Need Help Weaning My Almost 17 Month Old Daughter off of the Bottle

M.

I had the same problem with a sippy cup so I tried one with a straw first which was also sucking like a bottle and this is how I was able to get Olivia switched over. Good Luck!

C.

Hi M.,

I didn't personally have this problem, but I've known other moms that have. One thing that worked is try putting 3/4 milk and 1/4 water and then slowly keep putting more water in and eventually it won't have the same appeal to her that it does with the milk. And if you want to get rid of the bottle all together maybe start doing a different routine for bed. Like a bath then some songs and maybe a story. Hope this helps. Good Luck!

J.

I had to just take the bottle away. I know that sounds bad but when I tried to slowly take it away she did the same thing. Your only problem is that when you have you new baby she is going to want to take the bottle away from the baby and drink it. I took the pacifier away from her before the baby was born and now 5 months later she is taking it away and wanting to have it to go to bed. Taking the bottle away cold is going to be hard and she may cry but know she is not hurting she is just wanting to get her way. Good Luck

Hi M.,

Oh boy! My son is 18 mo. old and our situation is a little different so our advice may not work for you, but I thought I would let you know how we did! I started giving my son water in the sippy cup around 11 mo. and he was great with that. Whenever I tried to give him his formula he wouldn't touch it! Then at 12 mo. I switched him to regular milk. After about two weeks, I started putting it in a sippy cup just like his water and he wasn't having it! Luckily for us he never went to bed with a bottle otherwise I am positive we would be in the same boat. (I am NOT criticizing! My son does still use his binky and I can already tell that is going to be OUR struggle! : ( Anyway, for the next two weeks after that, since he was eating table food, I ONLY gave him the milk in the sippy cup. He got SOOO MAD at me! He REFUSED the cup, and more often than not threw it on the floor! I use the Gerber color change cups and only put the milk in the orange cups. Water went in to all the other colors. It was very hard! But, after that (relatively) short time period he figured out that he wasn't going to get any milk if he didn't take it in that cup! My ped. told me to try and supplement him with yogurt, cheese, etc. while he was refusing the milk. I found out he LOVES yogurt!! ; ) I now keep a four month old little guy during the week and sometimes my Alexander will pick up his bottle and try to drink it (but all it has is yucky formula in it!) and it seems he misses his bottle, but he's fine! Does your daughter have something else to comfort her in the bed? Maybe you can go on a special shopping trip and get a "lovey", a blankie, a special doll. My own PERSONAL OPINION is that you should NOT let her try and "stop when she is ready". I would be surprised if your Ped. advised you in that direction as well. The longer you go, the harder it gets! ESPECIALLY if the new baby has one, she will NOT give hers up. If you make her give it up now though.....You have to be strong and don't listen to anyone who tells you it's not a big deal, because it is! You may cry yourself, but you're the mommy and she's not going to be harmed by switching the bottle to a cup, nor by letting her cry some. If after 10-20 min. you're upset with her crying, go cuddle her, get her new special item for the crib but NOT THE BOTTLE and comfort her. They are much smarter than we give them credit for. She might be tempted to want the bottle back after her new brother is born but only let her have it with formula in it. Chances are, the taste will be horrendous and she WONT want it! I hope any of this helps! Make sure to write us back and let us know what happened!!! GOOD LUCK!!

J. & baby Xander

I think maybe it may work to offer her some small choices, sticking to that for a while, then offering narrower choices, and repeat until she no longer needs or cries for the bottle. None of this is written in stone, it is just ideas. You could initially give a choice like "you can have a drink before bed by a specified time, have a half a bottle of water when you got to bed, or have a drink with me while I read you a story. Make sure they are real options, but that they are more limited than what she gets now. Insist that she has to choose from those or she gets no drink. Make it clear what her options are, and do not back down. If she tries to cry for another bottle or for more drink, remind her of the choice she made and that it is time to go to sleep. After a couple weeks, offer her different choices, this time more limited then last time. Maybe suggest that if she still wants a drink in bed then it will have to be in a sippy cup, otherwise it will have to be before bed. It is probably a good idea to try to limit her drinks around bedtime anyway. I usually use gradual changes like that for major transitions, which seems to work without too much fuss.

You could also do the gradual changes yourself without offering her a choice. I just think it is good to let them feel like they have some choices.

She probably will regress after the baby is born, but I don't think that lasts terribly long. You just keep working at it and she will start progressing again. I think it is more annoying than anything, but not really a big deal.

