To Big for Bottle?

When my son was 12 months old, I rounded up all the bottles and did away with them and started using the rubber spouted sippy cups by NUBY that you get at Walmart for $1.47, he was happy, and I was certainly happy considering it took 2 seconds to bottle wean him, LOL!

My only advice would be to go "cold turkey", throw out all the bottles, you'll have a few rough nights at first, but kids adapt a lot quicker and easier than we give them credit for, because here's the thing - if you're daughter really wants her milk, she will drink it out of anything that you give it to her in.

Plus if you throw out all the bottles your parents won't have the option to give her a bottle during the day either.

Good Luck and have faith in your daughter's ability to except change.

Take Care,
Mel

I agree with everyone on the who throw the bottle away thing, but maybe since it's so close to christmas you could suggest that she gives the bottles to santa in exchange for something that she wants. You could also try to use a sippy cup that has the same kind of nipple like the nubby ones those are the only way I got my daughter off bottles cause she thought she was still using it. Good luck with the parents thing you can tell them everything you need to till your blue in the face doesn't mean they will listen. Hope everything works

It should have never gotten that far - 3 years old! What kind of pediatrician do you have that would have allowed you to continue the bottle even after 1 year? I have never heard of this before, it is very disturbing. It is not only a bad situation because of social and developmental deficiencies, but bottles cause older children mouth and teeth problems. I would first maybe find a new doctor for your child because if YOU didn't know that a bottle after 1 year is not a good thing, your doc should have told you. And as for your parents, don't allow them to be with her unless they respect your rules. You need to set firm limits with the child (and your parents). You are the mother. Limits need to be set now or you will have a huge problem on your hands later on.

Hi S.,

I just took my daugther to the doctor on Friday for her 15 month checkup. My daughter is still taking her bottle in the morning and at night. I tried to give her a sippy cup with milk in it but she just throws it down. She drinks water and juice out of a sippy cup but not milk so I just continued to give her a bottle so that she can get her calcium.

My doctor told me that I needed to immediately take her off the bottle. She said that the sucking motion causes the jaw bones in the babies mouth to form differently and can cause the babies teeth to become crooked and have all sorts of other dental problems. She said that recent studies have shown that letting your baby have a bottle over a year old leads to them have braces and other dental problems later on in life. I had never heard that before. I had a bottle until I was 3 and I had braces twice and major dental issues my whole life so who knows... maybe ask your doctor about that.

I immediatley stopped my daughters evening bottle but her morning will be harder. Her grandparents watch her during the day and they always give her a bottle so I am going to tell them what the doctor said. Maybe if you tell your parents the dental problems related to giving your baby a bottle then they will stop.

Stacey,

I have to agree with Kelly C. At 3yrs old there is no reason she should still be on a bottle. You need to introduce the cup to her and not give her a choice. Throw the bottles away and tell her that they are all gone. She will have no choice but to use the cup. As far as bedtime goes..you will have some screaming and crying for a few nights but I assure you it will end and you will have a happy well adjusted baby again.
Both of my children gave up the bottle before a yr old. I slowly introduced the sippy cup to them while also slowly did away with the bottle. They never took bedtime bottles anyway because I was afraid of rotting their teeth. They both had a pacifier though that I had to wean them off of and it was difficult but what I finally did was throw them away and not give them a choice but to go without it. They cried for a few nights and then were fine. I know it is hard, but you can do it!!!

If your daughter is 3 she is old enough to understand that what Mommy says goes. Just take it away. DONT negotiate with her. Just tell her your too big for a bottle and you CANT have it. Also, be very firm with your parents that she is not to have a bottle at all anymore. Children will do as much as you let them get away with. Put your foot down no matter how she reacts. If your parents watch her at your house just throw away all the bottles so there is no option to give into her tantrum and let her have it.

K.

S.~
I know it will be hard, but I think you just have to get rid of all the bottles. If she has no other option than to drink out of the cup, believe me, when she gets thirsty, she will because she doesn't have a choice. It will be harder because she is older now, but it needs to be done right away before she gets any older. I have 3 kids and took them all off the bottle when they turned one, but it was also a struggle then. With any changes it will be difficult, but you just have to go through it and then it will be over and things will be better. As for your parents, if there are no bottles in the house, then they cannot give them to her, so get rid of them! Well, good luck and just remember that no matter how bad you feel when she is crying for her bottle, you are helping her, not hurting her. She is fine!!!! It's just change, that's all.

