8 Month Old Refuses Bottle

Try switching over to a sippy cup. 8 months is old enough for it, though it may take a little practice at first. You're better off doing it now than trying to get a one year old to give up the bottle for the cup, anyway.

hi there! nuby makes a great sippy cup. they don't have handles, so it mimics a bottle. it also has a soft silicone spout, which mimics a bottle nipple. i found this to be the easiest transition from bottle to sippy cup. it acts like a bottle, but with a "sippy" spout. also, this brand is BPA-free. they're cheap and sold at target. it's called "10 oz Easy Grip No-Spill Sipper with soft silicone spout" or can also be called "Gripper Cup with soft silicone spout". the flow is fast and i've had no problems so far. good luck!

Actually, if he's already taking a sippy cup, congratulations!!! You're already doing what a lot of doctors recommend, and getting him away from the bottle. He's still nursing, which is great, and his weight is good. We found our daughter did well when we started her with "nuby" brand cups. They have a softer top, a little more like a bottle nipple. It seemed to make the transition easier. And since she wasn't drinking as much because it took a little time to master it, we added some cereal to it, to make it thicker (easier to swallow and harder to spill). That had the added benefit of filling her up more too. Good luck!

My 11 month old loves the Nuby sippy cups. They do not have any valves just a soft top that is great for transition from bottle to sippy. She also likes the Nuby cups that have a straw. Good luck!

I am a part time Occupational Therapist (pediatric) and off course a mommy. I nursed both of mine and my daughter was stubborn with this too. First is it you that is trying to feed him?? If so have someone else (dad or family) take him through a feeding time and have them do it. If you have tried this and it didn't work it could be the nipple #/size that is too slow for him. My daughter was just plain stubborn. I first did a 4 hour shift when I went back, but because of commute it ended up being through 2 feedings and she held out till she could see me. Then two days later I had an 8 hour shift where she refused the first feeding and didn't have a problem since. Now my son had difficulty about 5 or 6 months after already bottle feeding well and I realized it was a nipple size thing. Getting the right flow can be difficult sometimes for exclusively breastfed babies. If you tell me what you use I can give some suggestions. As for sippy cups... there are so many different suggestions and options. One route is a Nubby brand as it is similar to a bottle. Has he tried 4 oz juice/water (50/50) through a sippy yet?? The sweetness might get him to do this quicker and better. Feel free to contact me w/ further questions. This is a fairly common problem, yet a very frustrating one!

My daughter did the same thing at 8 month, i found a cup with a flat build in straw, that folds down and up, and she used that and was happy with it.it is an rectangular bottle, I think it was from rubbermaid, i got it at Wal mart.I told my pediatrician and she was so grateful, since this seems to happen a lot, and lots of Mom's in her practice were succesful with this bottle!hope it helps you !

The only sippy cup that worked for my daughter was Born Free. The training nipples are so similar to real nipples, she took to it so easily.

Good luck!

Please don't stress. I am sure you are worried about going back to work first of all. I think that when My duaghter did this, and I also nursed for the first year, that Her teeth were starting to bother her. The sucking mechanism is totally different between a bottle and breast. I found the small gerber cups with the soft tip to be her favorite, they are two-toned ie, green with blue, pink with purple. I found that Target always has them in stock and they have handles in both sides so you can link it to the car seat or anything. Just buy a few link shapes, or chew links chains if you don't already have them. Also, your little one maybe wanting to ween himself from the bottle before breast, which would be lucky for you. If he takes some from you and some from a cup, the whole transition will be Much easier later. Good luck and let me know how things go. We've tried every cup out there! K. L.

My three kids _never_ used a bottle becaused I nursed them until they were 1.5-2yrs. They went straight to a sippy cup, but they were a few months older.
My advice would be, of course, keep up the breastfeeding:-) And if he's hungry/thirsty while you're gone, then he'll take a bottle. He may take it from someone else rather than you, since he knows you've got the good stuff:)
Good luck!

Hi R.,
My daughter never took a bottle (she was breastfed). We kept trying but she would refuse. I went straight to a sippy cup. I tried Nuby cups b/c they don't need to suck as hard to get liquid out. They Nuby cups with a straw worked best, she had an easier time getting liquid out of the straw kind than with the other kind. It took a while, but eventually she got it.

