how late is too late to intro a bottle?

[LiLStar]

ds is 6.5 months and has only ever had his milk straight from the tap. Sometime in the semi near future I'll need to leave him with a babysitter (I'm guessing he'll be 8 or 9 months then) How likely is he to accept a bottle if he's never had one before? I normally don't "let" him have pacifiers (he's a thumbsucker) but he readily accepts one if big sister finds one around and slips it into his mouth, lol. I also have a finger feeder that I used a few times when dd was a newborn. I'm guessing he'd do okay with that. He prefers his own thumb to adult fingers these days but I think he'd accept it if he figured out that milk was coming with it! And I'll be leaving some solid food available too.

So from those with experience, is a bottle worth trying with an older baby? Or should I save my money and just nurse right before leaving, leave some solids with the sitter and teach her to use the finger feeder if he's desperate for some milk?

[3girls1boy]

6.5 month old is ready to learn to use a cup. I would not get the kind with a no spill spout if your baby has never had a bottle though. I would either have the adult hand feed with a small cup with no top or try the very simple type of spouted lid that snaps onto a plastic tumbler. The reason for that is the no spill (i.e. Playtex brand) type, the baby really has to suck on hard and strictly breast fed babies don't really get this. Also some moms have told me that that kind of cup sometimes causes their kids to get their latch at the breast kind of messed up.

[LiLStar]

Yeah I noticed that with the no spill cups! dd was pretty old before she figured out how to drink from those. so the spouted lid kind.. are you talking about like the take n toss kinds? Or the tupperware kind? I could try practicing a cup with him and see how he takes to it.

[07Mommy]

I started my LO on a sippy cup @ 4 1/2 mos. so DH could give BM while I cook, shower, etc.

We used the NUK cup, that is suppose to be an easy one to transition to.

[3girls1boy]

Originally Posted by LiLStar

Yeah I noticed that with the no spill cups! dd was pretty old before she figured out how to drink from those. so the spouted lid kind.. are you talking about like the take n toss kinds? Or the tupperware kind? I could try practicing a cup with him and see how he takes to it.

I was thinking of the tupperware or similar kind. Some of the no-spill, you can actually just remove the valve thing on the underside of the top.