I recently decided to try to wean my 15 month old daughter off the breast, and she didn't like it, so I thought introducing the bottle would make it easier on her. Well now she is off the breast, but totally on the bottle! I can't get her to go to sleep without it, and she is more demanding of it than she ever was of my chest! At first my husband and I thought it was so cute to see her sucking a bottle, but she's totally attached to it. Anyone with some great ideas about how to get her to sleep without the bottle??
When my 11 year old was little I watered down his bottle a little at a time so that he really didnt notice. I eventually got it to where all he had in bottles was water and I offered him everything else in a sippy cup. He eventually stopped wanting the bottle and just used a sippy cup. Its not easy and it will take a little bit of time but its worth a try. Good Luck
There can be reprocussions to totally cutting them off from what they view to be something that comforts them. I recommend that you just have one bottle a day (usually the night time one). Never, never let her have it in her crib / bed.
Also, most of my kids had bottles until they were 2 years old. I had no idea, back then, that they were supposed to be weaned by 2 at the latest. My pediatrician told me that it is healthy for them to be weaned at 18 months, so you have time to make this change gradual.
Another thing you can try is to give her a cup of warm milk in a sippy cup BEFORE it is bed time. She might not want the bottle later if she is full.
Well, good luck! There are no exact answers. Mother's usually know best and your child will turn out fine, I'm sure.
I had a similar problem with both my boy's. When I decided it was time to wean I would set a date a few day's in advance. In the day's preceding we would talk about how big he was getting. That he really didn't need a bottle, we should give them to a baby. BIG BOY'S get to have cool tippy cups! The day before I made a special mommy and son shopping trip where I let him pick out several tippy cups. The day of the break was made to be a very exciting day full of celebration because he was officially a BIG BOY! We bagged the bottles to be given to a baby. I would fill his tippy with favorite drinks and make a really big deal every time he would use it.
My oldest son was so proud of being a big boy that he carried his tippy like a badge of honor. I don't think he really noticed the missing bottles after that day. My youngest was more attached to his "baba" and it took several day's of tears and difficult bed times before he adjusted. Good Luck!
Well I didnt breast feed but I broke my daughter off the bottle at a year old.. I went and got those soft nipple cups and told her if your thirsty then u will drink outta this and if u just take her bottle away she will drink outta that other one when shes thirsty.. Just try it hehe.. Get the soft ones that are like bottles.. Good luck
Have you tried using a pacifier to get her to sleep? It is likely that the bottle is more of a comfort for her to fall asleep rather than her being hungry. My daughter has loved her pacifier ever since we brought her home. She also likes to hold my hand or I rub her forehead. Hope this helps! If you ever want to chat email me at ____@____.com
You could try a sippy cup with a soft spout. NUBY makes some good ones that are a nice transition. The shape of the cup is a little more bottle-like that other sippy cups. (However it is still a sippy). I know that they sell them at Walmart or Target and even Walgreens. My son liked these cups a lot when I transitioned him. The good thing is that the cups are really reasonable too. I think they're about $2. Hope that helps.
Hello
My daughter was like that. Fianlly I said enough is enough and just threw all the bottles away. I just gave her a sippy cup instead and just adjusted pretty quickly. When I tried to break her I would give her things she didn't like in the bottle in hopes of her giving it up like plain water. Good luck
M.
Hi K.! The longer you wait, the harder it will be! My daughter had the same problem. My pediatrician told me she had to be off the bottle between 12-15 months, so a few weeks after she turned 12 months I got her off of it. My daughter took 7 bottles a day, so I began by taking away one bottle a day until I used only one for her nap and then one for her bedtime. She adjusted to the sippy cup just fine, the problem was she couldn't fall asleep without the bottle. After we accoplished that, I tackled the hard part. One night, I put her in her crib and let her cry it out. It sounds horrible (and it was - I cried too) She cried for 45 min and finally fell asleep. The next day for both her nap and bedtime, she cried for 20 min before falling asleep. On the 3rd night she cried for 15 min and only 5 min on the 4th night. So, basically after 4 days we never looked back. She is now 19 months old and doesn't even remember the bottle. She goes to bed without a peep out of her and sleeps 10-12 hours through the night. Oh, also on the first night which probably prolonged her crying, I would repeatedly go to her and reassure her that she was ok. That didn't help at all, so unfortunately you just have to let them cry it out without interacting with them. My best friend is the one who helped me through it since it worked on both of her kids. I also talked to my pediatrician and he agreed with the plan. It was difficult at the time, but I am so glad I did it!!!! Hope that helps!
I found that step by step worked best for my children. Because I have twins, it was too hard to breast feed, but they were very attached to that bottle. As I took one bottle feeding away at a time, I introduced them to sippie cups.
Don't worry if your daughter is not completely weened before 18months.
I learned that always doing what the Pediatrician recommended did not work.
Good luck.
Hi
My son also was very attached to his bottle for a long time. I tried two things. The first was to slowly dilute the milk with water until he was drinking mainly water, so as not to hurt his teeth at night. This worked for a while, but then it always seemed to backfire and we would end up giving him milk again. It never worked for weaning.
The thing that finally worked was this. We went on a 1 week trip to Grandma and Grandpa's house. Before we left, we told him that he had to leave his ba ba behind, because he was now a big kid. When the time to leave came, we spent a bit of time gently reminding him to leave the ba ba behind and so just as we were getting into the car, he set his bottle down and left the house (and I then secretly tossed it out before leaving myself). We had very few if any problems getting him to sleep at Grandma's because he was having so much fun playing with his cousin, seeing and doing new things etc that each night he was pretty tired. We had maybe one or two rough nights there, but that was it. He never asked for the bottle when we returned, except one time much later and I reminded him that he no longer needed it. It was never an issue again.
I hope this helps,
J.
K.,
I had the same problem with my son. I talked to the pediatrician about it, and she gave me some wonderful advice. I don't know if it will help you or not, but, it worked for me. I was told to keep giving him the bottle, but, each night put less and less in it... even 1/2 and ounce. I was putting milk in it and he started to get upset that it was less and less... so, I started to water down the milk each day. After a little bit, it was only water in the bottle and he just wanted it for comfort. It took about a month or so, but, I was able to get him to start taking a cup to bed with him, with only water in it. I had to go through a few cups to find one that he really liked. It was not an easy process, and it was very frustrating, but, I finally found one that he wanted, and it was so worth it. I hope that this helps you. Good Luck!
