Weaning from the bottle

When to move off the bottle

The AAP suggests a gradual change over several months:

• Around 6 months: offer a cup for the first time, when your baby starts solid food.
• From then on: slowly reduce the number of bottle feeds.
• Between 12 and 18 months: finish the move from bottle to cup.

The NHS also says to introduce a cup from around 6 months, and that feeding from a bottle should be discouraged once your baby is 1 year old.

This is about the bottle, not the milk. Breast milk or formula is still your baby’s main drink until 12 months, and breastfeeding can carry on as long as you both want.

Why it matters

The AAP explains that children who keep using bottles well into their second year are more likely to:

• Eat less at meals. Sipping milk from a bottle through the day can fill them up, so they miss out on nutrients from food.
• Gain too much weight, because bottles can become extra meals and snacks.
• Get tooth decay. Teeth that are often bathed in milk, formula or juice are more likely to get cavities. Long bottle use may also affect how teeth line up, and speech, since mouth muscles need to strengthen for clear speech (AAP). The NHS adds that drinks flow slowly through a teat, so sugary liquid stays on the teeth for longer.
• Resist more. Toddlers tend to cling to bottles more fiercely the longer they use them.

Choosing a cup

• An open cup or a free-flow cup (one without a valve) helps your baby learn to sip rather than suck, and the NHS says it’s better for their teeth.
• Straw cups are fine too (AAP).
• If you use a spouted “sippy” cup, the AAP suggests one without a valve, because valve cups make children suck, just like a bottle. Two handles and a weighted base can help.
• A sippy cup is optional. Many children go straight from breast or bottle to an open cup (AAP). The AAP says it’s healthiest to be drinking from an open cup by about 2 years.

Expect spills. Your baby will get there with practice.

Step by step

1. Bring a cup to meals from about 6 months. Start with whatever your baby already drinks, breast milk or formula, which can feel more natural than water (AAP). As they get the hang of it, offer sips of water from the cup at meals too. See water for babies.

2. Keep bottles to mealtimes first. When you start cutting down, the AAP suggests letting your child have a bottle at meals, and gradually dropping bottles at other times.

3. Drop the daytime bottles first, then the nap and bedtime bottles (AAP). While a bedtime bottle lasts, give it before teeth are brushed, not in bed. Replace it with a calm routine: a cuddle, a song, a story. The AAP says a pacifier may also help.

4. Switch water to the cup. If your child is used to water in a bottle between meals, move that water to a cup (AAP).

5. At 12 months, start cow’s milk in a cup. Infant formula is no longer needed. The CDC suggests switching gradually, for example by replacing one formula feed at a time with plain whole cow’s milk. You can serve it in a cup from the first day. See cow’s milk at 12 months.

6. Get everyone on board. Let grandparents, sitters and childcare know the plan, so your child gets the same routine everywhere (AAP).

7. Notice progress. The AAP suggests praising your child when they drink from a cup. Small steps count.

Habits that help

• Offer cups mainly at meals and snacks. Children who carry a cup around all day may drink too much (AAP). If they’re thirsty between meals, offer a little water, then put the cup away.
• Nothing extra in bottles and trainer cups. The NHS says only breast milk, formula or water, with no sugar, cereal, chocolate powder or anything else added. The AAP says to fill spouted sippy cups only with plain water; offer milk in a cup at meals. Juice isn’t needed under 12 months, and after that the AAP says to offer it only in a cup, never in a bottle.
• No bottles in bed. The AAP says not to put your child to bed with a bottle, and if you do, it should hold only water, to help prevent tooth decay. The NHS says never leave a baby alone in bed with a bottle or with a propped-up bottle, because they may choke.
• Milk before bed? If your child has a milk feed before bedtime, follow it with water or brush their teeth afterward (AAP).

If you breastfeed or pump

If your baby has expressed breast milk from a bottle, follow the same steps to move to a cup (AAP). If you’ve never used bottles, you can offer breast milk in a cup from around 6 months and skip bottles entirely.

Moving off bottles doesn’t mean you have to stop breastfeeding. The AAP supports breastfeeding for 2 years or beyond, and the NHS says it benefits you and your baby for as long as you carry on.

Expect some protest

The AAP says it’s completely normal for children to pout, shout or cry when you take away the bottle. Sucking on a bottle is comforting, and familiar habits are hard to give up. Be patient and consistent. Resistance doesn’t mean you’re doing anything wrong (AAP).

Talk to your pediatrician or health visitor if:

• weaning turns into a long power struggle
• your child has a chronic illness, physical difference or developmental delay that affects how they drink (the AAP suggests making a plan together)
• your child isn’t drinking enough from a cup, or has fewer wet diapers

Where US and UK advice differs

• Timing. The AAP says to finish the move off bottles between 12 and 18 months. The NHS says bottle feeding should be discouraged from age 1.
• Cups. The AAP is fine with open cups, straw cups, or spouted cups without a valve. The NHS recommends an open cup or a free-flow cup without a valve, and moving from a lidded beaker to an open cup as soon as your child is ready.
• What goes in a trainer cup. NHS: breast milk, formula or water only. AAP: plain water in sippy cups, and milk in a cup with meals.

For more on cups, see water for babies. For how milk fits around meals in the months before, see milk and solids together.