Switching to beaker for formula feeds

[Jacksmybaby]

DS 8.5 mths has 3 bottles of formula a day: 6oz before breakfast, 6-9oz at 2.30p.m. and 9oz before bed. Drinks water from beaker by himself, at lunch and tea. Thinking of switching over to beaker for formula feeds too. When did you do this? Is it worth it or better just to stick to bottles, as the feeds themselves will be phased out over next few months anyway? Do you have to sterilize beakers if using them for formula (I don't sterilize them at the moment, for water)?
Also did you find milk intake dropped drastically when switching to beaker? (Given what he does when drinking water, i.e. spill quite a lot, only take a few sips etc, as opposed to glugging down a whole 9oz in 5 mins which he is capable of doing with a bottle. On the other hand, his formula intake is on the high side as it is so might not be a bad thing if it drops...)

Definitely easier to switch earlier than later IME.
No need to sterilize.
You could try a beaker with a lid to make it less messy.

Thanks. We do use beaker with lid and spout, not non-spill though as he doesn't seem to be able to get anything out of those. But still manages to dribble loads of water all down his front!

Yes, ours never figured out sucking through the non-drip cups either.

Just a comment, which I'm not sure is relevant to you, I spoke a a breast feeding counsellor yesterday about the possibility of introducing a bottle of ff, and also using a cup as opposed to a bottle and she said great, but she said DD might not take the ff from a cup. It apparently can smell quite strong which can put them off. Also, she didn't recommend non-spill beakers. Have you thought about using a doidy cup? They are easier to drink from than normal beakers apparently, plus it's good to get them used to using an open cup.

Hi I switched both my two from bottles to these by the time they were a year. I started by introducing them as water cups so they could get used to them but when I started to use them for milk I used them exclusively for that.

With dd1 I did it when she was about 11.5 months and just changed one day and she was fine. She still uses one for her morning milk as I am not brave enough to give her an open cup for milk as it is a pain to get out of the carpet!

Dd2 had been on bottles longer but she also uses them now. I tried at about 9/10 months but she barely drank any milk so I went back to bottles and retried at 11 months and she now drinks 9oz twice a day from them. I waited til she was on two feeds a day and don't sterilise the cups as the milk doesn't stay long in them. I do still make the formula up in a bottle which I sterilise but that is force of habit. I believe that if you have a dishwasher there is not need to sterilsie anyway, and there is a debate as to whether there is any need to sterilise anyway if you use very hot, soapy water and air dry.

Sorry bit of an essay- hope it helps a bit!

ds is 15 months and still has 3 8 oz bottles a day, so i'm not sure what you mean by "phased out" - all children need milk regardless of age. well calcium but i find milk is the easiest way to ensure they get this. i also don't think his milk intake is high. its the same as my ds'.

Hi ladies,

Hope you don't mind me butting in......

I was planning on getting ds 2(4months) onto using a beaker for milk ASAP after 6 months - has anyone tried it this early? Only just managed to get ds1 off his bedtime bottle ritual at 2.5yrs so want to avoid that at all costs.

On the subject of doidy cups - I hate them.....ds kept tipping liquid all over himself and I don't know anyone who got on with them. For us it was far better to have a small plastic cup from the off.

I guess its trial and error - they're all different.

I didnt start as early as 6 months but ds was off bottles and onto beakers from 10 1/2 months. I started when he was about 9 months and still had 4 bottles a day. I swapped the mid-morning one into a cup (by doing it with one of the day feeds it meant if he didnt take much he could make up for it at a later feed). Once he was taking it ok I swapped the mid-afternoon feed too. He did end up dropping these 2 feeds as he took less and less but by then I had swapped the other 2 feeds as well. He has milk with his breakfast from an avent first cup and his bedtime milk from his cow cup. (both of these can be made free-flowing by removing the valve but I use them with the valve as it is less messy for milk) He has his water from a tommee tippee first cup to avoid confusion i.e. he knows by the cup what he is going to get out of it. I used a doidy cup with dd but havent got one for ds - I will just use the TT first cup without a lid - does the same job without spending any extra cash.

Ah, interesting Seona, I was going to ask whether people used the same cups/beakers for milk and water, or different ones. We use the TT first cup for water, as he couldn't get anything out of the easiflow one (tried it myself and you have to bite down really hard!)

Yes, you have to bite really hard to suck milk out of an easiflow beaker> I wouldn't recommend one of these if you are still breastfeeding - as baby might bite you quite hard after drinking from one of these cups! happened to me with ds1 and will never use them again!

we used a doidy cup with ds from 4 months.