Let's review the What, When, Why, and How's of bottle weaning!
What?
Bottle weaning is the transition process of using a bottle to receive nutrition and liquids to using a cup or straw for all liquid intake.
When?
Introduce a side open cup around 6 months-around the same time your baby starts eating solid food. Offering water in an open up, with your help, will help your baby be more comfortable with seeing, holding, and drinking from cups as you transition away from the bottle. 6 month olds only need about 1 oz of water, so offering a cup with a little bit of water can help wash any solid foods down at meal/snacktime.
Typical recommendations for weaning off the bottle is around 12 months. Breastfeeding can go beyond this age, but if breastmilk is taken from a bottle, start offering it in a cup around this same timeframe. Full elimination of a bottle is recommended around 18 months.
Why?
Weaning your baby off of the bottle helps them develop a mature swallow pattern. From 0-12 months your baby uses what’s known as an immature or tongue thrust swallow as they are sucking from a breast or a bottle. Around that 12 month mark, they are ready to start developing a mature swallow which is a tongue stripping pattern to move food and liquid from the mouth and into the esophagus. Because bottles do not stimulate a mature swallow since they don’t require an elevated tongue position to use, sippy cups with a spout are not recommended for the same reason. Open cups or cups with straws are recommended over sippy cups for swallow development. Initiating bottle weaning around 12 months with full elimination by 18 months helps develop a mature swallow pattern and reduces the likelihood of a tongue thrust habit. A tongue thrust impacts feeding and swallowing as well as speech sound development. *same goes for pacifier use and thumb sucking (eliminate by 18 months)
Prolonged bottle feeding puts kids at risk for:
Skipping meals
Reach an unhealthy weight
Develop cavities
Tongue thrust, delayed mature swallow pattern
How?
Bottle weaning should happen slowly over time to build comfortability and confidence with cup use. Since the recommended time frame is between 12 and 18 months, weaning should happen over time. The time it takes depends on when you start and how your baby reacts to the transition.
Gradually, not overnight
Some recommended approaches are to:
Eliminate the daytime bottle, then the morning bottle, then the nighttime bottle. You know you baby best so trust your gut with which to eliminate first for the easiest transition!
Introduce cups and tiny sips during meals! Encourage exploration
Praise, help them do it themselves, incorporate into meal routines
Swap with something else comforting like snuggles, a book, or music
Model good habits for them
Offer cups at mealtimes, trust your child to self-soothe
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