Getting off the Bottle - Mechanicsville,VA

hi K....certain sippy cups have a special top to them now days and they now have some that feel and look similar to a bottle nipple.try giving him the sippy but fill it with water soon he will get tired of the water and just not take it anymore.i had to do this with my son.i give him the cup with milk or juice in the mornings and kept it filled with something through the day.then at bedtime he took the cup to bed with water in it.this worked with him but it had to start out with those special nipples for them,and soon it was regular cups,of couse they had to be characters on them..maybe this can work for you too...good luck.

Hello K.,
Luckily I never had this problem but my room mates son was on a bottle till he was almost 2 1/2. I'm the one that finally took him off of it since she was unable to(she would always give into him). I explained to him that alot of other babies needed bottle that were younger than him so we got a box and pretended liek we were sending the bottle to other babies. He was excited to wrap the box and act like he was putting it in the mail. I can say the first 2 night wre difficult, he would cry for it but I would explain to him that other babies have them now and your a big boy and can use a cup. I would give him a cup of juice and put it next to him in bed so when he got thoirsty it was right there. After those few night he never asked for one again and my room mate was happy that I took him off it. He will throw fits fro a few nights but don't give in, he will remember that if I scream and cry Mommy will give in and give it to me. You can also take him to the store and pick out a special cup for bedtime now. Well, hope this helped and GOOD LUCK!!!
PS. Don't forget your the Mom and you make the rules, don't give in!!!! Things will eventually work out! :-)

I give my two year old a cup of water to take to bed with him. It's a little security, and it won't ruin his teeth, like drinking milk from a bottle. You will probably have to treat this like weaning, lose one bottle at a time. Do you have a bedtime routine? If not, maybe you can start doing things like bath, reading, songs, whatever, and hopefully these will eliminate the need for the bottle. Good luck!

Hi...if your son is only requesting his bottle at nap and at bedtime, I wouldn't be too alarmed that he is still wanting it. My daughter was almost 3 before she quit taking her bottle completely at (she ended up being a top athlete at school and an honor roll student so having the bottle did not harm her). She weaned herself, the bedtime got fewer and fewer until finally it was no more and only nap bottle was left and then one day she just threw it out of her bed herself after asking for it. I only put a little bit of liquid in the bottle though when she got a little older and stopped other liquids about 1-1 1/2 hour before bedtime as I knew she would have her "little drink" in the bottle so she would not wet the bed. Also, I was a fanatic about brushing the teeth as soon as she got up in the morning and as soon as she got up from her nap. I am so against the doctors that say to "make" children give up their bottle. As long as he is drinking from a cup otherwise, if it makes him happy and secure and helps with going to sleep, give it to him :-)
You are not "giving in" to him, you are allowing him to feel secure as long as he needs to.

What are you putting in the bottle? When I was getting my daughter off of it, I started just putting water in it, and she decided that it wasn't worth it with in a couple days. Or if you are just giving him water now, try giving him a sippy cup when you put him down.

well my son is 2 years old and i did not have the bottle problem but i do have the paci problem. i am going to take his pacifier away this christmas. so try what i am trying with his bottle:
on christmas eve we are going to gather up all his pacifiers and put them in his stocking. when he wakes up the next morning he will have toys and goodies in the place of his pacifiers and that is how we plan on taking it away.
believe me it will be no easy task as he has his paci in his mouth 24/7. but i wouldnt keep him on a sippy cup long either as they still have to suck the liquid out like a bottle and so i suggest big boy straw cups. that is what my son uses and he loves the cartoon characters on them. please let me know if the idea worked for you. i will let you know the same.

WELL WHAT U CAN TRY TO DO IS GIVE HIM A CUP WITH A STRAW OR NOT BUT GIVE IT TO HIM ALL THE TIME AND LET HIM CRY B/C HE WILL EVENTUAALY GIVE IT UP AND TAKE THE CUP JUST GIVE HIM SOME JUICE OR HIS FAVORITE DRINK IN HIS CUP IF U DONT TAKE THE BOTTLE NOW HE WILL HAVE TEETH PROBLEMS FOR HIS FIRST YEARS BUT TRY SOMETHING LIKE CARRS CUP SPONGEBOB SOME CARTOON HE LIKES THEN SWITCH IT

Your son obviously sees the bottle as a comfort thing. Is there something you could replace it with at naptime and bedtime? Maybe he could pick out a stuffed animal or some toy to sleep with as a reward for giving up the bottle. Also, maybe at first you will need to stay with him longer until he falls asleep, rubbing his back or singing to him. I think if he starts to associate something else with comfort at bedtime, he will give up the bottle.

