The Bottle

Hey there,
you've gotten good advice, and I just want to reiterate two points. One, it's not the end of the world if she keeps her bottle for a few more months or even a year. When it comes to pacifiers and bottles, apparently the dental damage doesn't start until they're well on their way to 3 years old, as long as you're not letting her drink the bottle in bed as she sleeps. And I say that as someone whose kids have never really taken a bottle to begin with, so I promise, I'm not rationalizing my own issues here, I'm telling you what I believe is true. :)

Two, if she's willing to drink out of a regular cup, then go that route. I know it's messy and a pain, but honestly, it'll save you having to switch from a sippy cup to a regular cup down the line. Not only that, but once she's more comfortable with it, if you're not stressing about the bottle issue, she may be more likely to take a sippy cup since she'll be more open to lots of different ways of drinking. I say, since you're open to trying all kinds of different ways of doing this, just remember that the straw cups are apparently better dentally and developmentally, so again, if she's open (or closed) to anything, then you may as well just start there.

I believe that in all things we need to listen to our babies more. She's telling you something. So work with what she's telling you. There's plenty of room for you to get her to move forward developmentally without denying her a comfort item that she still thinks she needs. Someone said that even by 18 mos she'll have more language and more interest in other things and boy, is that true! Let it go, follow her lead a little bit, and see where you are in 6 mos. If she's still fighting you after her 2nd birthday, then you can start to worry a little. :)

Hope that helps!

1 mom found this helpful

I don't have any advice for you as I am experiencing the same thing with my 14.5 month old. I appreciate your struggle and that you asked the question as I am benefiting also from everyone's advice. Just know that you are not alone and try to ignore any scorn you might received from other parents/medical staff/strangers. I think that like every other milestone that children achieve in their OWN time, transitiioning to the sip cup from a bottle doesn't always happen perfectly at 365 days after birth. Best of luck.

Hi L.,
Can I ask what is the rush to get her off the bottle? She clearly isn't ready--at least not mentally. : ) She's learning to be independent and assert herself so why not make this choice hers? Staying on the bottle won't affect her development. My son still had a bottle at 2 and then we just introduced a cup and he was perfectly fine with it. It's ok to let her have the bottle for longer. She's still so young.

D.

I agree with the other comments , she's just a year old , still a baby , it's not like she's wanting to take it to school! If she takes a normal cup happily then stick to that during the day & just give her the bottle at bed time. My daughter is 3 & she still likes her bedtime milk in a bottle.

L.,
I say give your child the bottle. Just because she is off of formula and on milk,juice, doesn't mean she NEEDS to be off the bottle right now. My son was 2 when we got him off of it. We had worked him down to just a night bottle, but that was his routine and harder to break. My daughter, who just turned 2 took a bottle until 14-15m. Then she discovered straws and that was that. She perfers the cups with the straws to the toddler sippy cups, so we found ones that have a fold over piece to keep the mess in when she's not drinking.
Good luck
M.

Its time consuming, but you could help her with drinking from a regular cup. I started offering my son the sippy cup months ago (he's almost 10 mos now) and he drinks water from the cup without a problem. We have started weaning him off the bottle and onto the sippy cup but giving him his bottles with meals in his feeding chair (and he no longer gets a bottle at bed). Occasionally he will drink the formula from the sippy. I figure I have 2 months before I need to really push the issue. If, at his bday he isn't already switched, I will just take the bottles away and not give him that option. Eventually he will get thirsy enough to drink the milk from the cup.

My son went right to cups and water bottles with the twist caps and was so happy. With the water bottles he thinks he's big because he sees me using water bottles and I can close the twist cap to bring in the car, etc. I also got him a canteen that looks like mine but has the "sport" cap that you pull up and he loves it. (Again, I can push it down to pack in the cooler, etc.) Spring is coming, maybe she can practice the cup outside? It is so handy to be someplace and he's able to use a "real" cup!!

Good luck!
D.

Sometimes w/ the stubborn ones you have to go cold turkey. It might take a couple of days but in the end it will be worth it. When you do take it away, just know that she may not drink anything that day and she might even get a bit constipated the following day from having no fluids. But it wont last long. She will eventually go for that cup and drink it down.
Just explain its time for the bottle to go byebye cuz now we have big girl cups. Set 2-3 of the cups on the table w/ water in them and let her pick. Let them sit there all day. I am willing to bet it wont take her long. You can always offer her a sip out of your cup throughout the day or maybe "share" her cup w/ her to get her started. Got to be creative, consistant and Persistant.
Good luck.

Hi L., We started over too. My kids are 24, 21, 16 and 4. You are right, it's a blessing and a ton of fun! I, personally, wouldn't make her give it up yet. She just turned a year old. Another couple of months won't hurt her and it sounds to me like she just isn't ready. She may still need that security. At 18 months she may start liking the various fun characters that come on the cups and that may be an incentive to wean her off, plus she will understand more about what you say. Right now she probably just doesn't understand why you want to take away something she wants so badly. Good luck! C.

Just a little tip that helped in my house when I was a little girl and my mom wanted to get my sister off the bottle when she was two:

She made a game out of it. She told my sister that babies really need bottles. They went around the house together and gathered up all the bottles and nipples and bottle accessories. Every time they found something, they put it in a big cardboard box. When they were done, they taped up the box and put stamps on it and "sent it away." I assume it was thrown out or stored away somewhere.

This really worked for my sister because she was ready to give up the bottle physically but was totally attached emotionally. If you think it's the right time for your little one, it may work for you too.

Good luck!

My son and daughter were the same way...my son was easy to transition him to the sippy cup for his milk and therefore I could do sippy before his nap time and bottle at bed time. But with my daughter (almost 16 mo), she was so stubborn. I realized that I could not go back and forth, but that I had to do it cold turkey. And after a day or two, she realized that a sippy was the only way she going to get milk and then she was fine.

Hi! Here is my trick, it worked wonder with my twins. They also refused to give their bottle up until I put a nipple number 1 on their bottle... it makes it hard to sucks and not gratifying... I was offering both the transformed bottle as well as sippy cup and soon they took sippy cup. I shared this trick with several of my friends and they all swear it is a smooth transition. Good luck!