None of my three were ever keen on bottles or cups until after 12 months either. All three have taken bottles after weaning from the breast, each at around 2 years old! It does get discouraging to be so completely tied down--never able to leave for more than a couple of hours. And when you are in the middle of it, it feels like those times will go on forever. Sometimes time crawls a bit when you are making such huge adjustments for a new baby, and it feels like much longer than it really is. All I can say is try to be patient. Keep offering the cup or bottle, but try not to get discouraged if he doesn't take it. Eventually he will take them--probably just when you're ready to give up I know how hard it is when they do more of their nursing in the night--often making up for missed daytime feedings. Susannah's suggestions for increasing his nursing are good ones. If you do that during the day, the nighttime feedings may decrease a bit. That would help you hold on until he's ready to wean.

I know it's hard, but try to remember that he'll only be little once. And you're likely to miss nursing a bit when it's all over. I'm reminding myself of that as much as anyone It's easy to get impatient when they don't learn new things when we want them to, but as often as possible, take a deep breath and remember the things you like about this age. It'll be gone before you know it.

Lauralyn