Any Advice You Have on Smoothly Weening My Boy off of His Bottle...

My daughters Pedeatrician told her to just take it from them, they may cry for a few nights but get over it relativly quick.

my son was the same way. he's almost 2 now. he was the same age when i took the bottle away. he completely refused sippy cups for a long time. he would act like he couldn't understand how to drink from it (not sure if it was real, or just an act to get his bottle back). anyhow, long story short, he ended up using the cup during the day and i kept using the bottle for milk before bed (never went to bed with him - i had already made that mistake with my firstborn daughter. i just had to take it away and go cold turkey. he fussed a bit (fussing for him was completely melting down) but after a couple days it was all over and he's now moving onto ditching the sippys for 'big' cups.
good luck! remember that it's never as bad as we think it's going to be. you're the mom so don't forget to stand your ground! :)

hello my name is M. and i have a little girl who will be 2 this month. start handing him the sippy at naps and bed with just water. he will cry for the bottle a couple of days then he will adjust my friend just went through this with her son 2 days of crying and then no more bottle.
my daughter went stright from bottle to sippyno problem hopefully my 15 week old will do the same when it is time.

good luck

M.

I love the Gerber Transition sippy cups they are very soft more bottle like and they really worked well for my two boys! I always used them for the milk right before bed/nap. You can not get them everywhere but I know you can at the big Target and Walmart. Hope it works!

hello, i had the same issue in sort and here is what i did. i was using my frozen breastmilk so once it was gone she had to be done with bottles (about 13 months). I did kind of the same thing to start by reducing the amount of milk i gave her in a bottle. After down to 4oz. then replaced,completely, her milk before her first nap with a sippy cup of milk and a jar of age appropriate food, followed with a lil water to rinse her mouth (at first she didn't want more then a taste of the food or the milk in the sippy cup, but when she got hungry and only baby food & sippy cup was there she polished them both off). Took about 2-3 days for her to get adjusted to the no milk bottle before nap and she was eating like a pro.Little helper was my daughter had a binky so i think that made it much easier. It made the night time bottle much easier to get rid of once she got used to no nap time bottle, as long as she was fed pretty good for dinner then milk a lil before bed in a sippy cup
she didn't miss it because she had her binky. Then about 2 weeks later we started the binky removal from nap time... pretty easy...however, from bedtime not so easy.took about a week and getting her attached to her now, favorite blankets. that took about a week and half of the cry for 5 then go in cry for 10 then go in cry for 15 then go in type of method which was one of the hardest things i had to do...but after that she was for the most part a peach to get to bed. hope this helps.

I would just quit giving it to him. Cold turkey. So he throws a little hissy fit. Guess what? He'll get over it and survive. I know it isn't always easy to deal with (had 3 boys myself) but you're the parent and you have to stick to your guns and maintain control.

Also consider that just before bedtime would be a better time to give him milk or some sort of calcium, as opposed to solid foods. Whatever milk you serve, be it cow's milk, soy, rice, or almond milk, calcium is best given at night. Why? Because it's a bone builder and when you fall asleep, you're not burning energy and the calcium has a chance to work. It also is calming and helps us fall asleep.
Good luck. Don't look at switching as an obstacle. Look at it as a transition in his life.

Hi J.,
I weaned my son off his bedtime bottle at about 18 months (he only likes milk and water as well). What I did was gave him a sippy cup with milk in it instead of his bottle. He of course didn't want that and I told him sorry the bottles are all gone, even showed him the empty cabinet. I offered the sippy cup again and he didn't want it....now came the melt down so I said fine you can have a small bottle but only with water...he didn't want that either. I told him you can have a bottle with water or a sippy cup with milk - he chose neither and fussed a little when I laid him down and I had to go in and comfort him a couple times that night to get him to fall asleep, but after the first night he went back to sleeping like my big boy!!! I think when you switch to water is when you will have the melt down - just stick to your guns and let him adjust for 1-2 days. I think the transition is always harder on the moms, I know I stressed about the transition off the bottle, pacifier and going to the toddler bed much more than it seemed to affect him - in 1-2 days he was adjusted and back to normal.

