Weaning from Bottle to Solids Only.

He doesn't have to be off the bottle at 1, but you might transition to a regular or sippy cup. He's always going to need liquids! :) He still needs pretty soft solids or things that absorb spit and soften easily since he has so few teeth. You might also teach him to use a straw? My 16 month old drinks soup, yobaby, etc. with a straw and has been doing it for a couple months. Ask your pediatrician for suggestions next time you see them. We have a food grinder from Target that was $8 I think, by Munckin? and it's okay. I wouldn't use it to grind things for each meal, but it does okay to make a batch of something each week. I've heard VERY mixed reviews about the "magic bullet" and I know Costco carries it for cheaper than other places. Good luck!

Wow, this request came just in time for us! I really want to wean my baby this winter, but she doesn't eat except to taste and she drinks so many bottles of breast milk in a day that for the last two weeks I havne't frozen any!

We bought a steel food mill from Fredies canning area. It ran about $20. We don't use it, though! Our little one eats whatever we eat, and she does is with only 6 front teeth. We are primarily vegitarian with some chicken thrown in, so that might be why we don't use the food mill to often. She LOVES chicken and spinach, apples (we don't make them small-- she does just fine), but she doesn't see these things as a source to make the hunger go away.

I can't wait to read the responses you get. It will be so helpful. Thank you for posting this question.

My son had a mouthful of teeth when he was 8 months, but I know many other babies who had fewer when they started solids. Has he tried other solids? Rice crackers dissolve nicely, but there is no reason really why he can't start to eat tofu, which is super soft (right from the box, cut up small), and yogurt, and likely very soft, well cooked chicken (we don't eat meat, but I have been told by others that it is a good early food). I am not sure if you have tried soft things without a grinder - avocado, banana...he might be able to gum these at 11 months, even without teeth!

As for the food processor - I think that it is probably a waste of money, and will just use up space (which you might be able to spare)...We tended to just stick with things that I could make soft enough or small enough (tiny tiny pasta shapes, tofu, yogurt, cheese...) and it worked just fine...takes some practice, but it worked for us.

I love the little $15 one I got at a baby store ... but that was 8 years ago and I have no idea if it's the same. What's actually nice is that it DOESN'T fully puree the food, but tears it apart (for tougher things like beef) ... so there is texture for a learning eater!

That said, I only used it for like a month for each kid, and the whole chewing thing came along whenever it came along, no real help from mommy. They do need at least a couple of back teeth before they can start 'real' eating, so with a normal-schedule teether, you still have a bit to wait, yes? (Mine all teethed pretty early.)

They have those funny fruit-pacifiers (the nylon net that you put fruit in for them to chew on, but the net holds the bits that might choke them, like the peel) ...

Best of luck :). Always remember everything is a stage, and at this age it really will be a short one ;).

Does your son take a sippy cup ok? Because cutting out the bottles shouldn't be a problem if you can get him to like a sippy cup. My son just turned one last week and only has 4 teeth and does wonderfully with pretty much any food we put in front of him. He loves crunching into things with those 4 little teeth because of the noise it makes. He eats whatever his big brother does....chicken nuggets, bananas, PB&J's, cereal, toast, oatmeal.... None of it is a problem as long as you are willing to break it or cut it into little pieces until he figures out how to bite it on his own.

I wouldn't bother with a food grinder at this point unless you are wanting it for more kids down the line where you might want to make baby food when they are littler. In summary, the more chances you give him to try chewing up or biting foods, the better he will get at it and the more he will like it! Graham crackers and animal crackers (that aren't too hard) are also a good place to start for him to get used to taking bites that aren't too big.

I hope this was helpful. Good luck! Have fun with him. This is such a fun age, don't you think? =)

B.

I think most doctors recommend making breastmilk or formula the primary source of food up until 1 year, then making it a secondary source of nutrition. Try weaning to a sippy cup with a soft, silocone sprout that's more like a bottle. I recommend the Think Baby trainer cup. I offer it for sale in my boutique if you'd like to try it. Simple Cloth, 210 W 4th Avenue, Olympia, WA 98501 or online: http://www.simplecloth.com/Bottles___Soothers.html

Just my opinion, but at 10 months you have plenty of time to wean from the bottle, and a lot happens with the little ones in just a few weeks....

First of all, do you want to wean from the bottle or from formula? We have started transitioning to whole milk at about 11 months, my girl (now 1 yr) still breastfeeds so now she gets about 1 bottle of cow's milk in addition to Mama-milk. I have no intention of weaning before she turns two, so I guess that's one of the reasons why I don't understand the hurry to get him to eat solids only. Most toddlers still get a great deal of nutrition and calories from milk.

The thing about the bottle is, it is no worse than the sippy, as long as you don't let your child suck on it for hours and practice good oral hygiene. If your child has sugary liquids in her mouth for hours, he will get cavities, no matter if he drinks from a bottle or a sippy.
I agree about slowly introducing the sippy at meals and then go from there.

We have a food mill and a mini food processor. The food mill works great for everything that can be cooked soft (you don't have to cook it to a mush, just soft), I use the food processor when I want to give her something with meat - or I cut well cooked chicken into strips and let her feed herself. She only has front teeth and seems to have no problem mashing things up with her gums. She takes 3rd food jars to daycare for the convenience of it, othewise she eats mashed up food that we eat.
Just slowly go from a very soupy constistency to a more chunky texture and follow your child's lead, he will let you know what he likes.

Good luck!

Don't worry about completely weaning from baby food. I have used it to mix with adult food to thin it out some. I have mixed baby food carrots and squash with bread stuffing and ground up chicken. It doesn't look good to me but my daughter ate it. I used baby food in that way until my daughter could really chew and got used to more texture in her food. She was probably about 18 months old or so.
I have done weaning from bottle in two ways. With my first child we went cold turkey and it was rough, but after a couple of days she didn't miss the bottle. With my second daughter, we did gradual. We replaced a sippy cup for a bottle one meal at a time. She was fine with it.
Good luck.

My children have always "gummed" soft foods...think of what can be mashed between his gums...cheese, soft meats (lunch meat, cut-up hot dogs, chicken), bananas, bread, even sandwiches like pb&j.

Hi Lynelle,
The first thing I would suggest, is before taking away the bottle is to start introducing a sippy cup. Let him have it at meals and then slowely remove one bottle feeding. I did this with all 3 of my kids and it worked great. By the time they were 12 months I just didn't give it back one day and they never cared.
As for feeding, you will be so surprised at what those little gums can mash up. If anything, it will be issues with textures (just like when you started introducing baby food I bet). I would suggest giving veggies: peas, green beans, cooked carrots...the list can go on and on. For meats: cooked chicken, diced lunchmeat. Others: stuffing, cranberry sauce, bananas, peaches (you can buy the food holder at Target or anystore that has the pouch that closes over the food so they suck on it and eventually eat all of it, without choking).
Introducing solids is a fun and messy time. Have fun! :-)