Ask:
the 13 mo off the bottle thread has me wondering when / how to take the bottle away.
My babe is 8 months old, and is eating pretty pretty good "real" food and (I think) as a result is drinking like only half (or less) of his 8oz bottle. Sooo does that mean I should start skipping it at certain feedings? He gets 4 bottles / day - and like I said lately he doesn't drink more than half --- but I'm afraid if I only make a few oz, he'll be wanting more!
He's also good with the 'soft' sippie cups - I tried the hard ones, but having no handles throws him off! There should be hard w/ handles!!
Answer:
well if he is drinking less now you can start making smaller bottles so you aren't wasting formula. I think at around 10 months you can start skipping bottles. At 11 months start replacing regular milk in a sippy cup by 12 months stop a bottle completely. Of course this is just a prefered time line. My oldest wouldn't take a bottle anymore at 10 months i had to put formula in a sippy cup. My ds never had a bottle and went straight from boob to sippy cup of regular milk at 11 months.
Answer:
I was the one that posted about getting my ds off the bottle. Once he started eating regular table food he did drink less formula. He would have maybe 4 6oz bottles a day. At his one year check up the Ped said he should really only have 2 cups/bottles a day. (since he still can't tolerate whole milk he's still on formula)
With him being 8mo I would still offer the formula whenever he wants it. I think my ds around 10 or 11mo cut way back on formula feedings, to maybe 3 6oz a day. My ds would not hold his bottle for anything. That's why when I offered the cup he refused it, even with us holding it for him. I finally tried a soft spout sippy cup, more like a silicone nipple type thing, and he took that sometimes but would still through it. That's why I'm so glad he could drink from a straw. When I went to get more of the tumbler type cups (with straws) I did notice regular sippy cups with a straw.
I think most Peds want the babies off the bottle around one year. Some may still need that before bedtime feeding and that bottle might be hardest to give up. Since your ds will take a cup I'd just start trying it for most feedings now, the sooner they give it up the better, and easier it is. My ds has always gone to bed at 7pm and has never really needed a bedtime bottle so it was thankfully easy for us.