Hello J.,
You are weening your son in the same fashion that we weened our son from the bottle. Once we hit the point where you are what we did was find a few of the sippy cups that have a nipple like cap. They also make a sippy cup that has a regular looking spout but it is soft making it easier to switch. I want to say congrats on not letting your little one take the bottle to bed with him. The sippy cups that I am speaking of can be found at Meijer, Wal-Mart, and some drug stores. I hope that this helps you and good luck with the transition.

Kind Regards,
B.

Instead of decreasing the amount, I gradually changed the concentration. I started with 1 oz water to 3 parts milk for a week or so, then gradually increased the water one ounce at a time. When we got to three parts water, it wasn't too long after that when my daughter lost interest on her own. If your son hasn't lost interest at that point, you could keep the same watered down concentration and trade it for a sippy cup.

We also had a bedtime routine. My daughter usually took her bottle when we read a book. I changed our routine slightly by not offering the bottle. I would have the bottle somewhere out of site. I started just reading the book and wouldn't bring the bottle out until she asked for it. I think that also helped her to lose interest.

Good luck

I took away the bottle at 12 mos at the recommendation of my pediatrician. I used the Nuby Cups which have a softer spout for awhile and still held/cuddled my son when he drank his nighttime milk.

I would just stop cold turkey then to discourage him. If he likes water in his cup then I am sure he wouldn't mind it in his bottle. It will be hard the 1st few nights but then it will be done.

Hi J. - You have some great advice here! My youngest daughter saw my older one using the sippy cup with a straw and wanted that cup too. She completely left the bottle at 8 months. I had to put the formula in the sippy cup! Maybe she was able to continue the same sucking action? I'm not sure why it worked but I was glad to get rid of the bottles! Good luck!

N.

Hi J.:

Your son sounds exactly like my son who is now 4. So many people will give you their input. I can only tell you what worked for my son. First, don't stress about it. I too started thinking about weening him from the bottle when he was around 18 mos. I introduced the NUBBY (sp?) sippy cup. It has a silicone nipple on it that is thicker than a bottle nipple, but my son responded to it. I started giving him his nap and bedtime milk in that sippy cup. I didn't worry about reducing the amount. My pediatrician recommended that only while he was waking up in the middle of the night. My guy was actually 23 months when he fully gave up the bottle. Finally, I just told him that there were no more bottles and I put the milk in the NUBY cups. He had a meltdown the first time and after that he was fine. I gave him the cup before bed and he drank the milk while I read books to him. He still wants his milk before bed. Now its in a cup with a straw.
Your little guy will get there in his time. I just kept telling myself "he won't be five and on a bottle!". Good luck!

My granddaughter is 18 months old and has been off the bottle for months. There are special cups that look like bottles but they are sippie cups. She likes to do what the grown ups do.They copy us and he will try to copy you. I have raised four kids and all are different. You have to be persistant in the training.

My son is 18 months old also. We just took away the bottle on April 3rd. We told him that the "bottle fairy" took 'em all and in return left him several M&Ms. For the first 2 days it was a little rough at nap/bed time but his is doing good now. He does have a sippy cup after/with dinner and in the AM when he wakes up with milk.

Good luck. Your son will let you know when he is ready!

N.

I was in the same boat when my son was a little younger than yours. my son is now 5. but when I asked about this same question I was told to give him water in the bottle. but my son loves water so that wasn't going to work. I got to the pront that i took all the bottles washed them and hid them and told my son the the bottle fairy took them to give them to a different child who needed them. it worked for me. I am not try to get him off sippy cups bit I only allow him to have a sippy cup for water when he goes to bed.

i hope this helps.. good luck

Hi J., my 2 year old son just gave his bottles to the "bubba fairy". If you have ever watched Super Nanny, it was on it a few months ago. You make a big deal about the fairy coming, pack all the bottles up (we put bows and ribbon on the package) and put the package on the front porch. A few hours later, we checked and sure enough she came!!! He was so excited! He knew the fairy was taking the bottles to babies that didn't have bottles. He was so proud! He asked once or twice for his bubba, no tears or anything. I told him don't you remember the bubba fairy came and got them?? It was the smoothest transition ever!! Good luck to you. Be tough on this, DON'T waver! Because you will be right back where you started.
Lisa