9 month old won't give up the bottle - what cup/beaker is left to try?

[Leeeza]

My 9 month old has 3 bottles of milk a day and a cup of water with his lunch and dinner. Drinks from tommee tippee hard spouted cup no porblem with his water but wont drink his milk in anything other than the bottle, I've so far tried his breakfast milk in 4 different types of cups (non-spill/free flow/soft tip/hard spout/same cup as he drinks water out of etc.) but he just puts it in his mouth and takes it out again and drops it uninterested and then when i put the milk in his bottle he shouts until i give it to him and happily drinks it all. Anyone have same problem? Any different cups I could try??

Same happened with DD2. I just let her continue with the bottles until she was just over 11 months and then tried again. She was having all her milk from cups within a week so I think it was a matter of timing with her.

Leeza - I have the same problem as you. DD takes water from a tommee tippee cup but refuses milk from it. Its been a month since I tried again with the milk in a beaker so may give it another go. My guess is they all get the hang of it in their own time.

9 months seems very young to be totally giving up bottles.

I think the usual "timeline" is giving up bottles completely by about a year. I wouldn't panic about it just yet. Try again in a month and again at 11 months. By 12-13 months babies have a far greater understanding and yours should be a little more open to suggestion, if he hasn't been before.

He is very young to worry about cutting out bottles, but you could try a straw. Ds rather enjoyed them, and you can get non spill cups from Kiddicare that have lids with a hole in for a straw to go through. We taught him to suck the straw by putting it in the liquid, put finger over the end, and then let it trickle into his mouth. Got the idea in a few days.

why don't you want him to have a bottle?

Let him keep the bottle - it's more than just milk, it's comfort and familiarity. It won't do him any harm!

my ds drank milk from bottle untill a yr old

its fine he still had bottle at night untill 14 mths and occassional until 2 dont worry too much for milk

9 mths i found was still too young as some are so tough to drink from he wasnt strong enough and bottles are a comfort

I got both mine off the bottle by 12 mths as like you say after that it is a worse problem. Dont worry to much but if he is drinking out of a cup with water then he atleast knows how to do it! I do think though it just comes a time when you just have to make up your mind to throw away the bottles and muddle through. Goodluck

I really really don't see why three bottles a day would be a problem even if the child was 5! So long as he don't go to sleep every night sucking one, or spend ages every day with the bottle in his mouth, I don't see a problem - go with the flow!

Plenty of children have a bottle up to 2 years old (and beyond).

He's only a baby still, let him have the bottle.

I guess a bottle is fine as long as he wants it... for the time being. It gives comfort in the same way as breastfeeding. My DD didn't give that up totally until she was over a year old, by which time we had introduced Tommee Tippee milk as "Big Girl Milk", so she kind of took the transition better. Making the cup seem like the most up-to-date cool thing might work!

Give him his bottle. It doesn't matter. You will look back in 4 years and wonder why you were in such a hurry to take away the nice things from your baby.

Ds1 gave his bottle up withoput a murmur at 2.3 - he was ready to. Ds2 threw his at me at 11 months and never tolerated one again!

DS is 8mo and it's not occurred to me to even think about taking away his bottle yet.

I have the exact worry as Leeeza, only my ds is almost one! Im at a loss as what to do as im so concerned with him having enough milk per day, im still giving 3 bottles per day. The one at night is like magic to send ds off to sleep so that will be tricky to swap. Ive been trying his pm top up of milk in various beakers but he refuses milk unless in a bottle. Will have water from tommee tippee at meal times though.

eek, my DS is 2 and a half and still has all his milk out of a bottle. tbh never thought much about it as he drinks juice etc. out of a beaker with spout or glass or glass with straw. its a comfort thing.

but have you tried cutting a cross in the bottle teat so it flows quicker, then once he's used to that cutting a hole in it? then hopepfully he should be more used to the extra flow of a beaker / the bottle will be more associated with tipping and swallowing rather than sucking (IYKWIM!).

HMMM, that sounds a good idea lotty, not ever heard of anyone doing that but it could work.
The reason for cutting the bottles is supposed to be to do with speak and the way teeth grow or something? Does anyone know if this is true?

Thanks everyone - i think i just read somewhere that they shouldnt have bottles after one (dont know why - but think it is something to do with improving speech or something?) so was trying to start slowly weaning him off his bottles but think i'll leave it a while and try again.

maybe to do with speech and teeth but my DS chatters away ALL day and have been told he has above average vocabulary for his age (and he has perfect teeth!)

DD has just given up bottles. She's 2y 8m. Speaks perfectly well (for her age) and has got fantastic teeth.
I gave up my bottle when I was 3, so mum told me when I asked her.
They give them up in their own time. Don't worry about it.