Weaning off the bottle

Weaning off the bottle: when and why

If you’re bottle-feeding your baby with either expressed breastmilk or infant formula, it’s recommended that you wean your baby off the bottle by the time they’re 12 months old. At this age, your baby can keep breastfeeding and/or drink from a cup instead.

Bottle-feeding after 12 months can increase children’s risk of tooth decay, especially if they’re settled in bed with a bottle. This is because during sleep there’s less saliva in children’s mouths to protect their teeth from the sugar in milk. Putting children to bed with a bottle also means that they go to sleep without clean teeth.

Bottle-feeding after 12 months can also increase children’s risk of obesity. This is because children who bottle-feed at this age tend to drink more milk, which is high in calories. They might also drink more high-calorie fluids like juice.

Also, when children drink more fluids, they tend to eat less solid food. This means they miss out on important nutrients for growth and development, like iron, zinc and others.

At 6-12 months, babies can have breastmilk, infant formula or small amounts of cooled, boiled tap water. At 12 months, healthy drinks for children are breastmilk, full-fat cow’s milk and tap water.

How to wean off the bottle

From around 6 months, you can help your baby learn to drink from a cup. This prepares your baby for weaning off the bottle. Some children wean easily off the bottle when you offer them drinks from cups.

Other children might find it more difficult, especially if they rely on bottles for comfort or settling to sleep. This is more common in children weaning off the bottle after 12 months.

You can use a gradual or an immediate approach to weaning off the bottle. It depends on what best suits you and your child.

Gradual approach
You could reduce one bottle at a time every few days, swapping the bottle with a cup each time. Some parents cut out day-time bottles first and leave night-time bottles until last. This is because night-time bottles are often part of a bedtime routine.

Here’s an example of a gradual approach for a child who has bottles in the morning, middle of the day, afternoon and at bedtime:

Swap the middle-of-the-day bottle with a cup. Continue all other bottles.
Keep doing this for about 3 days.
Swap the afternoon bottle with a cup, so you’ve now replaced 2 bottles with cups. Continue all other bottles.
Keep doing this for about 3 days.
Swap the morning bottle with a cup, so you’ve now replaced 3 bottles with cups. Keep giving the bedtime bottle.
Keep doing this for about 3 days.
Swap the bedtime bottle with a cup, so you’ve now replaced all bottles with cups.

Immediate approach
This approach is useful when you’ve tried a gradual approach and it doesn’t seem to be working.

Stop offering bottles altogether.
Pack all bottles away and out of sight.
If your child asks for a bottle, offer a drink from a cup and/or a snack instead.
Offer drinks in a cup frequently throughout the day – for example, with each meal and snack, and when your child is thirsty.

If you’re not sure whether to take an immediate or a gradual approach to weaning, talk to your GP or child and family health nurse or another health professional. Together you can make a weaning plan that suits your child. You can also talk through any questions or concerns you have.

Helping babies wean off the bottle: tips

These tips can help weaning off the bottle go smoothly for babies:

At around 6 months, start teaching your baby how to use a cup.
Give your baby plenty of praise when they use a cup.
Sit with your baby while they drink from a cup. Drinking from your own cup while you sit with your baby can help too.
Avoid weaning at times of change or stress – for example, when your baby is starting child care or when you have a new baby.

Helping toddlers and preschoolers wean off the bottle: tips

There are a few things that can help weaning off the bottle go smoothly for toddlers and preschoolers:

Make it fun. Use a ‘special’ cup in a favourite colour or design and let your child put some stickers on it. You or your other children could have matching cups too.
Give your child a sense of ownership or control over weaning. For example, you could encourage them to help you pack the bottles into a box.
Celebrate your child’s weaning as a part of growing up. You could celebrate with a special meal or reward.

If children get upset about weaning off the bottle

If your child often asks for the bottle and they’re getting upset, they might:

be hungry or thirsty
need comfort
want to spend time with you.

If you think your child is hungry or thirsty, you can offer a snack and/or a drink from a cup. If they refuse, you can offer it again later. Always offer extra drinks because drinks from cups are usually smaller than drinks from bottles.

If your child wants comfort at bedtime or help to fall asleep, you can give them an extra cuddle, read an extra story, sing a favourite song together, or give them a special blanket or stuffed animal to take to bed.

Your child might ask for a bottle when they really want to spend time with you. In this situation, you could play a game, draw or read a book together. For older children, you could ask them to help you with an important task like watering the plants.

If weaning off the bottle is upsetting you or your child and this doesn’t settle down after a few days, it’s OK to stop and try again later. Eating and drinking should be a calm, fun and social experience for you and your child.