Bottle

My 21 month old still gets a bottle at nap time and bed time, however his Dr. suggested we water down the milk in the biottle, then give him undiluted milk in a cup, he says that eventually he will prefer the cup to the bottle.
My sister has now 3 year old twins and they had their bottles until they were almost 2 1/2, what she did becuase they did NOT want to give it either was when her sister in law had a baby she told the kids that the baby needed the bottles and how happy it would make him if he could have theirs, so she let them pack them up in baoxes and brought them to the post office to mail the bottles to the baby. It worked for them and she did not have to ight with them naymore.
However since you have already been strong enough to deal with the fits this long, maybe it will pay off to keep it up and he will eventually give up and accept the cup.

I have a 3 year old that still drinks his milk in a bottle and my five year old as well. Eventually he will stop wanting it, but he's just 2, I would give him his bottle I see nothing wrong with it. My doctor's told me to stop at one as you see I didn't. No need to make him suffer he's still a baby.

Hey, I have not tried this, but I read this technique, used for bottles and pacifiers and thought I might share it with you. If you have someone close to you, or a neightbor or something that has a baby who uses a bottle, if you sit down with your child and the baby and talk to him about giving the bottles to the baby because he/she needs them and him moving to big boy cups once he does this nice thing. One story I even heard they mailed them off to little babies, not really just mailed them to grandma's house, but explained to their child the process of mailing them to all the new babies and the child helped pack them and stuff and that helped too.

Dear L.,
hi, my name is kathy. You did not mention if you have been wheening him off, or if it is totally off the bottle. I had to slowly compromise with my niece & my son. I only gave it to them at night until they were ready to be "big people"; and stopped themselves. Please praise your little man every time he uses the cup! To encourage this more often! All children step into a direction of growing up at their own pace. It is ok, for him to have the bottle say just at night for a while longer. I hope this helps some. Be patient, he will give it up on his own soon. Good luck and I will pary that all goes well without the screaming and tantrums.

Hi L., Wow brings back memories. I tried and tried and tried to take the bottle away from my son, now seventeen.. I stopped trying to take it. Let him have the bottle your in a lost battle. He is not ready to give it up WHICH by the way is fine to still be on a bottle till your two and three years old. My son had his bottle until he was almost three it was his crutch, his little sense of security. You can start talking with him in a few months and ask him to give his bottle to a characture like ..Thumper.. Winnie, Tigger... Santa... Talk to your son about the characture and how they might need it and it is your choice but I really think "thumper" would like it. Mine sons was the Easter Bunny.. We together took his bottle left it on the table for the Easter Bunny, He needed to give his bottle a poor less fortunate child that needed it.. It worked he was happy I was happy.. He never saked to the bottle again...

Hope this helps

hugs
Viviamn

I agree with the majority, don't give in, at least not all the time, cut out daytime bottles first, then after about a week or two of that cut out the nightime bottles. Here's the trick to get him to take the cup... is there something he usually is not allowed to have or only on occasion? For my daughter we never let her have soda, she would occasionaly sneek a sip out of one of our straws so she did know what it was. when it came to weening time, we gave her a little sprite in the sippy, you don't want to do this all the time because of the sugar but just a little teeny bit the first couple times works like a charm, after the first time we would dilute it more and more the next couple times, until we gave her just juice, then milk after that she forgot about the bottle. Letting them go to the store and pick a cup helps to since they have cups with all the kids characters now, my daughter chose "Dora". Good luck! Stay strong it's best for him to not have the bottle because once they have teeth it can cause decay and tooth alignment problems,plus you don't want him to go to kindergarten wanting his bubba! Good luck ! Hope I helped
K.

P.s. if it's an attachment issue maybe him picking a new bear or blankie might help for now!

I don't have any experience with this area. But, if you have done everything you can do, try letting a friend or relative take over for awhile. I think it's amazing how kids respond differently to someone they are not as used to. If anything it will give you a break from the frustration and let you have time to think more clearly. That's just how I feel when I don't what to do about things with my girls. I hope this might help you a little. Good luck!

D.

You just have to be strong and stick with it. He will finally realize that he's not getting it back and go for the cup. You just have to try not to go crazy in the process. Good luck!

I would first ask, what sort of cups have you tried?

My daughter didn't take well to the hard-top cups (playtex ones) to begin with, so we got her some of the Nuby cups with the soft flexible tops. Also, has he mastered the "turning up" aspect of drinking from a cup? The tilting his head back might be half the problem.

Let me show you the ones we used in progression. Copy and paste the links to view the items. All fo these should be available at your local wal-mart of from www.baby-wise.com. If not, try the website the pictures are from.

The cups we started with can be seen here: http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/thebabybungalow_...#
The short stubby design with 2 handles helps them learn to tip their heads up without havign to tip terrifically far to get a sip.

If he's figured out tipping his head up and the nipple shape is the problem, try these: http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/thebabybungalow_...#
The nipple on them are very similar to a regular bottle.

After she got the tipping of the head down, she figured out that the cups above could be turned on their sides and pushed into the carpet, causeing the soft nipples to leak without barrier. SOOO...we moved on to the Munchkin cups, which are actually labeled as "disposibles" but we re-use them and love them for around the house and the beach and such where we don't have to worry if she loses them.
http://www.munchkin.com/userfiles/Image/travelware%20spil...
That's a picture of them, they can be found at the Munchkin website http://www.munchkin.com/products/detail.html?pID=121&...
My local BJ's is where I got mine. And they came as part of a set with dishes and lids as well. I highly recommend the dishes since they hold just the right amount of food for a child that age.

Playtex cups can be purchased from your local wal-mart as well, http://www.baby-wise.com/images/10-2680-01b.jpg shows a picture of the Insulated ones I recommend. They're a little heavier but they keep your kid's drink cooler longer.

