Self weaning from bottles?

My twins are 10 months old now, and they were EBF for a while and now get bottles due to many a breastfeeding challenge. They get both expressed milk and formula.

Lately they have become less and less interested in having a bottle and more and more interested in solids. They seldom finish their bottles now, except for at bedtime. When meals come around they are SO excited. They eat really well and enjoy it. Is it normal for them to self-wean from a bottle this early?

Just some background: I have taken the very lax approach to solids---I offer solids to them every time we have meals (making sure that they have already had milk shortly before the meal), and let them eat as little or as much as they want. They have always been VERY interested in food and have happily eaten every single thing I have given them. They also really like drinking water out of their sippy cups. They have never had juice or any other liquid besides milk and formula.

I know it's normal for breastfed babies to begin to self-wean at some point, but I know for most people it comes much later than 10 months (although I do know two people whose babies started to self-wean early). Most of my mom friends breastfeed, so I don't have much experience with being around bottle fed babies, but reading on forums and what not I always hear about babies being weaned from bottles. Our boys seem to have no emotional attachment to the bottles whatsoever....at least not that I can tell. And it almost seems like they are refusing the milk so they can eat more at meal times. I am thinking I should just kind of roll with it, but I wanted to hear some other perspectives.

I should add that they are getting plenty of milk still. It just seems to decrease a bit with each passing week. I want to make sure they get the nutrition they need while also following their lead to some degree.

Thoughts?

 

I think it's fine that they are starting to wean themselves from their bottles a bit. Toward the end of the first year they should start eating more & more solids & less formula. By 1 year, my two were completely on table food, eating whatever we were eating & getting milk only in a sippy. You might try putting a bit of formula or breastmilk in their sippies and see if they take some extra that way.

 

I would go with it. It sounds like they are ready and at the end of the first year they need less and less formula/EBM. We were off bottles at the end of 13 months and if they had wanted to be off them earlier, I would have gone with that too.

 

Thanks for the information!

I will continue to follow their lead.

 

Mine are 10.5 months and are down to 20 oz of formula a day. They are also enthusiastic about foods and about drinking water from a sippie. But unlike yours, they still love their bottles and eat every drop. They will not, however, drink formula from a sippie, which I can't figure out why not. But that's another topic! But I would like to ask - how many oz of milk/formula are they drinking per day? Ours were still drinking about 30 at their 9-month and our pedi told us to cut that back and to give more solids. So from my perspective, depending on how much they are drinking (I'm assuming it's not 6 oz total or something) - then yours are right on track for what they should be doing.

 

Yep I agree, totally normal and as long as they are still getting some formula, not a problem

 

Barb2009---

I would say they are getting about 20 ounces a day now, give or take a few ounces depending on the day. Glad to hear it's normal!

Did you cut back on the ounces at each feeding or did you cut out an entire bottle?

Tonight we came home a bit later than normal after visiting a friend, and I knew they were very hungry. I gave them a bottle, and they only took about 3 ounces and wanted to start playing again. But then a short while later when I had dinner ready they plowed right through that. I am excited they like food so much. So do their mom and dad! lol.