Weaning

So Avery turned a year, and everything you read says they need to be off the bottle at about a year. I always get stressed out when things change. I guess I like things to stay the way they are because I start to feel like I kind of have it figured out. When it changes, I'm back to being a rookie.

After all, I had been feeding her a bottle since she was born. I couldn't really imagine not giving her one. Would she starve??

I was going to try to wean her after her birthday party (I know I know I'm late on that post. It's coming soon! I'm waiting for Rustin to upload the pictures he took from his camera.) but she was so unhappy that I didn't want put her through any major changes.

Well since she's been drinking the rice milk and doing much better, I decided to try. She drinks water out of sippys with a hard spout, but wouldn't drink milk out of them, so I bought another kind - Nuby - with a soft spout and she LOVES them! The other day she was in her high chair and saw me get one out of the dishwasher and she started fussing because she wanted it.

I used to give her a bottle when she wakes up in the morning, before naps, and before bed. So I have kept giving her the sippy at those times. I really thought she would put up a fight, but she has been fine. I haven't given her a bottle in 3 days now.

The next thing I am trying to wean her from is her paci. She loves her paci! And it's not that I necessarily mind her having one for a little longer, the problem is the only paci she will take is the Wubbanub (the one with the animal attached) and it's only for babies up to 6 months. I haven't been too worried since she had no teeth, but now that she's getting teeth, I don't want to mess them up! I bought orthodontic pacis in the same brand as her others and she just spits them out.

So I decided to only give her the paci in her room. She usually crawls around with it in her mouth while playing, so I wasn't sure how this would go, but she did fine. We even went to the grocery store without it (I kept it in my purse in case of emergency) and she did great.

The next step is weaning her off of it at night. I have a feeling that will not be easy. She has been waking up at night the last few days (something she hasn't done in 8 months). I am guessing because of teething, so I don't want to take it away while she's going through that.

Anyway I just wanted to write about what I ended up doing with her since I asked many of my friends what they did. I feel like it always helps to hear other stories of what worked and what didn't.

I'll close with a recent picture. She looked so cute for church on Sunday, we just had to take some pictures! Dena got her that cute dress for her birthday. Since it's just us 3, Rustin and I had to take turns being photographer.