Weaning off of the Bottle

Hi P. i had a little bit of a hard time with my first child, but Wal-mart has nubby sippy cups that have a soft tip which is more like a bottle and is sometimes easier to wean then a standard sippy. It really helped my kids and with my second she was weaned at 9 months. I hope this helps good luck! :)

Soon after my son turned a year old, I started swapping out his bottle with a Nuby sippy cup. It has a soft top (similar to a bottle). I've also seen Avent bottles with side handles, which I think would help with the transition from bottle to cup.

I would also keep all bottles out of sight. After a while, my son would stop asking for his "ba-ba" because of that old adage, "Out of sight, out of mind."

Good luck!

I haven't read the other replies but who in the world decided that at 1 year of age all children had to be off the bottle?!?! That's just crazy, to me. I understand that it isn't good for a child to drink from a bottle all day long, but if he is only having it when he goes to sleep and drinking from a sippy cup the rest of the time, then there isn't a problem. YOu could break the habit or you could let him keep having the bottle if you want to. My son LOVED his one bottle a day at bed time (even though it only had 3 oz in it) until he was 3 years old. And his dentist says he has great teeth. Whenever you do it, there is bound to be some crying because they are losing something that is very comforting to them. I like to do it when they are older because they can understand "why".
good luck with whatever you try!

my son would do that. but then he would just end up crying himself to sleep. he now drinks out of a cup with lid and straw. my son is king of whining and throwing fights. I just try to tune him out or try to get his attention towards somethign else. if he sleepy he will eventually fall asleep

If he uses it just at bed and nap time don't worry about it. I have three children, one full grown 27ys and I can tell you its ok to let him have the bottle during those times. The Dr. isn't always right! You have to use your own judgement.

It will result in a couple of long nights but he will eventually forget. Try to replace the bottle with a new routine; maybe a story. The longer you wait the harder it will be because he will get too attached.

It sounds to me like you are on the right track. My son was on 4 bottles a day at 12 months. I just slowly at a natural pace for me and my son decreased the bottles. By 13 months He was on two and at 15 months he was on one bottle a day. His doctor said no more bottles at his checkup, only sippt cups. I just said ok. I gues my son was ready, because we had no problem. You may trying giving your son a sippy cup of milk just before your bedtime routine. That way you can brush his teeth and the milk is not part of the bedtime routine. We brush teeth, then read 2 stories and lights out. You have a few months, so do what is best for you and your son. i think you will find it easier than you think as your son nears 15 months. Good luck

I have 3 boys and as soon as they turnied 1, I just got rid of the bottle. If they didn't see it, they didn't want it. He may whine for a few days, but he'll get used to his sippy cup. Good luck!

I have a 18 month old girl and it was hard for me to ween her off the bottle but sometimes I do give her a bottle, but try giving him more of the sippy cup instead of the bottle. That's how I got my daughter off the bottle.

L.

I have a friend with 5 kids and I asked her this question as my first approached her first birthday. She said they get a "ceremonial" last bottle on the night of their birthday, then she hands them a sippy cup the next morning. It may take a few days to adjust, but they won't starve or dehydrate in the process.
It worked.

Hi Pricilla. I haven't tried to wean my guys off of a bottle yet, but with other things (like that after dinner cigerette) there is a huge psycological element. I would try giving him the bottle AND THEN doing something else like playing bouncy, or reading a story, or playing some music, or whatever. Slowly reduce the time with the bottle and focus more on the new bedtime ritual.

Personally, I don't think it is that big of a deal. The sippy cups we put them on require almost the same type of sucking as the bottle. My Doctor is very strict about this as well, she says on a sippy by a year. I battled my son for 3 months to get him to take a full feeding from one and wish now I wouldn't have chosen that battle. My daughter is 14 months and still takes a bottle at night and I am not concerned at all.

However, if you want to do this(which is perfectly fine by the way) I would remove the bottle and let him fuss for the first couple of nights. It might not take him long to figure it out.

I do not think anything is wrong with switching to a sippy cup..noone be offended please. I just don't believe it to be
as big of a thing as the doctor makes it sound....did your doctor tell you why?

When my daughter was 13 months, I had her down to only her bedtime bottle. I switched the milk out for warm water and she quit taking it after a few days. At first, she'd drink a little of it. I don't know if it was a fluke that it was so easy, but it's worth a try.

Good luck!

I turned the night-time bottle time to book reading time--I gave my little girl a nice, warm bath, then snuggled up in a rocker for reading time.
If that doesn't work, you might try something I saw on Super Nanny that she did w/ binkies. She had a little girl tie up her binkies to branches of a tree outside. She told the little girl that the binky fairy would come & bring her "big girl" stuff to replace the binkies. The next morning, there were all kinds of cute little (inexpensive) things tied to the tree.

I was kind of glad to see some of the responses. Everyone has a different view point on the bottle thing it's hard to know what is right and the right way to do it. My daughter is turing 2 next month and she still has a bottle. Only for nap and bedtime and I have found that I am the only one she lets give her the bottle-not even dad. Everyone else who ever takes care of her just puts her down and that's it, she is ok. It must be a mom daughter bonding thing she feels I don't know. Anyhow, we kept her on the bottle cuz she wouldn't drink milk any other way and she is very small/petite and the doctor wanted her on whole milk until 2 yrs to give her some fatty content. The plan is cold turkey on her 2nd Bday but we have a big 2 wk vacation in April and may postpone it 1 month just to keep it easy but we'll see how it goes cold turkey first and according to grandma who never gives her a bottle it should be easy.
Sorry for going on and on but I would not get too hung up on time tables, do what feels right for you and your little ones and your life style:)