Your Baby Week 45
This week your baby continues to assert their independence. Getting your baby to sit still is probably becoming a challenge, especially during diaper changes! And they are probably attempting to get into everything and anything. It might not be a bad idea to revisit your baby-proofing checklist. Walking through your house a couple of times to make sure you haven’t missed anything will help keep your baby safe! Be sure that everything on their level is secure and that they can’t pull any knickknacks down on top of them. Also, be sure that if they bump into a cabinet, something from a higher shelf won't fall down on top on them. You may also want to check that all bookcases, cabinets and TV’s are secured to the wall so that if they use them to pull up into a standing position, they can’t pull anything down on top of them.
Weaning your baby from their bottle
Most pediatricians suggest that you wean your baby from the bottle when they are a year old. With your little one’s first birthday just weeks away, the prospect of weaning them from their beloved bottle may be a bit intimidating, but there are very good reasons for aiming for the one year mark. If you are a little nervous to wean your one-year old, imagine how much more difficult the task will be with a more vocal and independent two-year old. Also, sucking on a bottle all day could lead to tooth decay, and even though this is your child’s first set of teeth, tooth decay in these teeth can cause permanent damage to their adult teeth. Also, bottle-feeding fills your baby up on liquids and results in finicky eating patterns and even skipped meals, which ultimately contribute to your child’s overall health and temperament.
Below you will find some strategies that may help you to wean your little one from their bottle. Remember, they don’t have to quit cold turkey. In the case of bottle weaning, it’s more like warm turkey.
- Try putting less breast milk or formula into their bottle and finish each of their feedings with a cup. Slowly decrease the amount of breast milk or formula in their bottle and increase the amount of breast milk or formula in the cup.
- Start their feeding with only water in the bottle and all breast milk or formula in a cup. Start this with only one feeding at a time.
- Give them cups in exciting colors or maybe even adorned with their favorite cartoon character.
Before you begin the weaning process, it is a good idea to speak with baby's pediatrician. If your child is in a lower percentile for weight gain, was born prematurely, or faces other challenges, the pediatrician may want you to continue using formula beyond the first year. You can discuss whether to transition to sippy cups or to continue using bottles to ensure that your child will get all the nutrition he needs.
