There seems to be so much differing opinion and advice out there on weaning from the bottle or breast onto the cup and cow’s milk. Some experts say to wean at 12 months, others anywhere up to two years of age or more.
I raise the topic because I am going through issues with weaning my 18 month old and there seems to be so much grey area with it.
I guess my issue is slightly different to most because my baby never took to the breast, or the bottle either, for that matter. We had endless battles trying to get her to take milk but it would often end in a screaming, hungry baby. Eventually, we managed to overcome all that and she ended up taking the bottle but now I am dreading weaning.
I have managed to drop one of her bottles so she’s down to two but she flat out refuses to take any milk, whether it be formula, or cow’s milk, from a cup. She’ll happily drink water – But milk? No way is this little girl having a drop of it. I don’t mind one bottle going because I’m careful to supplement the amount with plenty of cheese and yoghurt etc. But I do worry she won’t be getting enough calcium once the bottles are eventually all dropped and she refuses the cup.
There’s plenty of information out there on weaning but there’s never any mention of babies or toddlers not liking milk. It’s always assumed that they love their milk. I wonder why this is? When I found my daughter hated milk as a baby I ended up finding out about many other women who were in the same position. Some were having even more trouble than me, with one woman having to take her baby in to be fed through an IV tube because she’d lost too much weight.
So, I’ll just have to brave it alone and get rid of those bottles. I’ll just have to make sure there’s plenty of cheese and yoghurt on hand!