Weaning off bottle

Can you help me with the process of weaning this very determined one-year-old from the bottle?

Firstly make sure that baby is very settled in life. When baby is already cranky because of sickness or some kind of upheaval, you are not doing yourself or the baby any favours by trying to wean at that time. Wait until baby’s usual sunny self re-emerges before you decide to start weaning!

Although our parent’s generation favoured the cold turkey method, it is not the kindest way to wean a one-year-old. So that method should be reserved for older children and does work well for them. For a one-year-old, it is better to introduce a cup slowly and let it gradually take the place of the bottle. Firstly you need to get baby happy with a cup. Then start to either give a cup for one feed or combine bottle and cup at one feed – put the milk partly into the bottle and partly into the cup. The midday feed is a good feed in which to introduce change. If you are using the combined bottle and cup method, you would slowly over a week or two reduce the amount of milk in the bottle and have more in the cup, until you are giving that feed completely from the bottle.

If your baby still wants the bottle, then make a new rule that only water is served in the bottle. For most babies this is a good way to get baby to lose interest in the bottle. The alternative is to hide all the bottles away and hope that they get forgotten. At the same time, display the cup prominently. Make it a special cup, with appealing pictures or colours, and make a fuss of how lovely it is. There are so many special cups around that it should not be difficult to find one that your baby thinks is wonderful!

Since baby will be holding the cup, there will be a mess. You can be sure of this and just accept it. Just be patient and calm and mop up as you go along. Sippy cups that are spill-proof are tempting to use at this time, but they have as many disadvantages as the bottle, so you will not be achieving much. Be very excited and make a fuss of your baby every time he drinks from the cup. It’s a good idea to have the whole family have a cup to drink from at the same time, so that he feels grown up and part of the family. It’s perfectly normal for the amount of milk that the baby takes in to diminish now that he is using a cup, and you should not worry about that. If you feel he is not getting enough milk, then you can use a bit of extra milk in cooking for him.

This weaning and getting used to a cup can be a long drawn-out process. Give baby all the time he needs to make the transition. It’s not a race, and baby is giving up a lot of the comfort gained from sucking. Be sure to give extra cuddles and reassurance to help baby make this important step.