Hi, my son was also very attached to his bottle. He had it till he was about 2 1/2. I tried the I threw them away deal and of course he was very upset with me and threw a fit. They also get angry when you try to get them to send it away or give it to someone else. So I tried a different approach. I did throw the bottles away so that I wouldn't give in, but I didn't say anything to him about that. I waited till he asked for a bottle and I looked all around and I told him I couldn't find it. I had him help me look, we looked everywhere. Instead of being angry with me he was sad cause it was lost. It was only one day of him asking for it and I just kept on that it was lost. I did the same thing with his binky and it worked for that to. Goodluck K.

Oh my, at this age there is little you can do and not have a screaming toddler on your hands. none of my kdis have ever slept well, my now 4 year old daughter still goes in spurts and wakes up at night crying for mommy, and she does go to bed with a sippy cup of water. the bottle has to go though, not only is there a strong chance that because of the bottle your daughter is hurting her teeth as well as drinking to much milk, milk is good for kids but there is a lot of fat in milk as well and even milk should be drank in proper amounts. you said you aer a stay at home mom for teh time being at least, which means that your parents should be able to have a limited amount of alone time with your daughter making things a little easier, but you really have to take the bottle away, get some cheap toys or coloring books or whatever will please her and bribe her, if you go all day iwthout a bottle you get to pick something out of teh prize box, or whatever, or tell her that she can have a milk bottle before bed but only if she uses a sippy cup for milk all day long and see how that goes, whatever you decide you have to stick with it and follow through, you can't give in nomatter what and that is the hardest part. depending on the type of bottle nipple you are currently using you could also go back to teh newborn nipples and see if it frusterates her enough to jsut give in, maybe if she thinks it's to much work to drink from a botle or if she can't get anything to come out and mommy doesn't know what's wrong witht eh bottle and can't fix it then she will want a cup instead. good luck, but it is in her very best interst that you take care of this soon it will only get harder.

You need to start off by talking to your parents. Make an agreement to take them away at the same time. Maybe have a "I'm a big girl!" party for her. As far as the night waking goes, I would take her to bed with you for awhile until she feels more secure.

throw away the bottles at your parents house. bottles of milk will surely rot your daughters teeth. my advice is until the bottles are forever gone try putting one ounce less of milk every day or two. get her used to smaller, less satisfying amounts. and if she still insists on a bottle after that, fill it with water.
oh, and like the other gitl said..using the newborn nipples with the very small holes will make drinking from a bottle less enjoyable. we did it with my daughter and not she just sleeps with a full bottle of water that she doesnt drink. (i think she uses it as a teddy bear!)

I think you need to really make a commitment to getting that bottle away and establishing a good bedtime ritual that does not include the bottle. Does your daughter go to sleep at night on her own? Does she drink it before bed? The milk will indeed rot her teeth and I was a toddler with 8 rotten molars myself and remember vividly going to the hospital to have them capped. Don't put your daughter through that! Trust me. You will just have to deal with the fits and tantrums. I had to commit to getting my child to sleep without rocking when she was 15 months. It took about 5 nights and it was very frustrating, but I hung in there and finally we were all sleeping through the night.
You will have to lay down the ground rules with grandma and grandpa. If they sabotage your efforts, then maybe you shouldn't let them be in watch her for you.
Good luck.

Hello S.. I do sympathize with you. I had weined my youngest daughter from the bottle and my mom totally sabotaged it by giving her bottles when I was working. I was really upset with her.

Here is how I broke her again from the bottle. I went to the store and purchased a sippy cup with a nipple like top. It's called a NUK sippy cup. They only cost about 2 dollars and you can buy them at Wal-Mart. I would fill her sippy cup up and explained to her that bottles are for babies and if she wants milk, she could have it anytime, even bedtime! She didn't really like this at first. But I found that if I gave her milk in this sippy type bottle during the day, she became more and more okay with it at night.

Also, I didn't completely take away the bottle at night; at least not a first. The first week, I let her have the bottle, while letting her get used to the new sippy cup. The second week, I alternated the nights: Bottle one night, sippy cup the next. In the meantime, I told her that her baby dolls could use the empty bottles. She liked this idea! And sometimes, if she wanted, I would let her hold the empty bottle. By the third week, she had grown used to the new sippy cup and had adjusted to not having a bottle at all.

I did stick to the bottle only at night though. I would not budge on that. She is doing great now...she doesn't even ask for the bottle anymore. It took me about 3 weeks but I succeeded.

Good Luck to you!

Blessings, M.