I never gave thought to the day that my son would stop using the bottle. At first everything was about breastfeeding, Is he latching? Is he getting enough milk? how much longer could I do it for? I must have thought about the day I would stop breastfeeding over 20 times. Once he switched over to a bottle I just went with it, the thought of him transitioning again didn’t cross my mind.
Then he turned one and I learned it was time to start weaning him off the bottle. It took three months but once I got there and it became time to throw the bottles away I choked up. When I stopped breastfeeding he was still a baby, but throwing the bottles away would serve as evidence that I had a full blown toddler in my hands. Where did my helpless baby go? How did we get here so quickly? Here is how our family got there:
newborn
We went with Avent glass bottles for the newborn stage. We were planning on using a bottle warmer for his milk and learned that plastic could leach into the bottles while heating, so glass was best for our family.
infant
Once we learned that glass for a baby holding his own bottle was not the best idea (rookie mistake) we switched over to Avent natural bottles. We stoped heating his milk and he used this until he transitioned over to cups.
water Cup
skipped the sippy cup entirely and went with the Oxo tot transitions cup around 7 months. We removed the sippy part and activated the slow flow. We would guide him and allow him to practice on his own, spilling occasionally but nothing too drastic. The catch was, he would only drink water out of it. At 12 months he refused any sort of milk from the cup.
We continued serving water in the Oxo tot transitions cup. We were now past the 12 month bottle cut off stage (according to the internet it can cause dental problems) and cutting it close. We started to get strategic, we lost the morning bottle and replaced it with water, limiting the times he drank from the bottle. The goal was to get him more accustomed to the cup altogether and slowly have him feel comfortable without the bottle.
milk cup
We decided to try a new cup that would be different and serve only milk. The goal was not to make it feel like we were replacing milk in the bottle but to introduce a new milk experience in a cup. We went with Munchkin 360 trainer cup. Again, he was drinking water in the morning, we skipped offering milk in the bottle until we went on a morning walk. We waited until he was relaxed and wasn’t getting the vibe we were trying to trick him, when we offered him milk in the new cup he drank it like it was nothing! Later that day we tried it again on a walk and it worked!
It was official, we got our 15 month old to commit to a cup. What I learned along the way is, it didn’t matter if he transitioned at 12 months, 15, even 24. The moments are short and they go by quickly. We had fun on this bottle to cup adventure. Now all that’s left is throwing the bottles away. It seems as though, I might be the one who is not ready 😉.
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