw very quickly, so that made things a bit easier. Milk was the comfort drink from a bottle until she was at least 2yo.

This one is the one we had for DD, the Amadeus 360

We haven't stopped giving bottles yet (DS is 9.5mo) but we recently dropped down to just three big bottles a day (so about 20 - 25oz). The rest is made up of solid food and water - I'm trying to teach him to use a sippy cup but he hasn't quite got the hang of it yet! He's started sleeping through again with no night feeds which he hasn't done since before we started weaning so I think we're going on the right direction...

Finally dropped the bedtime bottle at 2.5yrs but gradually cut out day time bottles from about 7 months till maybe 10 months then just had the 6.45pm one. Started using a sippy cup at around 6/7 months and introduced an open beaker at around 1ish I think.

I think just water with meals at the moment to introduce cups. You don't actually need to phase out bottle usage for milk until they are one. Obviously some people give bottles for longer but this is the current advice as far as I know.

Oh yes she also had a middle of the night bottle til about 14months. I know, I know longer than she needed but I didn't have the energy to fight her on it. Older DC to consider, didn't want her waking them.

Ds is 10mo and still has 4-5 bottles in a 24 hour period. We are doing baby led weaning and sometimes he just plays with food so I often worry he isn't getting enough food but he seems ok. He has water in a beaker similar to the one sue posted, they are currently half price in ASDA for £2.50, they have a rubber like seal so it gets him used to drinking out of a proper cup without the mess. I have never offered him formula in a beaker, I'm not sure I know anyone that has? I think the recommendation of introducing a beaker is for water not formula.

Offer water in a cup from 6 months. Don't worry about bottles of milk until around 1 year. Dd was off bottles for milk but 15 months and ds was off them by 11 months.

Demented may I ask (because I'm about to reach this stage) when the bottles stopped for milk at 11 months, did you move to cow's milk or give formula in a cup or beaker? If formula, do you have to measure it in a bottle first then pour in? I just realised none of my many cups or beakers have ml measurements on them so how do people do this with formula or follow on milk? Or just wait until they're on cow's milk usually then they can have milk or water from a cup/beaker?

I made up formula in a bottle and poured it into the cup. I did give the odd drink of cows milk too. At 12 months I then switched to cows milk, one feed at a time

2 and a half! That was just one bottle!

Mine was breastfed til 8 months, and on 5 7oz bottles plus food a day when I stopped BFing. He then dropped down (quite suddenly, we had to replace them with snacks though) to 2 bottles, morning and night, by 10 months. We switched his morning milk to a cup at about 14 months, so he has either before or with breakfast, and now he's almost 16 months am considering giving him bedtime milk (cow's rather than formula since just over a year) in a cup too. He eats lots of food and over the past week or so seems to want a bit less milk in his bottle. He used to drink 9oz which is why I was reluctant to switch to a cup, thought it would be a proper faff. Now he's drinking a bit less of it, think it might be easier.