Good luck with whatever you decide.
V. Brown

I had the same problem. My daughter was 22 months when my son was born. I had her starting potting training too, but when my son was born my daughter reverted. She wanted to wear a diaper and have a "ba-ba." At first when she asked for it I would give it to her, then after about a month, when she asked for it I would try and divert her and see if I could distract her with something else. Sometimes that worked, sometimes it didn't. After about four months, she asked for a ba-ba before bed I gave it to her and then she handed it back to me and said, "no, baby." So don't worry she will be jealous but just let her help with the baby and eventually she will make her own choice not to have it. That's the best way...no hassles..no battles. Good luck!! Oh I also got her own baby doll with a bottle so she could "practice" it helped her with the idea that only "babies" need a ba-ba.

I told my children that we had to give the new baby the baba's and the diapers... I just kept telling them this and then one day there was no more baba's and when they asked I told them that I had to get them ready for the new baby so she would be able to eat. The same for the diapers... soon enough we were off bottels and we were potty trained all in one it was great.. This may be a little harder if you 17 month old really isn't involed with your pregnancy.... but it will work!

All kids are different. When my son turned one - he's almost six now - he got a special sippy cup w/ the number one on it for his bday - HE LOVED THE CUP - so much... he never took his bottle again, his first birthday - no more bottle - cups only - YES THIS WAS SHEER LUCK - never to be repeated by my following two kids...

My daughter, she was about 19 or so months - give or take - and I just had enough - each day I would take a nipple and throw it in the garbage - or have her throw it in the garbage - she thought it was a game at first, until like day 5 and there were only 3 nipples left! I continued - she was just having a bottle before bedtime at this point. After the nipples were gone, showing her I threw it out cause she was such a big girl now and didn't need it - she loved her cups - but she still wanted her bottle at night. She knew where the bottles were kept too, so one day she looked in the storage drawer and saw that all the bottles were gone - she seemed a bit surprised, that night she asked for one, and I reminded her that they were all gone. She cried for about 10 minutes then fell asleep. The next night, same thing... The third night...not even a peep.

With my last one, who is 14 months -- she too likes the sippy cups too, but wants her bottle for her nap and at night time - she also wakes up at least 2 or 3 times during the night - however when she wakes up during the night - I just have a little bottle w/ about 2 ounces of water in it, just to give her a little drink and by the time she drinks the water, she's fallen back asleep... I think she will be the difficult one to break of bottles... so we will see.

So each child is different, I can't say I would suggest letting her have it until she's ready to give it up.. but your children are yours and if it works for you.. once in a while my middle child would pick up my baby's bottle , but once she discovered it was formula - she didn't do it but one other time after that!!

Good luck!!!

No, 17 months isnt bad, now. But I new a poor child who still had a bottle every morning until he was FOUR!!! That is insane!! I think you should just stomach it. It will be a few days of crying herself to sleep but Im sure youve experienced what quick learners children are and she WILL learn to do without. I always let my son cry himself to sleep (since a couple months old) and we have wonderful, restful nights and naptimes. Ask any doctor and they will surely agree with me. Its ok for her to cry herself to sleep with no bottle, if not now, then when?

Hi M.,
I know it is hard to break the bottle once you've started the bad habit of letting her go to sleep with it.

Maybe you can start by giving her, her bottle earlier, like an hour before bed time and start seperating the connection of bottle and bedtime. Then once she learns to fall asleep without it you can start taking away the bottles.

I followed my pediatritions advice and only gave my kids water in a sippee cup and only formula in a bottle. Then as they gradually started eating solid foods I decreased their daily bottles. My daughter is 11 months and drinks one bottle in the morning and one an hour before bed. I will be cutting out the morning bottle next week. Then after a month when she turns one stopping the night time bottle.

That is what I did with my 2 yr old. He was off the bottle when he was 12 months and never had any problems. It may be hard but better now then making the habit stronger.

Hope this helps

Hi M.,

My second daughter Charlotte arrived when my first one (Margaux) was only 15 months old.
Probably three months before giving birth, I gave margaux a morning and the 7.30pm bottle.
For the afternoon one, I just showed her an empty bottle of milk in the refrigerator and then suggested yoghurt (had the dora solid one and also the danimals drinking yog. and let her chose) it worked for me.

She turned three this past Oct. and still wants her early morning and night time bottles. Believe me, I've tried like you, but she rejects any kinds of cups or even chocolate milk.
She is fully potty trained since age 29 months old, she gave up her pacifier at age of 2, she sleeps more or less fine (so I decided that the bottle was not that bad after all the things she has accomplished...since Charlotte joined the family)

Hope this helps.
I am also a bottle feeding mom,

We just got our 2 year old off her bottle. My husband told her he was going to take her to the store to find a special sippy cup for her bed time water. Right before he left he asked her to throw away her bottles and she did. she has now been off the bottle for 2 months and has not asked for it. The first few nights I had to sit next to her bed while she fell asleep but after that she did not need me to do that anymore. Also if there is a special bottle that she loves make sure not to use it for the new baby. She will get very upset. Hope this helps. Good Luck!!