Help with My Bottle a Holic 2 Year Old

Updated on June 18, 2007
L.G. asks from Buffalo, NY
12 answers

Ok ladies.....I need some help. My son is 2 and a half and addicted to his bottles. I know that I have should have worked on this a long time ago. but you have to cut me some slack because he was born with medical problems and had reflux which led to eating problems. So, I kind of let it slide, but it is getting out of control. He know opens the fridge himself and gets the milk if he wants a bottle. We add water to the milk so he isn't drinking to much and he is drinking about 15 ounces of milk a day. He doesn't really like sippy cups, I have tried a lot of them. He will drink a juice box and he will drink a water bottle. So, any suggestions? I need to start thinking about potty training and I have to get this resolved first. thank you in advance for your help.

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So What Happened?

Thank you all for the tips. Ryan and I are going shopping friday night and saturday morning there will be no more bottles. Wish us luck!
UPDATE: ok, so my son and i went shopping on friday night and bought a variety of cups, I let him pick them out. So sunday morning was the day, no more bottles. He had a huge problem in the morning but then did ok the rest of the day. He didn't want to drink out of any of the cups. He drank capri sun the rest of the day. I tried to offer him different beverages in the different cups but he refused. So, I will continue to work on that. I FELT SO BAD for him, but tried to tell myself that he is just mad and we have to do this. So we made it! 24 hours without a bottle. woooooooooohooooooooooooooo! Thanks for all of the support and advice. L.

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S.R.

answers from Rochester on

have you tried the cups with straws? I had to try just about every cup till my son finally took them. Try changing up his routine or maybe only offer milk with meals. Good luck!

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J.S.

answers from Rochester on

Im not sure if this will help but I found a sippy for my daughter that looks like a bottle but is bigger. It has a top on it like a nipple and is similar in shape to a bottle. I believe I got it at Kmart and its bu NUBY. Maybe if havent already tried that one...Or my kids used to love using the sports bottles to drink from. Have you tried those?

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C.L.

answers from Buffalo on

I'm with Nancy here. Get rid of the bottles, be the parent! Why "discuss" this with him? Does he know how to drink from a cup? If not, start giving him all his liquids in a small child-sized cup, (not even sippy cup) starting with only an inch-full. He'll learn how to drink from a cup in an hour. Sure, he may have some spills, but so what? We ALL learn by trial and error.

As far as juice boxes go, juice is "pop" for kids, minus the fizz. If he's drinking a lot of juice, he's getting a TON of sugar. If he likes something fruit flavored, maybe try fruit!

Good luck, I know your sweetie can do this. You just need to hang tough. You'll be doing him a favor.

PEACE

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S.K.

answers from Scranton on

Hi, you said your son will drink juice boxes, so he can drink from a straw. You can buy alot of sippy cups now that actually have straws, and if you take him to the store and let him pick out a few new ones it might make him feel important. when you get home just make all the bottles disappear. When he asks for a bottle tell him you don't know where they are sooner or later he'll forget about it. good luck I went through the same thing with a binky.
S.

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S.M.

answers from Buffalo on

Don't beat yourself up about it. In the big scheme of things, drinking out of a bottle until a kid is 2 isn't that big of a deal right? Well, when we switched my son (also 2) off of his bottles, we went cold turkey. He didn't like sippy cups either. He wouldn't even put one in his mouth, but one day I got him up and when he asked for his ba ba I said that he had grown into a big boy and now he has to drink from a sippy cup. He didn't drink much for 2 days (and there were many tears), but after that he accepted it. Those 2 days were tough...but we didn't give up.
I also saw on Supernanny that you can take all of his empty bottles and put them in a bag. Tie the bag to a tree outside and explain that the "bottle fairy" will come and take the bag to give the bottles to new little babies. Explain to your son that if he's patient, the fairy will leave him a present on the tree the next day. After your son goes to bed, go out and take down the bottles. Replace them with a bag that has a new sippy cup, toys, etc. Whenever he asks for a ba ba after that, remind him that the bottle fairy gave them to little babies who really needed bottles.

Hope this helps.

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L.G.

answers from Utica on

My youngest was a real bum when it came to giving up her bottle too. First I got rid of all but one bottle and told her she could only have it in her room before nap and bedtime, and only water went in it.If she wanted anything else she had to use a cup. Then I took her shopping for cups and let her pick .
What really helped was getting her big-kid-bed and new sheets, and starting potty-training. I told her the bottle at bedtime makes her pee in her bed, even with pull-ups she got upset when that happened. One morning when I washed the bottle, the nipple had a crack. I showed her and she said "it's broken, gotta put in trash" And that was that.
You've gotta stick to your guns, and she got mad at me more than once. Good luck.

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C.B.

answers from Albany on

I have never had this problem with my 2, but did you try using the sport bottles or water bottles,or take him shopping to find his own big boy cup.

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A.M.

answers from Rochester on

Since your son will drink out of a water bottle, have you tried to put his milk in a water bottle? What about getting rid of the bottles, for example giving them to a child that needs them more then he does. My son is almost 7, he still had a blanket at night. My sister was expecting in May, so around January, we talked him into giving his blankets to his new baby cousin, even though he was not born yet. IT WORKED. And when his new baby cousin came along, we wrapped them up together and gave them to him just from his big cousin. Now, when he sees his cousin with one of his blankets, he is so PROUD. Try this with your son...see what happens, it is all worth a try right.

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M.H.

answers from Burlington on

You say he'll drink from a juice box or a water bottle; have you tried a spill proof cup with a straw instead of a sippy cup? It sounds like he's just gotten really attached to his bottle, but if you can get him to use a straw sippy or a water bottle with a sports spout, you might be able to get him off the bottle.

Try giving him his milk in the straw cup during the day and only let him have his bottle just before bed. Pack all but one bottle. After about 2-3 weeks, talk to your son about throwing out the bottle because he's now a big boy. Have him throw the bottle into the trash (no dumpster diving, mom) himself so he can "say goodbye" to the bottle. After that, only give him the water bottle or a cup with a straw.

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K.M.

answers from Syracuse on

Try the straw sippy cups from rubbermaid that are shaped like a juice box. My daughter had a hard time going from a bottle to a cup too because we used the Playtex bottles and she never had to turn it up. We used those sippy cups from rubbermaid and she never had trouble at all. Good luck.

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K.T.

answers from Binghamton on

have you tried the nubby sippy cups? they have a soft spout like a bottle so they might help with the transition. also (according to super nanny-love her!) get rid of all the bottles in your house and binkies if you have those too. then when he goes to find his baba there is no option but to use a cup.

keep us posted on how its going,
K.

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N.P.

answers from Syracuse on

Tell him that your bottles broke and he has to use either a water bottle, sippy cup, or juice box. Get rid of the bottles!

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