My daughter will be 2 in July and she still takes a bottle. She loves one in the morning, for her nap, then to fall asleep at night.
I know she is attached to it. Whenever we get in the car she cries for one. Or whenever we go into a store she wants one. Most times it’s just to hang on to. But it has to have something in it.
I was told not to put juice in a bottle because it will only be harder to get them off a bottle.
Should I go cold turkey except for bed time? And let her have that one? She has never been attached to anything else (pacifies, etc.). She has blankets she likes and dolls she likes but we can get thru a day without them.
Now, here’s my second problem…..she still drinks formula. For the past few months I have been slowly moving over from formula to milk. It has been a very slow process. I don’t know how to get her off formula too.
I was thinking of doing it all at once. Maybe plan a few days were we stay home and work on it.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks for the help.
Our dr. told me to keep her on formula until she was 18 months old because she was a preemie. She's past that age now but I just haven't pushed hard enough to get her off formula completely.
I think starting next Tuesday we are going cold turkey on bottles and formula. I hope the formula I have left will get me that far so I don't have to buy more!
The reason for waiting until next week is so I can stay home with her and not have any interruptions with the holiday weekend and traveling.
I am sure it will be easier than I think it will be. It seems like almost every step has been harder for me than her.
Thank you!
Is there a medical reason she is still on formula? I went cold turkey with my first and plan to do the same with my 6 mos old. Have you tried the Nuby cups? They are similarly shaped as a bottle and have a soft silicone spout. I knew my son could drink from a sippy cup at 1 and took away the bottle shortly after. Within a week he could have cared less. I think we make more of a big deal than they do.
Good luck.
my daughter had a bottle until she was 2-- she was underweight so my husband thought it was a way to get more calories in her..
she gradually lost interest in the bottle.. she would cry for it occasionally- and I would give her a bottle.. but she would only drink an ounce or two.. she had her last bottle when she was 2 years and 1 month old.. we were out and her nap was late and she was too tired to eat lunch so she cried for a bottle and she had one..(but again she only drank an ounce or two)
My daughter still has a pacifier... she loves it.. it is her comfort-- but we got the paci to stya in her bed.. we used to have pacis downstairs.. but one day I hid them.. when she couldnt find them I asked her where they went and she said our dog ate them.. so that is the story the dog ate them..(the dog has been known to eat things she shouldnt..)
so you might try to just get rid of the bottles and see what happens..
or start putting milk in it.(instead of formula ) so that she might not like it as well.
dont worry she wont go to college with a bottle.. everyone has something bottle pacifier, blanket... bear...
it is really not a big deal..
I would however get rid of the formula -- that stuff is expensive..
You might be surprised at how easily she may give them up.
My 2 year old had both a silky blankie and a paci. My husband told her that if she took them out of her room they had to go in the trash. After a couple of weeks all 3 pacies and both blankies went in the trash. She was the one to throw them away and each time she would say very matter of factly, "i don't need that one any more".
I was in shock that she so willing gave them up because if she would lose one during the night she would come and get me to help her find it.
Good Luck and many Blessings, K.
I am definitely a cold turkey type of person. It's brutal the first few days but then it's over. My son was so addicted to his bottle that one night I lined up SIX 8 oz bottles filled with water in his crib so I wouldn't have to get up at night (he drank them all). So the first cold turkey day, my son went ballistic. It was hard. BUT I also knew that if he was truly thirsty, he'd drink from a sippy cup, which I knew he knew how to drink from but just refused. It took 3 days with each day progressively less anxiety-ridden.
Now we're trying to get our youngest to get rid of his paci. It's been 3 weeks, but after the first cold-turkey morning, my husband said, "No way!" So, I'm going this route for him and it's a very, very slow process!
My baby is 13 months and I just (last week) got him off the bottle and formula.
Trick #1... NEVER give anything other than formula in the bottle. Then they realize that that taste only comes from the bottle. (hence the reason that I can just cut off the bottles AND formula. He's not expecting formula out of sippy cups, those are for GOOD drink like the sweetness of apple juice. :-)
#2. I never 1/2 ed anything. Just gave him a sippy cup of milk. if you want to ensure that shes going to like it FOR SURE than mix in a little hersheys syrup the first time.
... Cold turkey is truly the easiest and hardest way to go. Easy on the kids since they don't have the reminder in the corner of their eye, but hard on us for a day or two. But at 2 yrs old it should be easy with her being able to understand concepts better.
If your going to cut out the bottles then just do it. Get rid of them and don't turn back. When your at the store and she sees a baby with one make the connection that its for babys and she's a big girl now.
You definately need to get her off the bottle and formula. Is there a reason she was still on formula? If the doctor told you to keep her on it due to some health problem you should check with the doctor before you switch to milk, but if there was no reason to keep her on it just go to milk.
As far as the bottle, just toss them out. Tell her she's a big girl now and it's time to get rid of them and start using a cup. Take her to the store and get new sippy cups for the big girl. She's going to cry, but she'll get over it in a few days. You have to stay strong and not give in though or it won't work. Good luck!
When my son was 2 he was very addicted to his bottle even though it only had water in it. He took it everywhere and needed it to go to sleep at night. One night we took all of his bottles while he was sleeping and threw them away. In the morning we told him that his favorite character, Barney the purple dinosaur, came and took all his bottles away because he had said that my son was 'A super de dooper big boy now!" Of course this was said with much excitement. I could not believe it but my son never once mentioned those bottles again nor did he give us a hard time at all.
Sometimes it can be hard to wean from bottles, but I think at her age it is definately ok to do. As the other mom said, replace with a sippy cup is a good idea. To get my boys off formula, I made 1/2 formula, 1/2 milk and over about a week increased the amount of milk until the formula was gone. But then, if you are going cold turkey, that might remind her of the bottle. No matter how you do it, there will be some tears - and remember, 2yo's push EVERY limit you set...so if you want it to work you have to stand your ground :)
Good luck :)
You need to go cold turkey for all the feedings. I hid them from my daughter and she never looked back. She still calls her sippy cup a baba and she is 3. Now my son on the other had will drink out of a sippy but perfers the bottle. He is one so soon I will have to do the cold turkey.
It works. If she is thristy enough she will drink.
good luck,
K.
