[bbc mom]

I plan to breastfeed my 9.5 month old until he is 1 year old. At the beginning he used to accept the bottle with no problems, but at 2 months old he refused it altogether. We tried many different brands (Avent, Pigeon, Chicco, Mothercare, Dr Brown) but no luck so I have been breastfeeding since.

When he started solids we tried to introduce water in the sippy cup (Avent and Pigeon brands) but found the flow too fast and he kept spluttering and choking even with the smallest amounts. So we went back to the bottle again, but 3 months later he still has problems using the teat and still splutters and chokes even though we moved to a smaller hole teat for 2-3 month old. Sometimes he seems okay, but I think the problem is that he plays around with the teat in his mouth.

I think the baby whisperer uses a Haeberman bottle which only flows when baby sucks, but surely this is more suited for a newborn and not a 9.5 month old?

I really need him to master the bottle/sippy cup before I can even think about weaning him from the breast. Any suggestions would be great or if you could recommendation any other slow flow bottle/sippy cup. Thanks so much.

[joannek]

i've used no. 1 teat for my bf baby until she's 9mths old, then we swtiched to no.2. she's 15mths & she still uses the no. 2 teat. you could actually try using a real cup (so that your baby can see the water coming from the cup). my baby started drinking from an evian bottle @4 mths & she loves it.

[saralee]

I have used a straw which was quite successful. A soft one though not a disposable one.
I have also use Playtex sippy cups (worked from 6mths) which are good and also Tommy Tippee sippy cups (worked from about 8mths) but I'm not sure whether they are available here. Toys r Us has some Tommy Tippee things I think.
The Watsons water cap is also a great little cup.
I find both my kids gulp water and splutter but they are okay and seem to enjoy taking water this way.

My first took her milk successfully from the cup by about 10 months I think and my six month old will drink water but won't touch milk from a cup yet.

Hope this helps...

[DTHY]

Dear bbc mom,

I find that Tommee Tippee's drinking system/Easiflow tumblers are really good. My son started using them when he was about 9 months old. The spout is designed so that the baby/toddler can regulate the flow of the liquid, kind of like bfding. I think if your son doesn't like using the bottle, then may be you should skip to the cup (because then he would not have to quit the bottle later :o) - one less thing to worry about).

I got the Tommee Tippee cups from a large local drug store (not Watson's or Mannings). I think Toys R Us has them too; and I have seem them at some Welcome Super Stores as well (but not the full range).

[bongcvaldez]

I have the same scenario as yours. My 10 month old refused taking milk from the bottle when he was three months old. Tried different bottle brands and the one that works for me is Playtex with natural latch nipples. If you would like to try it you can get the poduct at Eugene (Windsor House) and Wing On (Taikoo Shing). Goodluck.

[nanzbier]

Hi DTHY,

I have a similar drinking system except its made by NUBY. I think her problem is that she doesn't like to suck....lazy! =) She actually likes it when I pour it into that bottle connected to a spoon (made by Pigeon). I would highly recommend this to anyone's babies that dont like to suck out of a bottle! =)

[bbc mom]

Hi. Thanks to everyone for their suggestions and advice. I was hoping to skip the bottle and go straight on to the cup, but the ones I tried just let the liquid pour out, hence baby choking all the time. I will definitely give Tommy Tippee a try first since it allows the flow to be controlled. At the moment I have only given water from a bottle/cup - no doubt I'll have another saga to report when I try to give him milk later. Fingers crossed!

[DTHY]

Good luck with the cup! When introducing milk, start by adding it to the breakfast cereal. You can try 3/4 bm and 1/4 whole milk, then slowly increase the proportion of whole milk. Once your baby is used to the taste, then you can give him a little whole milk to drink after meals. Then slowly cut down the number of bfeed and eventually switching completely to whole milk. I started this when my son was 10 months old and at about 13 months he wasn't interested in bfding anymore and was weaned naturally.