| I’m sorry I don’t really have any ideas about how to encourage an older baby to take a cup or bottle, except letting them play with it and not worrying about how much he drinks.
Generally it is advised to breastfeed your baby before giving solids until around a year old. That is making the solid a supplement for the breast milk rather than the breast milk a supplement for the solids. This is for two reasons. The first is that the breast milk is the better food – no matter what the solid is. The second reason is you are less likely to have supply problems if solids are introduced in this way.
Having said that some babies just really enjoy solids a lot. If this is your baby don’t worry too much. Just give your baby as much milk as he will take – even if this means only two feeds a day.
“when weaning onto bottle, you should present bottle only” is very bad advice. As your baby takes less and less breast milk the number of immuglobulins and immune factors increases. Thus as long as your baby is breastfeeding your baby is receiving the benefits of being a breastfed baby even if this is just once a day or once every few days. Don’t be in a hurry to give this great health gift away.
Best wishes,
Barb  |