2 Year Old Won't Give up Bottle

Hi. I understand. My son didn't give up his bottle til 2 1/2. We finally got it away. It was around Christmas time, he got a bad cold with phlem and all and took away the milk since it causes more phlem. We told him he can have milk once he's better. He was also attached to the bottle at night. We substituted with telling him a story once he got into bed and he kinda forgot about it. Now we are trying to get him to use a cup regularly. He does know how but he's being stubborn. Good luck

Hi J.:

My suggestion is to take her to the store with you...ie...walmart, target.etc... and have her pickout her own "big girl" sippie cup! They have ones with built in straws, and all the popular nickelodeon characters. Perhaps you can even make a "big girl"day out of it, and take her out to lunch either before or after and explain why and what you are going to be doing. Also try to explain to her at her level that using a bottle isn't good for her pretty little teeth. You just have to stay strong, and refuse giving her the bottle. If she doesn't get it at daycare...then she's only "playing" you to get what she wants. Stay strong. Good luck.

Two words...cold turkey! The way I got my son to give up the binky at age 2 was to stop giving it to him. You will have a few days of tantrums, rather than an indefinite amount of hassle by giving in. Whenever she asks for the bottle, give her the milk in a cup. The bottles are only for the baby. She'll take it eventually. Luckily, this is something you have control over!

Good luck! She will get it!

As hard as it may seem, or harsh, my suggestion is cold turkey. Set a time for when she will have her last bottle, reminder her as each one gets closer to the last, and then snuggle her and talk to her about that being her last bottle. Once you throw them out, or mail them away, or however you choose to dispose of them, DO NOT give it back or give in.

Someone mentioned our kids "needing milk," I think it was Shauna. We don't need milk. We are the ONLY species to continue to drink milk after we have "weaned." We are also the only species that drinks another species breastmilk (cow's milk, goat's milk, etc.) If you eat a well balanced diet, or even moderately balanced, then we'd get enough calcium. We are meant to get our calcium from other foods, milk is not the only source.

I agree with the previous poster...since your 2nd girl is now 12 months old, she doesn't need the bottle either so just go cold turkey. I packed up the bottles with each of my 3 on their 1st birthday exactly and never looked back. The younger one shouldn't give you much of a problem, just give them water/juice/milk in their sippy cups. I didn't have the problem you have with the older ones wanting a bottle when the new babies came though..and the longer you wait the harder the habit is to break so for her, another thought is to do something I saw on supernanny - she did it with pacifiers for an older child but it would work with bottles too. She packed them up in an envelope (in your case, you may need a box) and sealed it and wrote an address out to the pacifier fairy and put them in the mail box. Told the boy that he is now a big boy and the pacifier fairy is going to come take them since he was older and give them to babies who needed them and bring back a surprise. So the box goes away at night and in your mailbox comes a small present in its place for her. Whenever the boy asked for the pacifiers, he was reminded that the pacifier fairy took them and there wasn't a meltdown. Whatever you decide to do, stick to it and don't give in the second time! Good luck!

Hi J. -
My son was really stubborn about giving up bottles. I tried the slow way by giving him a sippy cup - he was fine if it had water in it. But if it had milk in it, he absolutely refused it. That's when we knew it was more of a preference for him. Knowing his personality, I figured for him it would be harder to wait till he was older, so I decided to tackle the issue at 14 months. I was able to get him off bottles by having him go cold-turkey. It sounds harsher than it is. The way I did it was only offering liquids in a sippy cup - not both bottle and sippy. The 2nd day I only offered milk. It took 2 days of him getting a bit frustrated, but since that was the only choice he was given, after that he's been a breeze and wants the sippy cup just as much as he used to want his bottle. Someday we'll have to break the sippy cup habit, but I'm not going to worry about that yet! Since your daughter is able to go without a bottle with other people, I'd bet she is associating home with the bottle behavior.
Good luck!

Since she isn't asking outside the home, sounds like you are worrying needlessly. Perhaps give in so you don't have to hear the constant begging instead of trying to fight it. My second child used a bottle for what seemed like forever. He is now old and fine. Sometimes we have those 'shoulds' in our heads and it hurts us more than anyone else. Perhaps a cute sippy cup would work also, but obviously there's a little competition for mommy's attention. So unless it was made clear that her mouth will collapse from sipping out of a bottle for a bit or she will need extreme dental work (which could happen with a pacifier attached to one's mouth all day and all night) I wouldn't sweat. Just give her one once in awhile with a cute picture or something. She will lose interest really, I mean it, although I'm not sure what the child psychiatrists would say. They'd probably suggest consequences for her behavior followed up by a weekly renewal of the rules and then timeouts or something. This boring old mother thinks that it would probably end it more if you surprise her and give in then if you fight the control issue all the time. Or how about a baby doll that she can give a bottle to? Screaming night after night might begin to really unrattle your nerves.

