Getting My Daughter off the Bottle

I had a similar problem. I found there is a soft spout cup at Walmart. About a dollar, so not a major investment. I believe it is a normal everyday item, so you shouldn't have a problem finding it. The spout has the feel of a nipple, but the idea of a big kid cup. It worked like a charm. I hope this helps.

With my oldest kids it put water with lemon juice or kool-aid with NO SUGER. in other words Sour, nasty tasting stuff! With my youngest son I breast fed him till about 7 months and he decided he didn't want that anymore. We tried the bottle but he never really liked it (same with pacifier...he hated it)after two months of having a hate to love relationship with the bottle and him showing an interest in what we were drinking out of we went to a sippy cup but that was short lived too and have now moved on to sports bottle tops. He goes to bed most of the time without anything to drink...basically we just give him his bath and put his jammies on him and put him in his room and shut the door...sometimes he cries for about 5 minutes and then we hear the most beautiful sound...silence!

Every child is different...this boy is already showing signs of needing to be potty trained...my oldest was two weeks away from going to pre-k when I told her it is either school or diapers which did she want...she went and got her panies and that was the end of the diapers with her. My oldest boy was potty trained by the age of 15 months but then at the age of 4 developed a bowel problem and we had to start using pull-ups and he was so embarrassed...we never figured out teh root of the problem but as long as we didn't make a big deal about it he did better and it resolved itself.

Just have patients! Your not a bad mother just because your child isn't like what other motehrs say theirs is like (remeber they are probably lying)

H.

OK - I am a bad MOM!!!

My 4 yr old son still takes a bottle to bed with him.
His 5 yr old sister had a pacifier and I did all the right things with her and weened her off at 2 yrs. and had her sleeping fine within a few days.

With him I have tried everything. He doesn't take the bottle during the day but he does refuse to drink milk at all unless it is in the bottle. I know that he would eat better if he didn't have his bottle of milk at night - but, I have decided not to fight this one.

I was going to put my foot down on his last birthday. We had talked about it for months and everyone was in agreement (except him, of course) but when the time came, I was in the middle of a divorce and I just couldn't do it.

So, I am weak and terrible.

I talked to my dentist and pediatrician. He brushes after his bottle and the nipple has not damaged his growth so far. And the pediatrician says - hey, we need to get him off of it, but he isn't going to walk down the aisle with it - so pick your battles. I also requested blood work to make sure that he isn't anemic due to the milk intake and less food - he's fine.

We'll try again soon. I think as he is getting older that his peers will make him uncomfortable and that will be the end. I see it starting to happen already.

My point in all of this is to say that yes, we all know what should be done and when it should be done. However, we are Moms searching for our way in this world and what works for some doesn't work for all. My son will not be an criminal because he takes a bottle at 4 yrs. Further, NOT taking one past 15 months will not ensure their spot in Harvard.

We'll all get through it!

Just my 2 cents!

I gave my son a soft book in place of the sippy cup. He always handed me his sippy cup when I went to get him from his nap or in the morning, now he hands me his book. He is 22 months old. He goes to sleep just as well without the sippy cup. The best advice I have is stop cold turkey and never go back, replace the routine with something else and be consistant, eventually it will become the normal thing for her. yes there will sometimes be resistance, but she is not in any pain or in danger so just let that crying happen WITHOUT giving in and starting the process all over again. When we did away with bottles and changed to sippy cups, I tossed all my bottles so that I did not have one to give him, since he only had sippy cups he had to use it or be without, he used it! Good Luck!

Have you restricted the bottle to water only?

I did what Bernadette and Mandy did and started diluting the bottles with water at night until my daughter just didn't want them at all. Hope this helps!

Personally, I pick my battles and if she is sleeping at night well with her bottle then let her have it, as long as she is using her sippy cups during the day! I'd start watering down the bottles more and more each night until she doesn't want them any more then offer her a sippy cup as well and she should eventually choose the sippy cup.

My son hated sippy cups. He finally gave up the bottle when I switched to straw cups instead.

My eldest child had this same attitude about his bottle. When he reached the age of two, we decided enough was enough. We gave him the bottle filled with water and he decided that he did not want to drink it any longer. After he understood that "sure, you can have the bottle but only with water" it was much less appealing. He still slept with it...like a teddy bear, but he did not suck on it. End of problem. We never made the "bottle" the issue. If you do that, you are really in for it.

I had the same problem years ago when my sons were little. I started laying down with them and telling them stories or reading to them. I promise you, I knew every word of Curious George, by heart. They would drift off and bottles were a thing of the past. Don't hurry the process, they want to snuggle and have your undivided attention. And believe me, in years to come you will look back on the time you spent together and be glad for every moment of it.

does your daughter like throwing stuff in the trash if let her throw her bottles in the trash after she does it tell it is gone no more but ps keep a few more until she learns that things that go in the trash go bye bye. after she throws the first in the trash hand her a cup and tell her that it is what she will drink out of now this was the only way to get my oldest off the bottle if this doesn't work try soft nipple sippy cups until she just stops yaking the bottle