Needs Advice

Just tell her all of the bottles are broken and had to be thrown away. Matter of factly. Tell her that drinks now come in a sippy cup. She'll resist- but just keep it simple and she'll adjust soon.
Good luck!
-S.

Water down whatever's in the bottle slowly until it's just water. Then she'll either give them up, or at least won't rot her teeth. Good luck!

I have a 20 month old too that has a bottle at nap and at bed....I would also like to know how to get her off the bottle....

Hi K.,

My dtr is 16 mos and I have had the same fear about eliminating the bottle. She had one first thing in the AM, and one at bedtime. I used the Nuby sippy cups with the soft spout, and I gave it to her one morning. I don't even know if she realized it wasn't a bottle. We haven't transitioned at night yet--but this was a start! Nuby sippy cups with soft spout are a great "tool"!

My granddaughter's pediatrician very strongly proposed that at 1 year old, we completely stop the bottles. I asked her if we should gradually phase it out and she said no, just stop. Put them all away. It was hard to do, because my daughter and I liked feeding her the bottle and also my granddaughter clearly loved her bottle. But we did it. Put them all away. For about two days, it was clear that at certain times she wanted a bottle, but she really didn't persist that much. And then she forgot about it. Went right to a sippy cup and got much more interested in solid food. I think it was harder for my daughter and I than for the baby.

If she is taking a sippy cup w/o a problem than I would simply toss the bottles and give her a cup she might be mad for a few days but she will get over it or if you are giving her milk just give water only in the bottle and in a few nights she won't want anything to do w/ it.

K.,

I know this might not be the most constructive advice, but I took a bottle before bed until I was 5. That's the only one I had, and when I turned 5, I just didn't want it anymore. My teeth didn't rot. I didn't grow up with any strange side-effects because of it. My parents just didn't make a big deal about it.

K.,

I took the bottles and told my son the mail man was coming to get them for other children who needed them. He helped pack them up and I left them at night for the next morning.

He cried and he missed them yet knowing they were absolutely gone from the house and we're being used for babies helped. It did not mean he did not cry as you are breaking a habit needed to help them fall asleep. It would be like you and I cutting out our morning coffee or a key part of our routine that either gets us going or calms us down.

Somehow all of us find these little habits become part of our children's routines. As their parents we keep an eye out for these and ask "are they working and is this healthy/appropriate for their age?"

Cold turkey for most of us is what needs to be done and particularly with children....cutting out a bottle here and there would be tough. Also, praying on this and asking GOD to help work in her heart and your situation. Pray for Peace around it and to help take away your anxiety/worry around this.

It's so hard...I know it just breaks our hearts to see them miss such a comforting thing. Yet do we want "food" to be the comforter as well?

Us moms have lots of these little things to move through with our children. Also, I do find as parents we build our confidence in looking at these situations, understanding what is best for our children and then doing it. I love watching Nanny 911 and she teaches us to be lovingly bold in our parenting as it is what our children need.

I wish you well. By the way, you can make up your own scenario as to why the bottles are going away for good that resonates with YOU.

GOD Bless.
C.

When my younger son (middle child) was that age, I had the same problem. I tried switching to just water in the bottle. He didn't care. He would want it refilled with more water. So I told him no refills. He didn't care. I reduced the amount of water. He didn't care. Eventually, he was sucking on an empty bottle. He didn't care. Ugh! So I told him that bottles were for babies and he's a big boy. Luckily, he had different bottles than his baby sister. We put a couple of "his" bottles in the trash and said "bye, bye bottles" We watched his father take the trash out and then the trash to the curb and watched the trash men take it away. Saying "bye bye bottles" each step of the way. At bedtime, he asked for his bottle and I reminded him that we threw them away. He asked for one of his sister's and I told him that they were for babies. That was pretty much the end of it. Sure wish I had started there!! My youngest was dependent on a pacifier instead of a bottle. When the time came, I told her matter-of-factly that she is a big girl and pacifiers are for babies. That was that. No drama. No trauma. And no dragging out the inevitable. So much easier! Good luck!

Hi K.!

I also successfully incorporated most of these suggestions. I did take bottles away around the 1-year mark when I stopped giving formula. I made a rule, more for myself than her, that only formula went in bottles. You might try to only take away the bottle first (by exchanging it for a sippy cup of milk now, and water later, or straight to a sippy of water), or you may want to just do it all at once and be done with the transition process.

I hope your daughter doesn't cry much, but she may, the first few times. My daughter cries for HOURS the first time something is changed (when I put water in her sippy instead of milk at nap time, when I put her in a "big girl" bed and closed the door, etc.). But she always gets over it within a few days.

Good luck!! :)

For my daughter, I just started filling her sippy cup (which she was attached to like many kids are to a bottle) with water. That way even if she fell asleep drinking it it wouldn't cause tooth rot. She quickly lost interest once it wasn't full of milk.

K.,

We didn't wean our son of his evening bottle until he was 2 years old. We had good luck by gradually reducing the amount of milk in the bottles, then eliminating all together. It's difficult because of the worry the child isn't getting enough milk, but they learn to compensate. We had good luck with straws rather than wide lipped sippy cups. Also, we never let our son sleep with his bottle...always fed him then put him down. We also gradually changed from warm milk to cold milk from the fridge using the same gradual method. The change happens over a period of time rather than all at once so the child doesn't notice as much. Consistency is key during this process so roll in any other care givers to the process while it's under way. Hope this helps!

K. (Mom of bright, happy 2.5 year old)

When my son was around that age, he was fascinated with most everything that I did. I was so tired of washing and sterilizing bottles. So... one day I said that he was a big boy now and it was time to start letting the bottle go. He only used them for twice a day (nap and bedtime), and we had 5 bottles. So I grabbed the scissors and said "say bye bye bubba", he repeated me, and I cut the nipple off! He thought it was hilarious! He asked me to do it 3 more times. Then I got nervous! What if he didn't sleep tonight without his bottle! EEK!! So we saved one, but the next day he said he wanted to do it again. I told him that if we did, he wouldn't have a one for bedtime anymore, he would have to have a sippy cup. He agreed and "snip" went the last bottle. He was great! At bedtime he said "can I have my bub...a cup?" He remembered that he chose to get rid of the last one.