Hi K.,

You could also try picking out a special bottle/cup to take to bed with him. It could be a sippy cup, a small, pre-filled bottle of water with a sippy top, or a drink box with a straw. Make a big deal out of going to get it. Something special so that he's not losing as much as he's gaining. Keep reminding that he's getting a big boy sippy whatever and it helps.

Good luck!!

I have not had this problem with either of my children. My daughter gave up her bottle at age 9 months, my son gave his up at a little over a year old. However, with my son we stopped giving him the bottle and bought him sippy cups. His sippy cups had soft tops on them so he still had to suck the liquid out. I quit giving him milk and started giving him a half full cup of apple juice or whatever juice I had in the fridge. When he was about 2 1/2 we wanted him to do the potty training thing so I took his cup, there was a litte resistance but at this stage and age I just talked to him and told him what a big boy he would be if he didn't have his cup and could use the potty. He gave his cup up almost immediately. Totally forgot about it. It was just a few weeks after that that he started doing well with potty training. I had more trouble getting him off the binky, but we are over that too except that when he thinks about it he still wants it.

My suggestion is that you go to walmart and pick up a few NUBY cups. You will see how soft the tops are. Once your child get used to these then you can get him the ones with the harder tops or the ones with the straws. Then start leaving a regular cup on the table beside the bed. Or letting him get a drink right before bed. Then the potty training begins. Once he takes no drinks during bedtime it actually gets easier to potty train. But don't push the issue, just talk to him and tell him what a big boy he is and compare him to DADDY. You know "Daddy doesn't have to take a drink to bed with him". That type of talk. God knows my husband is my son's everything. He wants to do everything daddy does and wants to fill his shoes when he gets older. I think my son is well on his way of doing just that.

here is my sudjestion a child had memory on what is repetition.
If he will take a pacifier try that. Fill the bottle with water instead of other things or his teath will have problems.
The best way as i did and it's not the easiest is just stop all at once and in a short time he will forget that routein and yes it's hard to hear him cry but you can't give in this is the will power you will need forever so never to early to start setting your ground on what is the best for him.
Not only will this be a good thing overall but when it's time to potty train he "you" will have better comtrole of intake on fluids and better help him move forward in that area. If drinking right before nap and going in the diaper now it will be really hard to stop it if in training.
I wish you luck and find in you the mother strength being the parent is not always the easiest!

K.,
I see this all the time in the day care center! The parents want to get the child off of the bottle completely but the child wants their own way. It is just that, the child wants to use whatever they can to get their way in this. What I do when a parent tells me this, I start to limit the time the child has the bottle as much as possible.

When I went through this with my oldest, I told her that there was a fairy that took the bottles at night IF they hit the floor. I made sure that she knew the fairy wasnt going to hurt her, just help her let go of the bottle. When the night came that she had her last bottle in bed with her, I told her that once the fairy got it, it was gone. Sure enough in the night she knocked the bottle out of the crib and never asked for it again.

I like the idea of giving your son a big boy cup. Nuby has a great one for helping to break from the bottle. It is the one with the soft nipple like top on it. They are very reasonable in price at Walmart (if I remember right I paid a dollar or two). This gives them the feeling of the bottle without it being a "baby bottle".

I wish you luck with this. I know how frustrating it can be to have a 2 year old with a bottle that wont give it up.

I read an article in Parents that said give them a choice between a bottle of water and a cup of milk at bedtime. My mom tried this with my 2 yr old little sister and had good progress with the nap time bottle. I successfully broke my 4 yr old of the bottle completely 2 wks. after his first birthday, but just broke him of the cup at bedtime just a few months ago. And with my 7 1/2 month old daughter I've learned not to start a bottle in bed, just a tip if you decide to have more little ones, it's a whole lot easier to break that habit if you don't start it. I hope that my suggestion helps, just remember it doesn't work overnight it will probably take a few weekds, good luck with this. Also the longer you wait the harder it will be. I hope it goes good.