20 Month Old Still on Bottle

S., don't worry about it . I am sure he wont walk down the wedding aisle with his bottle. my little girl loved her purple baba until she was about 3. she eventually out grew it and she weaned her self from it. She was totally addicted. it just happened on its own. Really I dont see any harm in letting him keep on drinking. he will eventually get bored with it. They are only young once, and if he feels secure with it WHY NOT?? good luck and keep on keepin on.
W. Pannell www.ambitenergy4homes.com

My middle child (now almost 13!!!) was attached to her bottle too, at 18 months old I just stopped giving it to her and told her it was gone. She cried for a few nights but after that she was fine. Most of the time we as parents have a harder time saying no than the child does with the no. Just be strong and stick to your guns and you will be surprised how easy it can be to help them change their habits. Good luck and stay strong!!!

I agree with the other moms on this one. Take it away and don't look back. I come from a hispanic family and we typically still have toddlers and school age children drinking bottles at home and sucking on pacifiers. I think its out of pure lazyness. But with my first daughter the attachment was the pacifier and the bottle. My mother in law was watching her for about a year while my husband and I were away in the military and when we came back she was about 2 years old and still with these items. We took her home and thats all she wrote we never gave her a bottle or pacifier again. With my other 2 girls they gave up these items before their first birthdays.

The advice my pediatrician gave me that worked charms with my three sons was to treat the bottle as if it were one of my breasts. Bottles had to be taken only while sitting in my lap, never while running around or alone in their cribs. That pretty much restricted bottles to the first cuddle in the morning and at bedtime as during the day they were much more interested in running around and exploring.
Another piece of advice I would give you is to store the bottles in a place where he won't see them, at young ages "out of sight=out of mind" works wonders. And lastly, never take a bottle out of the house unless you are overnighting, that way is very easy to say no to the bottle no matter how big the tantrum because you cannot possibly give him one.
Toddlers do not need to drink water constantly, he is old enough to learn how to drink form a cup without a top, just make sure you sit next to him and to retrieve the cup when he is done. It's more work than to give him a sippy cup/bottle and forget about it, but then, what in motherhood is not a lot of work?

Hi S., my daughter too was very attached to her bottle, sippy cups were of no interest to her and I didn't think she got the idea of them until I stumbled on the "NUB" brand or "nubbie", the sippy thing is soft like the nipple of a bottle, she loved those......then one day after her 18 month checkup we came home and together put all her bottles in a bag and brought them to a neighbor that had a baby......IT WORKED! She really never asked for them again and when she did I just reminded her the baby needed them and she was fine with that.Then it was time to tackle the "binkie"!! hahaha Santa took those to give to little boys and girls Christmas eve at 2 yrs old!!!
Good luck

We had a difficult time with out oldest daughter giving up her bottle. It was brutal, but we had to let her scream it out. She would also chew on the nipples of her bottles (which were the orthodontic ones not every 24 hour grocery store carried so we'd drive around at 2 in the morning looking for new ones). It finally hit us that it was going to be hard, but what really scared me was the choking threat of her chewing the nipples. Our youngest daughter didn't have much trouble with the bottle, but she didn't want to give up her pacifier - then too we had to encounter a scream-a-thon! One thing you may want to consider is telling your child that someone else's baby needs his bottle. It worked when my cousin was pregnant because Haley thought that her nuks were going to him! She was just about 2 when we did that. Good Luck!

Have you tried the sippy cups with the soft tops? Nuby amkes them I think. The silicone top feels like bottle nipples. My 18 mos old son doesn't seem to like his milk in anything other than a bottle either (he's down to one 8 oz babba in the a.m.), but he drinks water and juice from these soft top sippy cups very well. We are now working on taking sips from a big boy cup...going ok so far! Good luck:)

Cold turkey will be the hardest on you but the easiest on her, you could always try the bottle fairy and "mail" them to her for the new babies? Super Nanny recomends that kinda thing. Also remember to tell her she is a big girl now and bottles are for babies. As far as the straw goes, use a regular straw and put it into the liquid, then hold the top with your thumb so no air gets in, lift the straw and let her put the other end in her mouth and slowly let go of the other end and as the liquid comes out she will realise if she sucks it will come out. Try this when she is sitting down at the table in a controlled moment! good luck

