another bottle question

[famousmockngbrd]

Cole is 7.5 months. Up until yesterday he got 5 bottles a day - an 8 oz. when he wakes up, then three 6 oz. bottles over the course of the day, then another 8 oz. bottle at night. He is also given solid food twice a day.

So I thought maybe I should start giving him four 8 oz. bottles a day instead? That way he's still getting almost the same amount of food but one less bottle. Is this a good idea? Is there a better way to do it? I'm confused about how to gently transition him from relying on bottles for nutrition to relying on "real" food. I plan on continuing his bedtime bottle past one year, for the comfort factor, but I would like to encourage him to give up his daytime bottles by then. I know most of you bf so you don't have a lot to say about bottles but I figured I'd ask anyway. Probably the same principles apply to weaning from the breast as from the bottle, anyway...

TIA-

[sarahmae1]

I would go ahead w/ the transistion as you have 'planned'... if your baby doesn't do well with it go back to the way it is right now. Most likely he'll do fine though. I know that as my ds got older he naturally started taking less from his bottles, and more in the way of foods and from his sippy cup. At about 8mos. he his day went something like this:

7am – 8oz. Bottle
8am – 1/4c. Cereal mixed w/ 1 jar fruit
9am – nap
11am – 8oz. Bottle, handful of cheerios
Noon – 1 jar veggie/meat mix. plus maybe some toast or crackers
1 or 2pm – nap
3 or 4pm – 8oz. Bottle, plus some yogurt or baby cookies
6pm – 1 jar veggie, 1/2 jar fruit plus some toast or crackers
7pm – bath, story, 8oz. Bottle

He was a big eater though (still is) but all babies are different. I couldn't make my own food then so I used jarred food, he was on st. 2 at that age. He was on formula from about 6-13mos. or so. HTH!

[MorgansMomma]

I just take Morgan's cue and would never try and take away one of his bottles if he wasn't ready. He's taking about the same as your wee one right now, and Morgan is 10 months. He has cereal every morning, two "solid" meals, plus snacks every so often(yogurt, etc). Course I have no "plan" to wean him from anything until he's ready either, but that's just my opinion.

[geekmom]

I've transitioned about a zillion kids (okay probably not as many as that) from formula to solids and I never had to do anythign, but offer the food. All the kids I've had, at some point, prefer solids and then just "request" fewer bottles.

As an attentive parent (as you clearly are), it doesn't matter too much what you do because if your child complains you'll just go back to giving them the bottle. Experiment with different things and see what your child does. Follow his wants. at 7.5 months usually kids are still mostly relying on bottles, not solids. I think it switches more like 10-12 months. Don't worry, no matter what you do he'll be stealing your food before you know it!

[famousmockngbrd]

Originally posted by MorgansMomma
I just take Morgan's cue and would never try and take away one of his bottles if he wasn't ready. He's taking about the same as your wee one right now, and Morgan is 10 months. He has cereal every morning, two "solid" meals, plus snacks every so often(yogurt, etc). Course I have no "plan" to wean him from anything until he's ready either, but that's just my opinion.

I'm not going to take away his bottle before he's ready, either. I think of this as more like "testing the waters" to see if he's ready. If he doesn't adhere to the "plan", that's fine with me. I was just wondering if that was the best way to find out if he is ready.

Since I posted this I have stopped giving him one 6 oz. bottle and have been offering more finger foods and such throughout the day. He is doing fine, so I guess I was worrying needlessly. (Hmm, how unlike me.)

[girlzmommy00]

With Lily, we've just been slowly offering more food and letting her decide how many bottles she'd like. Honestly I don't even keep track of how many bottles she has or how often. If she's hungry, I feed her
With most babies, when you start to offer more solids, they'll gradually take less bottles on their own. I don't ever remember making a specific effort to decrease bottles. We just take Lily's lead.
I know I wasn't very specific but I hope that was helpful.

[MorgansMomma]

Originally posted by famousmockngbrd
I'm not going to take away his bottle before he's ready, either. I think of this as more like "testing the waters" to see if he's ready. If he doesn't adhere to the "plan", that's fine with me. I was just wondering if that was the best way to find out if he is ready.

Since I posted this I have stopped giving him one 6 oz. bottle and have been offering more finger foods and such throughout the day. He is doing fine, so I guess I was worrying needlessly. (Hmm, how unlike me.)

Yea...to be honest I "forgot" to give Morgan one his bottles one day and he just....didn't notice...at least...I didn't hear otherwise. But I think he's laid back and prolly wouldn't make a peep if I completely forgot to feed him an entire day...well...ok...maybe THEN he'd let me know, heh. He's just so use to be giving him a bottle that I guess he figures if I don't give it to him...he isn't suppose to get it? :

[DaryLLL]

What about offering a cup? This wasn't mentioned so I thought I would ask. My kids were all fully bfed, but started taking water in a cup at 3-6 months of age.

You could do water, rice or soy milk, or the ABM, in a cup at mealtime and see what happens.

[famousmockngbrd]

I usually give him a sippy of water when I offer him solids. I don't like the idea of giving him a sippy in place of a bottle because I want to bottle-nurse him until he is just on solids and cow's milk, KWIM?

Morgansmomma - Cole is the same way. He tends to eat when he's offered food, and if he doesn't get it, no big deal. He won't act hungry until he is completely starving and then he has a meltdown. This isn't just me not reading his cues, either - I have scrutinized him for hunger cues and they are just not there, LOL. He's been like that since he was a newborn. So it's hard for me to gauge what he really needs, KWIM?

Thanks for all your advice, everyone - I guess I'll just have to wing it (as usual...)