HELP My 21 Month Old Has Bottle Issues

I've been there! First of all, dont put milk in the bottle at night, I was told it would spoil the teeth, put water in it instead. My daughter had a fit and so I just gave her a spill free sippy and she was happy, she's now 2 3/4 and still has a "water" sippy at night. She also cried until she made herself sick. And she picked out the sippy cup. Took awhile before she gave up the bottle completly.

Just put water and only water in the bottle. My pediatrician said he didn't care how long they had a bottle as long as it was just water when you get to the stage where you want to wean. He'll eventually give it up and then you don't have to worry about rotten teeth with just the water in the bottle.

Hi K., Maybe remove all but 1 bottle. "out of sight out of mind". Explain when this last bottle is broken they are all gone. Gradually cut the nipple bigger and bigger till it to the child is broken. After it is broken tell him we put broken things in the garbage. try this! hope it helps

I know you said that he doesn't fall asleep with the bottle in his mouth, but that is not the only thing that causes bottle rot. Bottle rot can also be caused just by allowing your child to drink (even from a sippy!) anything other than water after his teeth have been brushed for the night. I know this because my 4yo now has caps on 75% of her teeth because I let her have some milk in a cup before she went to sleep at night. She was 2.5 when she had to get them put on her teeth and had to be put to sleep for the procedure and had a really rough time with mouth ulcers in the days that follewed the procedure. I suggest you do what the other oladies said and tell your child that you are going to throw the bottle away in 2-3 days and then follow through. A few nights of crying for a bottle is a heck of alot better than a few days of pain from having caps put on all their teeth. I know you are worried about your child getting sick from being so upset, but you must be strong. It really is in your childs best interest.

I would also suggest looking in your childs mouth and really look at the color of his teeth. If they seem at all even slightly grayish, take him to the dentist as soon as you can get an appointment. That is the first sign of bottle rot and the sooner it is caught, the better they can treat it.

I wish I had a magic pill to give you, but alas, there is none. All you can do is clear your calandar for about two maybe three days, suck it up and take the bottles away. After your son goes to bed pack them away where he will have no chance of seeing them or finding them and prepare for the temper. Believe me, he will be fine. If he cries so much that he throws up, then all you can do is clean it up. He will quit when he figures out that you are not going to weaken. The first night will be tough, but you both will get through it. The second night will be better and usually by the third day....no problem. I went through this myself with binky's. FYI,if you have another baby get rid of the bottles by the first birthday...it's much easier and less trama/drama. I learned that the hard way too!! :) Good luck!

I never thought about it with my son. My SIL pointed out one day that he should be off the bottle by now at the time, so I just took all the bottles away. He was about 18 months. The next day I gave him a sippy cup, the nuby brand ones that were rubbery. He took right to it and never seemed to complain. I'd think if he did complain, it would go away in time once he realized the bubbas were all gone. Best of luck to you.

Also, in regards to the milk, it does hurt the teeth. My dentist told me absolutely no milk at night. Water in a sippy was all he could have. Now he gets a cup of water on his night stand. The dentist told him no milk at bedtime and he seemed to understand it. He asked once or twice, but I just said, remember what the doctor said. That was the end of it.

I agree with Samantha.the out of site out of mind thing.i was told by the doctor and dentist milk is'nt really all that good at night time to give,they can still have teeth issues.I would throw them all away but 1 like she said.Let him know when this one is done thats it.I was lucky all my kids were off the bottle by around 19-20months of age.I just did'nt beleive in the bottle at night to sleep,or seeing them walk around with it.best of luck! Jen

Ok, you know the bottle should be gone by now, but who sets those rules. My daughter kept hers till she was about 2 and a half and she decided on her own it was just as fun to drink from her straw sippy cups. I don't recomend cold turkey. Skip in a cup a day for a bottle and maybe she will not notice it disapearing. Forget the bottle by accident when you go to a resturant and have him try a big boy straw. You need to switch to water at night though. That needs to happen now. Milk will rot his teeth if allowed in a bottle all night. Good luck. I know this is a life altering task now, but in 6-10 months you will laugh at how simple it turned out to be.

u need to be strong when it ocmes to a bottle breaking he will fight u throw his fits but get him a sippy cup for at night its the same and it wont ruin his teeth

Our pediatrician insisted that the bottle be GONE by 12-14 months! He said go cold turkey and put up with a few days of crying. Since your son is older, I agree with telling him your going to do this and preparing him a little. You can also try a "transition object". What you do is find something to replace the bottle like a favorite toy or blanket. You start by giving him both blanket and bottle and ween him from the bottle until he is left with only the blanket (or transitional object of choice).
I thought it would be harder than it is but honestly my son didn't give it another thought after the fact. I was strict about getting him off of the bottle at 12-13 months because I had another baby on the way and I didn't want him taking the new baby's bottle and regressing.

