Hi, I have a wonderful 14 month old son who has, so far, successfully weened off his daytime bottles. He goes to daycare and does not take them there, he lays on a cot and they pat his back until he goes to sleep. At home, he is still taking a bottle in the evening. He does not use a pacifier and began using the bottle as comfort when he had terrible reflux and could not move on to fast flow nipples. He still uses a slow nipple. Using the slow nipple relaxed him and he started using that to settle down for bed. I would like to find a way to take him off his last bottle. He has a frog he holds on to when going to sleep but is very active and nothing seems to help him settle but the bottle. We have a nightly routine of bath, no rough play, reading books, etc., but he continues to go full force until he has a bottle. He may wake up in the middle of the night, but groans, may cry a minute and goes back to sleep.
Also, if I just leave him in his crib, he will cry until he is hysterical and gagging because he is so upset. I am not going to "just let him cry it out".
Any help would be appreciated.
You just need to take it from him. It is not good for his oral health to take a bottle or cup with milk or juice in it to bed. My kids have always gone to bed on their own as we started very early putting them to bed and letting them fall asleep on their own.
Quick question- have you tried to put him in bed without it more than once? The reason I ask is because I had a hard time getting my 7 month old to go to sleep on his own because I didn't want to use the 'cry it out' method either. So I made my own plan... the first few nights I planned on letting him cry for 10 minutes before checking on him- each time just letting him know that I was still there (not picking him up, just laying him back down). Then slowly letting him cry for longer periods of time. The first night I checked on him once, the second night he only cried for 5 minutes, & he is still going to sleep on his own @ 10 months! I know its difficult to hear them cry, so if you need to start out @ 5 minutes, that could work, too.
Another thing I believe has helped is no night light. He seems to play more once I lay him down if he can see!! (duh!)
Your son is obviously able to self-sooth since he does it in the middle of the night, so I don't think it would take you long to get him to @ bed time.
Hope this helps! Good luck!
My daughter had this same problem. We went to sippy cups that has the suction stoppers so she still needed to suck to get the milk. This worked when she realized the bottle wasn't coming back.
hi, we went through the same thing with my son when he was that exact age. gerber bottles have a 'sippy' thing that replaces the nipple but still 'feels' like a bottle. we switched him to that with water, then to a regular sippy cup for many months, now he is 3 and has a cup of water on his nightstand. this worked great for us, you can purchase the gerber system at wal-mart, it is fairly inexpensive, just make sure you use the nipple with water in it for a little while, then switch to the sippy nipple. good luck!
One thing is, if you aren't already, fill the bottle with water, no juice or milk cause that will mess up his teeth. I wouldn't sweat it, really. 14 months is pretty darn young to not be using a pacifier, be still nursing, or still need a night-time bottle. I know that doesn't solve your problem, but just an observation. I think either you sit there and pat his back or give him a bottle with water. The bottle is better than him depending on you to sit by his bed while he goes to sleep, cause that could turn into a really bad habit, with no time to get other stuff done while you wait for him to go to sleep! sounds like you already have a wonderful night time routine, what a good boy that he is sleeping all night!!! Count your blessings and don't worry too much about it. I think he will get off that nighttime bottle all by himself if you give him several more months. You sound like a great mom!!!
I have two sons, my 3 year old took a bottle to go to sleep until he was 28 months old. My 20 month old just got of the night bottle a month ago. My 3 year old took longer because the baby came and he didn't want to give it up because the baby had one. We decided that we would make the milk that was in the bottle less appealing by adding water to it and on 1/1/2008 he gave it up. We still sometimes let him go to bed with water in a sippy cup, but he usually doesn't drink any of it--I think it is a comfort thing (and he is potty trained now and doesn't wet the bed when he has the sippy cup with him)
Now my 20 month old is a different story. He was taking a bottle to bed up until 7/3/08--when he was 19 months. I hope your child doesn't have to learn my child's way. He fractured a tooth and the dentist said no bottles, even sippy cups for 5-7 days, which ended up being only 4 days as they had to pull his front tooth on the 3rd day and we had to wait 24 hours to finally be able to give him a sippy cup. We decided to just throw away all the bottles after the tooth incident and it worked--he doesn't even seem to know they are gone!
Patience is the best thing--he will eventually give it up.
L.
I wouldn't worry about it. With my first 2 kids, I had them weaned by 18months, and with my 3rd, he is 20 months and still takes one at nap and bedtime. We have made one step up which is he drinks his bottle of warm milk at night while walking around, sitting, or rocking, we brush teeth, then lay him down with just a little water in his bottle. I know that it's not hurting him, and feel that this was a good step and he'll eventually stop. Plus, he's my 3rd and my last, so I don't mind him staying a baby a little longer....good luck though, and it's good that he's weaned from the nap bottle!!
try reading "The No Cry Sleep Solution" by Elizabeth Pantley. she has great tips to gradually help them sleep on their own. try both the original and toddler books. the library in OKC has a copy, but it is usually on a waiting list. amazon may be better. good luck.
The way I got my 12 month old off the bottle when he was 10 months old was to just take it away. I did that at the same time I said no bottle for bed. I figured if I was taking it, I might as well go all the way. Your child is older though so I'm not sure if you'd want to, but that's one way to know he won't need it. Just take it, say no, and go from there. My son will cry until he pukes, but I'm not going to give in if it's something he doesn't really need and that's really the only way I could have done it with my child. Besides, if you just give in now, they will run all over you later.
K., in place of the bottle play some baby soothing music for sleepy time. There are lots of new cds out specifically made for babies and sleepy time! You can even find them in Wal Mart. it is possible that the reflux incident frightened him and has left him feeling a bit anxious. There is no reason why a 14mth old should continue drinking a bottle at night when he is clearly out of the bottle stage all during the day. You can sit with him for only seconds while the music begins. Soothe him with the pat on his back or bottom. he will feel secure and relax. If you are needed there throughout the entire first piece of music, then remain to bring security to your baby boy. Slowly you can reduce the time you remain with him as he becomes accustomed to the music on low volume, of course.
You may find yourself drifting asleep with his music. it is quite soothing, relaxing, comforting for everyone. I use music almost nightly to relax my mind. It plays to the end of the cd even though i am fast asleep before the last song plays!
give it a shot! you lose nothing. and may gain some peace of mind and a good nights rest for both yourself and your child.
sincerely,
D.
