feeding from a cup and storing milk

[Ruthiebaby]

Breastfeeding will be coming to an end for me in a few weeks when ds reaches 6 months !

I want to give him milk from a cup/beaker instead of bottles. I know that you can make up bottles in advance and use them within 24h, but can you do the same with milk in cups/beakers ?

Do you sterilise the cups as well ?

Help as I haven't really got much of a clue about any of this having totally bf my first child.

Ruthie - your choice etc etc etc, but you do know you can continue breastfeeding alongside other foods and drinks, don't you : )

Whatever you do, don't just stop wham-bam-overnight....you need to change gradually.

It's unlikely that a baby of six months will be able to get all his milk needs from a cup with no breast or bottle, BTW - drinking a lot of milk from a cup takes time to learn.

Persnally, cleaning the cups would be sufficient for me for a healthy baby of six months. Can't see the point of sterilising at this age as long as you make sure all milk traces are removed from the lid.

Hi Tiktok. I would love to continue bf but I'm also going back to work in 4 weeks time. I'm going to try it in the evenings when I get in and possibly at night when he wakes (currently waking 3 times in the night for feeds yawn)

So, you don't think he'll get all he needs from a cup. So, I'll do a mix of bottles and one cup a day and bf in the evening.
I'm going to introduce a bottle midmorning for him, and possibly a cup in the afternoon.

Hope I don't confuse my ds !

Can I keep milk in the beaker though ? Or do I have to make it and use it straight away ?

Er......why wouldn't you feel you could keep milk in the beaker? Why would it be ok to keep it stored in the bottle and not the beaker? Am I missing something?

Just keep a lid on it so bits from your fridge don't fall in

I hope others will chip in here, and give you an idea of when a baby might take (say) 4-5 ounces in a cup. I think it would be pushing it for a 6 mths old, to be honest, but a nine or 10 mth old might manage it. OTOH, if you held you baby as if you were giving a bottle, then he would prob take as much as that. I suppose I was assuming the baby trying to manage the cup himself.

my ds is nearly 6 months and refuses a cup. he's happy to sit and play with it, but won't drink anything from it!

we've managed to get ds to drink from a (held for him) steady cup - he's 6 mths - with about a 50% success rate, ie reckon abt half gets down him, rest goes floor/bib/clothes

am abt to try a doidy cup in case he finds that easier to manage. thought it was eorth a try with a 'proper' cup, since he doesn't like bottles much (needs much persuasion) & isn't interested in lidded beakers either.

hth.

i had a doidy cup when i was lickle!

yep friend with 7 mth ds says they're the way to go, so we shall see

i think linus would just lob it everywhere. lol

not if you didn't let him he wouldn't

no seriously, i don't let roo try & manage the cup all by himself yet, that would = a soaking/loadsa mess

linus just chews on it at the moment. and nothing can go near his mouth without him grabbing hold of it... so think i'll stick to cups with lids for the moment! lol

he holds on too...but can't overcome mum/dad's iron-grasp-control over cup!

we started off letting him play with it, to get familiar etc, but then i decided i didn't want him to think it was exactly like the rest of his toys...so cup now lives in cupboard & only appears with his bits of food. he does seem to like it tho - think big babybird impressions when cup comes near mouth. it's dead cute really!

aww bless. linus has a pretty iron grip of his own! i couldn't get a spoon off of him earlier!!!
just imagining us having tug of war over a doidy cup with contents flying aroundt he room! lol