The bottle attachment is a tough thing. I know it sounds mean, but I would take away the bottle cold turkey. Expect a lot of crying, but if you can put up with it, it only takes three days. I use this method to get rid of bad habits. If my child got up in the middle of the night, I would check to see if he was okay and dry, and then I'd let him cry it out. After three days of him crying for 45min in the middle of the night, he slept through the night and has ever since. If your child is in a safe environment and cared for, a little crying is not going to hurt them. If he gets hungry enough or wants the milk bad enough, he'll drink from the sippy cup. You just have to be strong and not give in. Just a tip, if you have any other children, try switching to a sippy cup when you switch to milk. New cup, new drink, it works!

P.S. If he is a bad teether, try those teething rings you stick in the freezer or rifrigerator. They are usually made from the same stuff nipples are. So, it may be a good alternative if he needs to bite on something.

Not too early to work on dropping the bottle:-). You mention that he can drink out of a sippy but not sure about the straw. My youngest who is now 5 didn't figure out the straw until last year- so that included sports water bottles as well! But the important thing is the cup..cover or not and how important it is to you to have the cover. If drinks are "only allowed in teh kitchen or at the table", start with that with the bottle, then putting the bottle away and only offer the cup or sippy. Still gives your son the control, but in a different way. Good luck!

Hi! Since your goal is to be done by 24 months you are starting at the perfect time. I would decide to take the morning away first, and get him interested in his normal breakfast foods, also go ahead and just start a regular glass for his morning juice..I would just drop milk he can have yorgurt or cheese to compensate(yes give milk back after the bottle is totally gone). So, as you change up the drink thing with a real glass and not give milk for breakfast, of course in his cereal if that is what he has in the morning..it won't be a bottle issue. Taking away the night one last. Wait until maybe a day where he has played outside alot and had a nice playtime in the bath and then get him cozy and read for a long time..w/o the bottle..then off to bed..he may complain but after lots of love you will not feel a twinge of guilt..stand strong and you will be done with this process in no time. I have ten kids and it does take them a few days to get used to being told "no", whether it is a bottle or what. Kids do go with the flow better than we think, don't back down!~D.

I understand that it will take some patience on your part .What i did was in the day it was only the cup cry or no cry once i got that mastered i moved to the nights with the cup but when you get the nights started make sure there are no bottles in the home cause if he sees it you will be starting over . mom yoy will get a lot of whineing and crying but he will be fine.when i did it to my children it took 2 weeks { i did it at 12 months by the time of 12and a 1/2 it was all cups }the sooner the better also think of he teeth ,it do affect the teeth in two ways it rotts or he can have an over bite.If you do this he will be alright. he will whine alot but he will catch on. GOOOD LUCK !!!

Hey S.,
Dont feel bad my daughter just turned 2 and still takes a bottle in the morning and before bed....Someone had suggested to try the sippy from Walmart called Nubbie...The part they drink from is like the nipple of a bottle....my daughter hated it but your son might like it....I also had a very difficult time with finding a sippy cup that she would actually suck out of....I thought that she would never get the whole sucking thing...but one day she just got it....I use the Gerber sippy's and those are the only ones she doesnt have a problem drinking from ....they also sell them at Walmart and they turn one color for hot and one for cold..so I think she enjoys that...if there is something cold in the cup and their hands are warm it changes color on the outside....hope this helps....try not to stress out about it too much...who knows he may tell you when he doesnt want his bottle anymore!! LOL
Meg :)

not that this is the best advice. Just a suggestion. I got my son off the bottle by giving him chocolate milk in a sippy cup. I didn't make it to sweet just enough to taste different than milk. he now asks for his chocolate milk. I have not tried to give him regular milk again but since he is very thin I figure the calories are good. He is 2 1/2. I have a 1 1/2 daughter who drinks her regular milk out of both. She sees her brothers cup and wants a cup of her own. so it does get easier.