You can go different routes... you can cut her off cold turkey & explain to her she's a big girl & no longer needs them. (Or you can skip the explanation part & just cut her off.)
This will probably cause her to act out for a bit, so keep a closer eye on her interactions with the baby.
Another option would be to wean her off of it by making it not as pleasant. You can dilute her milk a little each day until it's all water, and also reduce the amounts. If it's an 8 oz bottle, only fill it to 7 oz. Each day, lose an ounce.
Make sure you tell her "only 1 bottle today" when you give it to her. She can set the pace & drink it all down & be done right away, or stretch it out by only taking little sips occasionally. Make sure you hold firm on the "only 1 per day" rule though.

It WILL pass. :)

Just go with the flow. An occasional bottle won't hurt her. She will eventually grow out of it. It is hard when a second child comes and she is doing something that many do, regressing a little so she can be a baby too. The more you concentrate on this,the worse it gets, so just go with it for a while and she will eventually move on.

Hi J., seems like you have a little problem. For starters your daughter is asking for a bottle for attention from you and your husband probably to compete with the sibling because if it was for any other reason she would be asking for it at school too and not just at home. Secondly I must ask why have you just taken her off of formula? She should have been drinking whole milk at least by 12 months. You need to only offer her a sippy cup and let her know this is what big girls use and babies drink out of bottle. You will have protests but when she realizes the only way she'll be able to drink is out of a sippy cup then she'll get the picture. I had to do this with my daugther but in a different way. I was trying to switch her from Playtex bottle to regular ones( they were getting too expensive for the bags). Once she got thirsty enough she picked that regular bottle up and drank out of it. She wasn't happy but she was AWFULLY thirsty (after 1 day of no liquids) so it worked. She was 10 months old at the time and I know it sounds cruel but you have to put your foot down enough to let kids know you mean business or they will be walking all over you for years to come and although it may be cute now, it isn't later. My daughter is 17 now and she survived so don't give up or in to her. Good Luck.

See if playing the big sister card works, try telling her that its her job as your helper to show her lil sister that big girls don't use the bottle anymore...and reward her with stuff she likes when she doesn't ask for the bottle. See if maybe asking her to help with big sitter duties will enforce that she's an example for the lil one...gives her attention and makes them feel really important (tried it with my boys and it worked well)..Good Luck

a Little about me: Mother of 5(18-26yrs old & three grand babies 1.5 to 3 yrs old) and they are all still a handful...LOL

Even at this young age kids seem to know what they can get away with, and this is probably why she doesn't ask for the bottle at daycare or the babysitters, because she only associates you with giving into her. I had this problem with my first daughter and my sister-in-law asked me, "Who is the chief and who is the indian?" When I decided that I was the chief, that's when she gave up the bottle. You might try putting water in her bottle and only milk in her cup. It may be tough for a couple of days or maybe a week, but it will be worth it. Good luck!

When little ones have most of their teeth -- as your daughter does -- they should be brushing their teeth before going to bed versus having a bottle and letting all that milk sit there overnight. That's the one thing I would worry about. There's some great advice here and I think I would lean toward just saying "no" to her. It's hard because none of us are raising our kids perfectly, even though we might like to! I have a 20-year-old. Hard to believe sometimes. And there were many issues when she was little and I know I didn't handle them all correctly, but I did my best and she has grown into a beautiful young woman. Your daughter will too! Good luck with the bottle stuff. There are more challenges down the road that will make you forget the last one you went through!

With my 2nd child, I tried weaning him when he turned 1 and it was difficult for him, so I didn't really fight it. At 14 months we went to the his dr and my son happened to have a bottle with him. The dr asked why he was drinking from the bottle still? I said 'no reason, really'. So that day I told him the dr said no more bottles and we went home and pitched them all. That night wasn't too bad. And he never looked back after that.

Both of you kids are old enough to give up the bottle, so I would go cold turkey with both of them. There are soft spout sippy cups that my son loved. I think it's by Nuby. They're great because they most represent a bottle, they are leak proof (for awhile, when they get older and chewed on the could start to leak) and there is no valve, so clean up is a snap.

Good luck!

I bought the Nubby Sport (it's like a bottle/sippyy cup). I bought them and told my son they were his new bottles and we called them a bottle. He easily took to them and then it was easy to switch to a regular sippy cup later. We just let him use them with milk (because it was his bottle). He was a little over one when we did this and it worked great. Good Luck!
Kim

Hi J.,

My first son - who is now 18 years old...did not want to part with the bottle either. I just told him he was a big boy now and he should throw that thing in the garbage. I used an animated voice - not demanding. He finally did throw it out. He did ask for it days later, but I just reminded him he had gotten rid of it, how and why. I had my son do the throwing out because then he couldn't get mad at me, so to speak, for something he did on his own. There were no tantrums involved.

