Since my pediatrician wanted me to get rid of the bottles at 12 months (and I wasn’t ready then and neither was Little Bug), I decided 15 months would be our “Bottle Wean Goal”.

Well, Little Bug is 14 months so it is time to start the weaning process. I did nothing in July to bottle wean because July was so busy. So, now it is time to start.

I did the great debate again in my mind today on weaning cold-turkey or gradually.

My gut is telling me to give Little Bug the Born Free sippy for her lunch and dinner milk and let her continue to have the bottle for her morning and bedtime milk.

My hope is that Little Bug will learn to drink her milk through the Born Free sippy at lunch and dinner and then when she is drinking well at those times I will take the bottle away in the morning and then at bedtime.

Tomorrow at lunch I will give Little Bug the Born Free sippy. If she takes to it like a champ and sucks down the milk with no problem, I will go with a cold-turkey wean and pack the bottles away tomorrow.

However, if she is hesitant to drink her milk from the Born Free I will stick to the gradual wean of starting with lunch and dinner milk. Once she is drinking her milk well from the Born Free at lunch and dinner I will wean the morning and bedtime bottle.

That’s my plan, anyway! As I well know from my experiences of the past 14 months of raising a child, things may or may not go as I planned.

I’ve heard of babies not drinking much milk from the sippy at first and then once they realize that the milk is only coming from the sippy they drink from the sippy fine.

If Little Bug is aware enough to realize that her milk is not in her bottle and asks for the bottle by saying “Ba”, I will probably do a cold turkey wean like my pedi suggested by having a pack-the-bottles-away ceremony with Little Bug. Then when Little Bug asks for her “Ba” I can say “Remember, we packed them away! They are bye-bye!” At least that is how my pedi said it would go if I weaned at 12 months…

We shall see how this goes …

- Elaine