Getting Baby off the Bottle

G., when I did this with my kids, I would fill the bottle with water. If they are really thristy then they will drink it, if it's a habit/comfort thing, they will most likely give it up in about a week. I also told them that big girls drink milk from a cup and it worked for all 4 of mine. If her waking & crying at night is too much for you, then I suggest that you comfort her and hand her the bottle (with water). If that doesn't work, then take her to the kicthen and put a little milk in a sippy cup and let her have it. Once she is done, tell her it's bedtime, let her put the cup in the sink and off you go. It may take a week of doing this (it'llbe h*** o* you) but if you stuck to it, then it should work. Good luck

My son in now 15 months old and we still use the bottle for bed and first thing in the morning. Evey once in a while I'll slip him a sippy instead with hopes of no bottle at all by 18 months.

If it makes you feel any better, I waited until my daughter was 2. I, like you, wasn't sure what to do... I talked to the pediatrician and she told me to just have her watch me throw it away and have her say goodbye.. I thought, yeah what a joke.. but it worked.. I had her sit on the counter and I told her she was a big girl and I threw it in the trash and said.. say bye.. she did and since then she hasn't even thought about a bottle... So.. I think you should just wait a little longer. I heard about the 1 year old thing too, but I so do not believe it. Good luck..

With my first daughter, who is now 5, my ped. told me he didn't care if she took it to college to sleep with as long as it only has water in it! My second daughter who is 15 months is not dealing with that as well, we switched to water and she does fall asleep, but like your child she wakes up in the night and basically flips out until you get milk in there. She's stubborn to and can last 4 hours having a fit. She screams and screams will take a few minute break and then scream and scream!!! It's incredible how much stamina she has, I can't keep the hours she does. Good Luck, I wouldn't worry to much about it though if she just turned 1.
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My son just turned 14 months on the 12th...He likes drinking out of the cup during the day but at bedtime he likes his bottle...I really don't see anything wrong with that...You know babys have their own personality and I think that when they are ready to stop drinking a bottle they'll do just that...I figure thats a way to teach them how to make there own decisions...
I also have 2 older girls and i've completely forgot what I did to get them off the bottle. lol.....

In my opinion, if she only needs the bottle at night to go to bed, give it to her. I personally don't see any harm in that.
She's only a year old; you can ween her off the bottle a few months down the line.

I just got my son off the bottle. He is 18.5 months old. His doctor wanted him off by 18 months. He hasn't had a bottle in two weeks. I just told him that he is a big boy now and big boy's drink from cups. I have introduced the sippy cups for months now. He only seems to like the nuby sippy cups. I try the others and he still doesn't like those. It was easier than I thought to get him off the bottle.

I know this won't win me mother of the year but my 17 month old still gets a bottle in the morning. I personally don't think it is that big of a deal at 15 months old. It seems like you are doing the right thing by gradually taking her off the bottle. The only advise I have is maybe hype up the sippy as this great fantastic thing and when she uses it, tell her what a big girl she is. Other than that, don't worry about it she is still young and there is no need to make loosing the bottle so tramatic. I think you are doing the right thing already :)

We are in the same boat. My daughter is 22 months and still taking a bottle or two overnight. We cut out the naptime and going to sleep bottles with no problem but if you try to deny her the bottle when she wakes up in the night it is not a pretty site. Choking, gagging, screaming etc. but give her the bottle and she's out again in less than a minute. We do plan on having her throw out her bottles just after her second birthday. She is communicating more every day and I really feel that at that time we can have a good conversation about it and she will be able to participate in the process with some type of understanding. I'll probably do it the weekend after so that it doesn't put a damper on the birthday celebration and we will do it on a Friday so that we have the weekend to deal with no sleep. One thing that we have started doing is giving her a sippy cup of water to bring to bed. She doesn't hardly drink from it now but I tell her everynight that she can drink her water if she gets thirsty. I'm hoping that this will make sense to her once we get rid of the bottles. Two things you might try to help with the going to bed bottle, one be sure and give her some milk (or my little one loves those yogurt drinks) before bed but when she is still active. Then brush teeth, maybe a bed time story just set a routine and stick to it. Second if Dad is around have him try putting her to sleep. This has been key in getting my daughter to go to sleep on her own without being rocked. Good luck!

Hello G.,
If she wants the bottle give it to her. I am a mom of three, my first didn't want to give it up until she was almost 3, and my second was 2 1/2. They only had it at bedtime, their teeth are perfect, and slowly they got over it by themselves. I would talk to them and tell them that big boys and girls don't use bottles, and then when they were ready, they threw them away on thier own! If you and your little girl are stressed out, I really don't think there is no harm in it! Good luck! M.

I haven't had my baby yet, But it makes sense to me, like one of the other moms had said. Every child is different, so going by an age schedule on getting rid of the bottle or potty training or whatever you do, seems to not make sense. If it were me I would let the her decide when she is ready to let it go.
Sometimes they need a little push to get rid of things that are bad for them, but I don't see anything wrong with using a bottle if it comforts her.

NUBY sippy bottles are very simliar and she would probably do good with them. and about throwing it away...let her do it and say bye bye because if you do it she has no say in it. let her do it all and tell her she is a BIG GIRL and reward her with something like a little gathering at the park and celebrate her being a BIG GIRL cake and all! show her it is something to be happy and excited about. i am a SAHM mom and Nurse my 8 month old but when i give her water or something i give her NUBY (it's spill proof too). i will NOT introduce her to a bottle. hopoe this helps! take care ~M.

My son was off the bottle and pacifier at 9 months old. I gave him the NUBY sippy cups and put everything else out of site he just forgot about it. In waiting longer you have probably cursed yourself to a harder time. My advice would be to make a big deal about being a big girl and let her throw it away. And only give her sippy cups. It is very bad for there teeth to get a bottle at bed time. I have a couple of my cousins who have had to get all of there teeth pulled because of that . They didn’t have any teeth until there adult teeth came in! If she absolutely has to have something to go to bed with give her warm water in a cup. I hope this helps.

if you really want her to be weaned, just be persistent. you said you have only tried once at night to get her to bed with no bottle...just keep doing it and with any luck, it won't take long before she has adjusted. my son weaned himself when he was a year old....so i don't really have much other advice for you...so good luck!

While every parent has different opinions on raising children we all end up doing what works best for us. I can tell you that with both of my girls I simply put the bottles out of sight and only gave sippy cups. While it took about 2 days for them to get used to them, it was quick and easy. I never put my children to sleep with a bottle so I never had the problem you are having. Children should never be given a bottle to go to bed. Previously working in the dental field, I can tell you that is does major damage to their delicate teeth. Anywhere from slight decay to major decay requiring crowns and in severe cases, pulling the teeth. If your child requires a bottle or cup, please give her water. The last thing you want is dental problems. Good luck.

I can sympathize with your problem. I had a terrible time with one of my daughters. At one year I put water in the bottle (never milk or juice) and found that she just needed it to get to sleep and rarely ever drank any of the fluid. It was just a crutch. It took a long time to finally get her not to need it at night, but hopefully her teeth didn't suffer too much from the ordeal. It takes a while for them to break old habits and you just have to tough it out sometimes. Good luck!!!