C. T.

I disagree about needing versus not needing milk. Every child needs milk. In the United States, most adults don't get enough calcium, children are increasingly victims of their parents opinion on this - so ask your doctor whether she needs milk or not.

Now - on to the real issue - why is your child still on the bottle?

It's not that SHE won't give up the bottle - it's that you don't have enough strength to give it up.

Here's what we did with my 12 month old when it was time to give up the bottle: we walked to the recycling can, threw all her bottles in and said, "No more bottle - you're a big girl now."

That was the end.

Next day she went and looked in the can. I, of course, had emptied it immediately. She said, "Bottle bye-bye?" I said, "yep!"

That was the end of that.

Remember - YOU ARE THE BOSS - starting the habit of letting you children whine you into doing things is going to be a horrible pattern to begin. Once it starts, you are stuck with it. That means when they misbehave, when they want something, they will try to control you the same way she is doing now. Don't let it continue or you will be regretful later.

Good luck,

S

I would say,wait til you are ready for the baby to give hers up and then say both of you are giving it up. I had a 3rd daughter who by no means was inticed by a younger sibling as she just plain liked the bottle!!! You are lucky she doesn't throw a fit at babysitter's or daycare,that could be much worse than it is. We let our daughter have a bottle whenever at home but she was never allowed to carry it out in public and of course never allowed to use it at the babysitter's. Consequently,she FINALLY outgrew the desire rather on her own. It was some time after the youngest probably even quit taking a bottle. Each child is an individual which sometimes doesn't make it right............but. Needless to say,Andrea is now a college student and doesn't carry a bottle around. Thank goodness!!!! Good luck......J.

Hi J.. I have to agree that you need to bite the bullet, be the parent, and say "no more bottles". Bottles are unhealthy as this age - milk sitting on the teeth will cause tooth decay. And regardless of whether we agree/disagree on whether an older child needs milk, she doesn't need to be receiving excess calories from milk when she should be eating other food. I like the previous idea of just chucking the bottles all together with both girls - might as well fight that battle all at once instead of twice. Switch to sippy cups and don't let your girls walk around the house with them - use them at meal and snack times, and when you are playing outside in the sun.

I am in the same boat as you...I have a 29 month old and a 16month old-they both take bottles. I also have twins that are almost 7 and they took a bottle until about 2 1/2 years. I have asked for advice and people have some really good ideas, except they are not helpful when you have another little one at home that has a bottle....I read on another posting here on mamamsource and thought it was a super good point-there are kids that nurse until they are 3, why does it matter if you child still has a bottle at 2-is there really a difference....after that I felt much better. My kids dont take pacifiers or walk around with blankets...they just want their bottle before they go to bed and if that is what we need to do to get a good nights sleep, well thats what needs to be done. I would set boundaries though-like she can only have it at bedtime...also maybe try just decreasing the amount of milk you put in. I dont know what the right answer is, but I hope you find one that works for you. I do agree with what someone else said that she is only asking you for it b/c she knows you are going to give in...my 2 y/o does that ALL the time w/my fiance b/c I am a lot stricter on not giving her a bottle(although he has come around my way now, so she doesnt play him anymore)...let us know what happens and what you did...I am still curious.

Just don't allow her to have the bottle. Let her know that she's the "big sister" and that the new baby will outgrow the bottle before you know it. Let her fuss. Keep her busy doing "big girl" things with you that baby can't do. That's her reward. 2 years on formula is a little much too. They need to develope their little tummies mommy; don't hold them back...we're all in the same boat as far as cutting the strings

Well, since your younger daughter is now a year, you could probably do them both at the same time!

All I can say is to set a date, prepare your daughter for that date, replace the bottle with something (so, say "This Friday, no more bottle, but you are getting a new book!") And then, stick to it!!! It'll be hard for a few days, but if you do both girls at once, it may just be easier, cause she won't see your younger with a bottle.

Good luck!

Hi J.,

I just went through this with my almost 16 month old. I got great advice from here so I'm passing it along. Neither of your girls actually NEED milk anymore - as one mom said, "it's a beverage not a food source" after one year. After I read that, I was thinking about it and realized I don't drink milk,- my 3 1/2 year old never took a bottle or to milk - we're fine...so funny how you think they have to do something - I've done it many times in many situations until someone else helps make sense of the situation - usually another mom.

So, if you can stand a few days of them asking and not getting I would pack up the bottles and go cold turkey. I would think it's actually a bonus to just go cold turkey with both of them so you only have to do this once...ha ha! It took about 5 days of our son asking for his bottle when he would normally have one and then he just stopped. We give them milk for a source of calcium that they can get from plenty of other food sources at this point. \

Good luck!

Good Luck, We had the same problem with my daughter and one night after bed the bottle fairy came and took all the bottles for a new baby. She was very excited that they were being used for another baby, she never asked again for a bottle. We always looked at new babies wondering if that was the one that got her bottles.