All of this being said...I DO NOT recommend the Gerber line of cups. The valve they use and the way they work is VERY difficult to keep the mouthpiece clean and you'll find them developing nasty mold quickly since they can't be cleaned well in a dishwasher or by hand.

Make sure you're showing him how to use the cup and that it's cool to use it. My hubby sat in the floor with the cup and would drink a few sips and smack his lips like he enjoyed it, making sure he tilted his head waaay back to drive the point home. My daughter would go over to participate and he'd hold the cup up above her head until she looked up, then bring it down to her lips until she looked down. Then he'd drink a little and offer it to her. We did this for about 3 days before she had the idea down.

.
.
.

I wish you the best of luck and perserverence. It's tough to deal with a screaming child, but sometimes tough love is the best they can get. Lord knows he won't want to be sipping from a bottle when he's 10. :)

Take care!

Maybe he's not ready to let the bottle go yet. Why don't you let him have it and try again in a few months? In the meantime you can also slowly wean him.

Be strong, I am going through the same thing now but not to the same extreme as your son. Now my son loves the little 4 oz bottle made by gerber graduates. He does not do that well with juice boxes because he still squeezes the middle to hard and gets juice everywhere. I had to take him off the bottle because he started preschool in June and they don't allow anything. He will kinda drink from a sippy cup but no really. He does not drink any milk now but he does eat yogurt and lots of cheese which the doctor said is just fine. Calcium is calcium no matter how he gets it. Hope this helps.

Not sure what to tell you about the screaming except to hold your ground and don't give in and give the bottle. To avoid dehydration, offer things like popcicles and watermelon until he finally decides to drink from a cup. Have you tried different cups? I don't think you should go spend money on 10 different cups, but let him go to the store and pick one- there are so many different kinds. Also, at his age, reverse psychology works wonders sometimes. Put milk (or some other liquid) in a cup and offer it. When he refuses it, play a game of, "OK- mommy will drink from it then. Mmmmmm. This is yummy..." and put it where he can reach it if he wants it without mentioning it again.

you could do what i did, when my son turned 1 we both went in the kitchen. I gave him his bottles and told him to throw them in the trash, which he did. Then we went right to the sippy cup, had a fit at first but then he started to take it to bed with him. After that we took his sippies and did the same thing, now he is 4 1/2 and drinks out of a cup with a straw.

Maybe this will help......

I have a 14 month old that I have had excellant luck with weening. He drinks from a cup that has a soft straw and I used playtex bottles that have a similar nipple. He was so accustomed to sucking milk out the bottle without having to invert the bottle that the cup came naturally to him. Be patient with the cry over the bottle. I would offer your little one other types of food. Maybe he's still hungry.

My older son was a bear to ween. He eventually took to a sports water bottle. He liked to lift the drink bottle just like his gerber bottles so he was accustomed to how it was done.

You just have to find cups that your child likes then weening will be easy. Good luck.

I know the doctors pressured me to get rid of the bottle, and just went I thought I had, my son wanted it again (because we'd had a baby girl).

One day, the bottle will get akward for him and he won't want it anymore. Don't fight or push the issue.

Try giving him a bottle just at night. My daughter did the same thing to me, except she didn't scream, she just wouldn't drink. On the days I was concerned about hydration, I gave her the bottle during the day too. We eliminated her night time feeding because it was a waste of milk, she just wanted it by her.. she stopped drinking it long before she gave up wanting to have her bottle.. makes no sense, but it did to her.

Relax, do something to win over your sanity. The doctors push and push for things and I think they are wrong to some degree. Children are different. Somethings take more time than others.. such is your case.

J.
p.s. If your baby is with other kids who don't use a bottle he may be more likely to give up his own through example of other kids his age.

Hi L.,

My name is M. and I have a 2 1/2 yr old. I just now finally got him off the bottle. I feel your pain. First let me say I know about the down side of a child using the bottle to long, however I chose to think of the whole situation a different way and then I tackled it. The good news is he's not going to be 30 and sucking on a bottle:) It's just a security thing for him and it will pass. Secondly I found, if it's a big deal in my head it's a big deal for him too. Kids sense everything!!! I started with naps. I would RELAX and pretend like everything was normal and go through our nap routine except without the bottle, when he would ask for the bottle I would say "no bottle honey, all gone." Surprisingly enough he would go for it. Now, sometimes he didn't and that would be on days he was ornery or too tired it just depended on his emotional state. If he didn't go for it I would give him the bottle. However everyday I would try it. Slowly it came to a point that he stopped asking at nap time. Then I started bedtime. WoW!!! That was harder. Until I wised up. One day I took him to his Aunts for a day and when I returned to pick him up the bottle that I had left was still full. He didn't even ask for it!!! That is when I knew he was ready to quit completely. Best of Luck to you and your sweet boy:)

Hello! My son is 2 and still drinks milk from a bottle. It takes him a total of 5 mins and I really dont see a reason to take it away yet. His teeth are brushed every morning after the bottle and every evening after the bottle so no tooth decay here. And as for misaligned teeth, its a soft rubber nipple for about 10 mins of his day. My friend who is a dentist is sure that this is not doing to be the demise of his jaw or his teeth! Anyway, if you really want to take the bottle away, then there is some really good advice here on how to do it. Me and my son - well.....we are not ready yet!

C.

My first daughter went through that. It took a day or 2 but she got used the cup. Only problem, she then became attached to the cup, so we had to break her of that eventually. It's not easy but you have to just allow them cry. If they get thirsty, they'll drink. My daughter didn't go a whole day without drink. She would just fight it for an hour or so, then take the cup. Everytime she wanted something to drink she fought it until she finally took it without a problem. Good luck!