My pediatrician suggested that if she wasn't taking a bottle, not to worry about it, either use a cup (help her take small sips), a sippy cup or a spoon. The spoon is tedious, but it does work.

I've actually heard of a lot of breastfed babies that won't take bottles, so hang in there. It will get easier.

If you can't find the Nuby cups with a straw, I found some new ones on Ebay Express. Email me and I can send you the link.

Nubby cups were all my first would take. My second just chewed them to severe leakage. With my second, the Gerber transition cups seem to be working to get her to graduate to a take and toss sippy. The Gerber ones are kinda pricey, but if you have their pump, it will connect to that. I'd recommend trying something that will connect to your breast pump first so that you at least have a container to pump into if he doesn't like the spout now.

You can also try reverse cycling his milk feeding schedule if you cosleep. Have an open milk bar at night and he won't want to nurse as much during the day and milk intake won't be as much of an issue. Solids are just for tasting and exploring at this stage with a breastfed baby, so make sure he's getting plenty of milk so that he's not loosing the most important part of his nutrition to empty calories. Solids are important for the formula fed baby at about 6 months because formula doesn't provide many micronutrients that are found in fruits and veggies that babies need to grow well.

Have you tried the Nuby brand cups? The spouts are flexible silicone, so they mimic bottles in the sucking action, etc. Also, they don't have a valve, but they are spillproof. I've mainly seen them at Walmart. Here is a link to their homesite so you know what to look for: http://www.nubysippycup.com/Best_Sippy_Cups.html
Hope that helps!

R.- my, now 14 month old, son did the same thing around 7 months. It lasted about 2 wks and we tried everything- sippy cups, plastic cup, even feeding him with a dropper- but no luck. He just finally decided to start taking it again but in the meantime I nursed when i was home and he (stubborn little guy) held out the 8 hrs while i was at work. One thing that I thought caused it is we had started to introduce juice and water in the bottle at that time. I think he got mad and feared it would always be something other than milk, so refused. After our 2 wk stand off he did just fine but i started introducing juice and water again only in a sippy cup. Good luck with the bottle and your return to work- its nice to feel like a real person again but it never gets any easier to leave your little one!!!

I have always believed that when kids initiate giving up bottles or pacifiers or diapers, we parents need to adjust. I would say, don't worry about losing the bottle and keep encouraging the sippy cup. It is much more traumatic to give up the bottle later on, like 18 mos to 24 mos or later. I cannot remember which sippy cup we used, my kids are all older, but I remember we tried all different brands and once we found one that worked, we stuck with it. Good Luck!!

Hi there. Congrats on BF for so long! Your post reminds me of similar issues I had with my son (he was 1 year and didnt want bottles or solid food!). When he refuses the bottle or sippy cup is it you who is offerng it to him or someone else? Often if they know your boob is nearby, they wont accept a substitute. Have you tried to put water in the sippy cups and see if he wants to experiment with that?

Im sorry that I cant offer advice about the brand of sippy cups. We never managed to get my son to take one (he prefered a regular cup or a bottle in the end which is not recommended past 1 year I know but desperate times...).

Good luck!

I took my daughter off the bottle around 10 1/2 months and used the nuby cup for the transition. They can be a little messy as they can sometimes leak from the top but it's worth it. Because the lid of the cup is soft like a baby bottle nipple my daughter had no problems using it and never refused it. Now that she is 17 months old I have transitioned her to the Gerber cups with the no spill lids with ease.

Nursing longer is fine, no hurry!
They grow up soooooooooooo quick, I wouldn't rush him!
God Bless

We had a lot of trouble getting my son on the bottle. He never took one from me until he was 11 mo. Part of it was finding something other than my milk that he could/would drink. But he took bottles from our daycare no problem. He still didn't eat as much as when he was home with me while I was nursing... But it was enough that he remained a healthy 25 lbs at 9 months.

Good luck... Oh... My son would use any of the sippy nipples that were softer, he hated the hard ones. Nuby works... but as mentioned does leak, so be sure that he is sitting down or in an area that can easily be cleaned up.