Weaning 11-month-old to a bottle

I'm finding the combination of being pregnant and still fully breastfeeding Jacob just a bit much - I feel bull-dozed most of the time and it's getting a bit silly. Ive been toying with the idea of weaning Jacob onto formula, but so far resisted because I like feeding him. However, this is getting too much, so I'm probably going to give it a shot.

Anyone got any tips on how to go about it? Do I just offer him a bottle when he's due for a feed? What feed's best to try? He drinks most first thing in the morning or last thing at night, but I think he'd be a bit dopey in the morning and perhaps too tired at night to give it a good shot.

I was going to say the same as maya, why bother with a bottle. Use what ever he drinks water out of now.

As to which feed - which ever one works for you. Also with taking him off the boob - DH can feed him allowing you to rest.

I have just weaned my 10month old. I wasn't wanting to fully wean her right now, but once she got a taste of the bottle, she was all over it! Now she is only feeding from me every now and again (I think I have breastfed her 3 times this week). My partner gave her her first bottle when I was out one day and she simply took it. She hasnt resisted at all.
We went to a bottle and not a sippy cup or whatever as she makes a mess with her water bottles and I am not keen on her spilling it everywhere.
She will wean herself from a bottle when she is ready (just likely first daughter did at about 17months).

Good luck!

I can highly recommend the Nuby no spill soft spout sippy cups. They are soft but not bottles so he will stop sucking and start drinking. Get him a sippy cup or something with a straw during the day. My son would not touch water for a long time so I gave him heavily diluted fruit juice. I would add about 5 times as much water as juice and it would barely taste of juice but he would drink it which kept him hidrated which was more important to me. Now he drinks water from a Systema basic sippy cup and soft spout nuby sippy at night. Makes him feel warm and fuzzy and allows him to drink enough without swallowing too much air and spilling. I would also recommend Karicares Toddler milk. My son loves it and its good for them.

Hi Hopes, I've just weaned by 11 month old DS on to a bottle. I did it gradually, just a feed at a time so it wasn't too much of a shock for him. I started with the one before bed, then the morning one, then the afternoon one, with a few weeks between each change.

I've dropped the afternoon one so now he just has a bottle before his nap in the morning and one before bed at night. I found that my DS was too distracted during the day to really have a good feed from me, then wanted to make up for it during the night. He drinks a good 250mls with each bottle and I'm sure that is way more than he was getting from me.

If he is over 1 I think you can just give them cows milk instead can't you, if you don't want to go down the formula road.

I think it's just trial and error with all the different sippy cups as well. I've found a good one from ecostore that my DS really likes, it has quite a long solid spout that is supposed to be good for orthodontics (sp?) and is BPA free etc which is good.

If he wakes during the night now I just offer water in his sippy bottle and he has started to sleep way better.

We just use the standard Heinz Nuture Follow on 2 from the supermarket. I guess you would know soon enough if a certain formula wasn't agreeing with your DS.

I'm sure you'll figure out soon enough the right times to give it to him during the day

The nuby sippy cups are great for drinking, but they do leak if the top isn't on properly.

If he's never had formula before he'll probably cope better with the starter ones. Best way to work out which he likes is to grab the sachets to try first, also contacting the manufacturers they're really helpful.

At that age you can go straight onto cows milk which is sweeter and closer in taste to breastmilk. BF babies find it more attractive than formula - seriously you should taste the formula, it's gross.

That worked with my boy. He had downright refused a bottle his entire existence until we just stopped trying at about 7 months. Then at 1 i weaned him to cows milk and put it in a camelback sippy bottle and he guzzled the whole thing. Then i tried a normal Avent bottle a few days later and he had that no bother too. I like the bottle as it means we can cuddle up and connect like when he was bf. He now has cup at breakfast and bottle before bed.

I think it depends on how well he is eating solids, Hopes. Straight milk doesn't have as much nutrition for a little one as formula (or bm obviously) so unless your baby is eating a good variety of food, and eating very well, then the good stuff in formula is still needed.

I was going to suggest cows milk too. I tried giving my DD formula around 11months (wasn't trying to wean her, just wanted her to take it so my parents could look after her) but she wouldn't have a bar of it. Tried quite a few times and with bottle/sippy cup but she just didn't like it. Then started giving her some cows milk after she turned 1 and she LOVED it so much that she gave up on BFing of her own accord at 13months.