My 1yr. old needs help weaning.. HELP!

Question

I have a 1 yr old son that has been breastfed. I originally wanted to wean at 9 mos but decided to do it at a year. Well I have tried a bottle and sippy cup of formula and he won't take neither. He loves water from a bottle, ice cold water, but if anything else is in the bottle he won't take it. What should I do? He doesn't like apple juice either, but is eating baby food. Should I wait or push the bottle?

Answer 1

i'm surprised no one else suggested this, but have you tried pumping and putting breastmilk in the sippy cup? and at 1, i wouldn't start the bottle. at this age, they should be transitioning to a sippy cup. the older they are, the harder it is to get them to give up the bottle.  

Answer 2

That is great that you breastfed for a year.

It does not hurt to keep breastfeeding until you can wean him so if you don't want to hurt your son then I suggest to do it gradually.  That is the best way.  Also he is still getting the nutrients from your breast milk which is really beneficial to him.   First introduce other types of drinks in between nursings so he doesn't feel as if you are taking a feeding away.  You will notice however that he will drink less each nursing because of the other fluids are going to be filling him up.  

It took me a while to realize that my son loved juice boxes vs. the cuppy.  So I started to give him some juice boxes in between feedings and then I gradually gave it to him at dinner time so then he didn't want to drink breast milk.  Then I gradually kept taking away nursings that way.  You can do juice or water or even cows milk now.  If he does not like cows milk be patient he may like it later. Once when you get him on to a cuppy then mix some breast milk with some cows milk and give that to him to drink. I would do only an ounce or two of cows milk with about 4 or more ounces of breast milk though because you want to do that gradual too otherwise he wont like it. My son didn't like it at all that way because he does not like cows milk at all.  I finally tried the flavored milk and found that he liked vanilla milk and I give that to him now and we are down to just the bed time feeding and hopefully by the end of the month he will be weaned completely.  He is 17 months old now but that was my choice to let him show me signs of when he wanted to wean and when  he was 15 months old he started to show signs so I started to wean him then.  If you wait for them to show sign of wanting to wean it will be a lot easier to wean then to force them.

Just to let you know that breastfeeding to a year is great and now they are recommending to do it for 2 years if you can.  Now I am not saying that you have to do it for 2 years that is up to you and your son.  My daughter weaned by 14 months because she just loved cows milk, so she was easy and she still loves dairy, My son does not like hardly anything dairy.  My pediatrician also told me if you can't get them to drink milk that orange juice has great calcium and all you need is 8 ounces of orange juice a day to meet the requirements of calcuim.  I did start to do that with my son and he loves orange juice.

Also try different kinds of sippy cups because my son didn't like the playtex ones but then I bought the take and toss ones and he liked them.  he really likes the ones with the straws because for some reason he really likes straws so when I bought them it really worked for us. I would not do a bottle unless you absolutely have to because it is hard to wean them from a bottle to a cup too. I had to do that with my daughter and it took us a while.  

Good Luck with everything.

Edit:  Please don't think he will not want anything later other then breast milk because all children give it up sooner or later.  Forcing him to do it can be traumatizing to him.  You may not understand it but it is something that he has had since he was a newborn and now you are taking that comfort and where he thinks his only source of fluids away from him.  Once when he realizes that drinking other things is not so bad then it will be a lot easier.  As for nursing in public if you do that I would not worry about that because its not like the nutrients just stopped because your son turned one. You are still feeding your baby and that is all that matters but most of the time one year olds are on a schedule and you don't have to nurse in public. That is when you may want to  bring the juice box or cuppy to show him that he needs to drink that when you are out and that will start him realizing other drinks.

Edit 2:  Try a different juice. My son doesn't like apple that much either now he will drink it only if I don't have anything else. But he loves the fruit punch and the orange juicy juice boxes.  he also love ice tea too.  He doesn't like water unless it is flavored...LOL something with flavor with him.  He is so funny.  

