10 Month Old Weaning Himself off Bottles. Is This Ok?

Hi M.! My son, Ethan, did the same thing at that age. At 8 months he refused to take a bottle and would only use a sippy cup and by 10 months he too did not want formula. I began giving him regular milk a little at a time and eventually got to a full cup(within a couple of weeks). I was worried about the nutrients as well so I put infant vitamin drops in his milk and he drank it fine. He never had any problems. I think he was taking in enough "big boy" food plus the vitamins and that was enough nutritionally. Also, sometimes kids just prefer real food because it tastes much better than formula. Plus, your son is growing fine so I wouldn't worry about it. I figured that back in the day before formula(which wasn't that long ago) regular milk was perfectly acceptable and our grandparents and parents came out just fine!

Hi M.,

My daughter weaned herself off the bottle at about that age too. My pediatrician sugested added a scoop of formula to her morning cereal to keep her getting the nutrients for a little longer and that worked for about a month or two months. I am sure you are doing this - make sure he gets vitamin rich food (fruits and vegetables and remember that some vitamins won't stand heat!) and iron rich foods. Your pediatrician should be able to recommend specific foods and the AAP books on nutrition are a good reference. Another good book is Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron. While it is a vegetarian guide I found that it had some great suggestions for things like power snacks and is divided into sections by age. I'm not vegetarian but I still found the book useful.

Cheers
M.

Wow, weaning himself from the bottle is great! My doctor wants us to wean our 10 month old from the bottle by the time he is 11-12 months, so I think that part is great. However the milk thing, I would consult my doctor. It is hard to force someone to take something they just cant stand. I am not sure what it is. My son did this with baby cereals. He just wont eat them. He too loves big boy food. And he started walking at 9 months. I wouldnt suggest trying to slow him down. Every child like every person and pregnancy is different. I think for the milk issue, just talk to your doctor. And just enjoy your beautiful child. I know this maynot have helped but that is the only thing I can think of. My children never had an issue with formula or even switching from formula to milk. They just took what I gave them. My 10 month old is the only one that has had any issue with any food this young. And its only the baby cereal.

I agree with Holly, back in the day they didnt have the things/foods we have and they are fine. I have some cousins that couldnt drink anything BUT goats milk, and they are fine as well. I think that he is close enough to a year that its not that big of an issue, WIC puts babies on reg. whole milk at 12 months anyways. Good Luck

My daughter which is now 19 and in college did the same thing at 10 months. She loved her sippy cup more then the bottle because she actually didn't have to work to get the content out. =0) I just kept putting her formula in that until a year old. My advice would be to put anything he drinks in a sippy cup. That includes his juice, water and formula. Some times you have to play the role of you pretending of course to drink it from his cup so he knows it is okay that he do the same. Let me know how everything turns out.

J.