Hi - I didn't read too many of the other responses - so I don't know if this was fully stated yet or not. I actually transitioned my dgtr (22 mos old now) away from her bottle entirely - she is a very easygoing child for just about everything though. Anyway - I started by keeping one bottle a day for her (usually for her afternoon snack - but she was younger). I bought a straw cup and gave her milk in it and started at breakfast. I just placed it there - she barely drank out of it at first and I didn't push it at all - 1 oz, 2 ozs - nothing - didn't much matter. Within a week or so - she was drinking a fair amount. When she was used to it at breakfast, I introduced the same straw cup at lunch - then quickly thereafter at dinner. If she drank water it was out of her sippy cup. Then, once she was drinking more from the straw cup, I reduced the amount in the bottle for a week or so - then just stopped offering it to her. She would ask at times for a bottle - even up to 4-5 months after she wasn't getting bottles anymore! - but we'd just redirect her to something else - or say no bottles if she kept going with it. What I think worked best for my dgtr was to have certain cups for certain things and certain times of day. Now she drinks her milk out of her straw cup with breakfast, lunch, and dinner (and sometimes asks for some in the afternoon), and has her sippy for water. One liquid has never been allowed to enter the other container - from her! I once tried for my ease and she took a sip and looked at me like I was the craziest mother on the planet! They say 12-16 ozs of milk at this point I think - so - if he eats well - don't worry too much if he doesn't get much in for a little bit. This worked for us - so maybe it will work for you too! Oh - maybe even if he picks out his big boy cups (I personally use FOOGO brand - they are stainless steel with minimal, but safe plastic for the lids) - but if you aren't using those and want him to choose - that may help also.

Don't feel bad, but start to wean slowly. My son, now 27 months just gave up the bottle last week. He was on one 8oz bottle before bed time. We switched to one bottle only at nights around 22 months. Have you tried the straw cups? That might help.

HI S.! I just went thru this with my 22 month old daughter. I tried all kinds of tricks that some of the moms on this site suggested. After all that I ended up having to go cold turkey. I bought the sippy cups with the rubbery, nipple-like spout and got rid of her bottles. It was a tough day or two, but she's on sippy cups now. She is a Mickey Mouse nut, so I found Mickey cups with the regular hard spout and that is what she uses now for her milk. So, if your son has a favorite character, see if that will make a difference. (Let me tell you, my daughter is a sweet and easy going kid, but when she gets an idea in her head, she is ferocious! And she was really mad about losing her bottle!)

Good luck and hang in there!! :-) A.

Hi S.,
I got my son to drink from a straw by using a friend's suggestion. Put the straw in the liquid you want him to drink, then cover the end with your finger and pull the straw out of the cup. Put the end of the straw in his mouth and slowly let your finger off the opposite end. That way he realizes that by putting his mouth on the staw, he can suck the liquid out. Obviously start with just a little liquid and work your way up to a full straw.
As for the bottle, this is what I did. I began offering bottle ONLY in the morning and at night. Everything else was in a sippy cup. Then I cut back on what he got from the bottle in the morning ~ 8 oz. to 6 oz. then after a few days it went to 4 oz. then 2 oz. then a sippy. The night time one was my son's favorite and I was worried about that, but I offered a sippy cup about 1/2 an hour before bed every night, and then began cutting back by 2 oz. every 4 or 5 days like the morning bottle. When we got to 4 oz. at night time, I did our bedtime routine (bath and stories) and then instead of offering a bottle I just said "OK, time to go night-night". And he went with it. I knew he wasn't "hungry" because he'd just had something 1/2 an hour earlier. I found weaning it down worked for me. Others may say go cold turkey. You know your son best, so you'll know what would work best for him and his personality. Good luck!

There is a great new product on ebay called KiddieCooler made of neoprene that goes over the sippy cup type "sippy cups" its the first product on the list. or type "KiddieCooler". You can get them on www.KiddieCooler.com as well for retail price.

Hi S., do not fear, My oldest son was still drinking a bottle at almost 4. I did have 2 younger children. Some are more attached than others. Other cultures are breastfeeding at 5 years old. Good news,he is a happy well-adjusted father.
Let him be himself. Sucking is very important. Grandma Mary