My son is also a very picky eater.  He did not like veg. or meats. So he lived off of fruit for a long time. Finally I got him to eat some of the stage 2 foods of chicken noodle and veg. or chicken and veg. and he liked them better then the plain stuff. Then I got him to stage three foods but he would gag on how thick it was so I waited a few weeks and tried again and he did fine. So what you can do is wait a little bit and try again. Their taste buds are always changing so you never know.  What you can also try doing is try giving him some real veg. like peas or green beans or carrots chopped up not too small because you want him to learn to chew but not too big where he can choke. He may like them more then baby food. My son did and then he got really sick and now wont eat anything but baby food. sometimes I can get him to eat what we are having but it is rare.  I am just taking my time with it and not forcing him because if you force it he will resist more.

Good Luck!!

Answer 3

Great job going a year!

If he is a year then it would be great to have breastmilk still, maybe he will take it in a cup.  Since he is over one year though, he does not ~need~ it anymore to gain nutrients if he eats well.  There is no reason to push a bottle on him, maybe a cup or sippy or cup with straw would be more to his liking.  You can also mix b/m or mik with his cereal.  Water is the only fluid he needs now.  There is no reason to add formula.  The juice is not actually good for him (neither is the tea, sorry) and he does not need it.  Give him real fruit instead that way he gets the fiber to help his body process the sugar.  Use milk to mix cereal  if you are worried about that, but he does not need milk either.

Some babies just don't like meat.  Try other protein sources like beans and such.  Also try grinding up your own food and feeding that to him instead of the jars.  It is what you have been eating and since he has had your milk, he has had that flavor in the milk and may take to if better.  You can raise a vegetarian baby though, there are a number of books out on it.

Answer 4

Do whatever you feel comfortable with, if you don't want to breastfeed anymore then push the bottle on him, he will take it eventually although there will be fussing and crying.  If you don't mind breast feeding for longer then go for it, but the longer you do it the harder it will be to wean him.  Good luck!

Answer 5

It is to your comfort level, sometimes it is better on the mom to wean slowly and for others to wean quickly. Children are able to adapt to different things quickly because it is the nature of people to do so. If you feel that he needs to be off the breast just be insistent about the bottle and not give in. REMEMBER! Be consistent with him and he will eventually give in. It took me a week to get my son to learn to put himself to sleep when i put him to bed at 9 pm. BUT he does it without a fight anymore. Just stand strong in your decision.

Answer 6

He doesn't need formula... I would try whole milk in a big boy cup-- a weighted, regular, plastic cup, with out any sippy aspect or anything.

Answer 7

Push the bottle, and slowly not give in to breastfeeding. This might be a problem, especially for a 1 year old. Unless you want to be seen in public breastfeeding your 1yr old... i suggest you start giving cups out.

If he asks for milk, show him the cup and say "that is your ____" (milk, baba, juice, water... however you talk to your child.) He'll probably start throwing fits, but try hard not to give in bcuz that is usually what most parents do wrong, "feeling sorry" for their kid when they should put a firm hand down.   Soon ,  if you keep up with this routine, you wont have to breastfeed.... You wait too long, and he , mite not want ANYTHING else but those b*****s. lol

Answer 8

Why wean him to a bottle? Just let him take the sippy cup for water or juice and gradually decrease your breast feedings until he's weaned. You made it all the way to a year, I wouldn't ever use a bottle. It will just be one more thing you have to wean later.

Answer 9

Why wean to a bottle, that will just be another thing to wean him from.  Go straight to a sippy cup.  Pump and put it in the cup if you still want him to have it until he is ready to just drink from the cup.  

Answer 10

THERE ARE SPECIAL BOTTLES OUT THAT ARE JUST LIKE THE NIPPLE YOU SHOULD FIND THEM AND TRY IT.  HE MIGHT JUST WANT TO BE CLOSE TO YOU THAT COMFORT FEELING OF SECURITY.