i am with you! My daughter is 15 (almost 16 months old), and she throws a fit if I don't give her her baba! I joke that she's on a liquid diet, because she would drink milk ALL day long if I let her. I've actually resorted to putting water in her milk because she was drinking way too much.
I tried the Nuby cups with her, because that was what worked with my older daughter... but I think I tried too early, because if I try to hand her those, she throws them, or throws herself on the floor screaming.
what I am going to do this week is have both of my girls use straw cups. My older daughter has already been using those, but I just bought a whole bunch more animal face straw cups from orientaltrading.com, and I'm going to see if I can get both girls to use those cups (because they won't be the ones that my older daughter will claim are "hers"). but they have cool straw cups that won't spill... I personally love the Gerber ones at ToysRUs (easy to clean and don't take up a lot of room). maybe that would work?
another thing I've found is that if you have the drink sitting out for them in a sippy cup, they are more likely to drink it than if you hand it right to them. when it's sitting there, they check it out and get tempted. :-P so that's another thought!!!!
Good luck!

Try weaning him from whole milk at the same time. Let him have the whole milk during the day but start watering it down at night. Try 1 oz of water to 7 oz of milk, then a few days later, 2 oz of water to 6 oz of milk and so forth til you have him drinking water instead. Although this doesn't solve the bottle problem it will help with your tooth concerns. My pediatrician told me they only need the whole milk until they turn 2 anyhow.

The second suggestion is checking at Walmart or Target for the Nuby sippy cups. They make a sippy cups that have tops similar to bottles. A couple of these may help to transition your son from the bottle to the sippy cup. When he asks for a bottle, substitute this. After you get him transitioned to these, you can continue to use them or switch him to other sippy cups. Both of my kids were not very particular about what sippy cups they used once they were completely off the bottle.

Good luck and hope this helps.

This is going to sound like a wierd place to get advice but I actually got a great tip from that Supernanny show. I was desperate after my failed attempts of wiening my son simply left me with 3 sleepless nights and a fairly hysterical toddler in the middle of the nights.
I told my son that Supernanny called me(they used the baba fairy on the show)and that they are running out of bottles to give to little babies at the hospitals. I told him (he was about 20 months) that he was a big boy and needed to help the little babies. I had him help me put all the bottle stuff in a box and decorate it. We put stickers and I wrote "for the babies" all over the box. I put it on the front porch. A few hours later there was magically a gift on the porch with beautiful shiny ribbons all over it. -it was like eye candy to him. There was a sippy cup with his favorite cartoon character on it and a little toy. There was also a note from the "supernanny" thanking him for helping the babies and also instructions to only use water in this special big boy cup at bedtime. It sounds cheeseball, but my son was soooo attached to his bottle that I was desperate. More importantly, he was so proud that he helped the babies he never asked again about the bottles.

I know this may sound harsh but when it came time for my son to wean off the bottle I just threw them all away so that his only option was a sippy cup. If you get rid of them you won't be able to cave in. It worked for me. If he is throwing tantrums to the point of getting sick he will quickly learn to change that behavior if it doesn't get him what he wants. As far as keeping him occupied during the day, try making yourself a schedule in 20 min. incriments. For instance: 8 a.m. breakfast, 8:20 dress, 8:40 puzzles, 9 a.m. walk... If for no other reason it may get you to come up with some creative ways to fill 20 minutes.

Milk in the bottle is what rots their teeth. If he must have the bottle maybe give him water only until he gives it up.
You should look into activities for him at the library and community center. The mall play area is a nice place to go as well.

My daughter had a bottle issue also. She just turned 22 months old and I just got her off the bottle last month. What I did was have a little ceromony for getting rid of her bottle. Stupid, I know but it worked. I started on a MOnday and told her she only had 5 more days left with her baba. We counted down each day and finally when it was the last day, I had her drink out of it and throw it in the garbage. The next morning she woke up and was scraming for her baba but when I told her that she threw it out and now it was time to drink from her sippie cup she eventually did it. I did not give in though, even though it was tough at first. The next day she was drinking out of her cup and has not asked for her baba since. Good luck!

OK, start telling the little guy that baba's are going to be going bye-bye soon, for about a week or so, pretty much everytime he asks for it and through out the day. Then close to trash day go around with him and collect all of the baba's in a bag and throw them away, have him help you bring them out to the trash, and if possible have him watch the trash guys pick them up. (of course, keep one hidden just for emergancy). When he asks for it, tell him don't you remember it was time for baba's to go bye-bye and we threw them all away? Offer him a sippy cup with a softer top, i think they are called nuby's? My daughter had a bottle every night up until 2 weeks ago and the nuby works fine with her cause it is still a soft top and not a hard one like most sippies.