Help! How Do I Get Rid of the Bottle?

On my son's 2nd birthday we took the bottles and I had him throw them away, we celebrated with a big boy cup and he loved it. A few days a week he wanted one but I reminded him that he was a big boy and he was ok with it.
Good Luck

i just took my two year old bottle away from her and i just took it and gavr her a sippie cup .it was a little tough for the first couple of day but then it was ok so if you are going to due it be strong and stick with it good luck

We had our daughter down to 2 bottles one at night one at wake up when she just turned 3! I know its a long time, our trick we did was telling my daughter we lost her bottle and could not find it. She helped in the search around the house for it but we could not find it she actually had fun looking for it. So we sat and explained to her that she will just have to start drinking out of her "big girl" cups from now on. The first night without the bottle we had her have a glass of milk before bed and she just went along with it. We thought it was going to be a nightmare getting her off of it, and it really was easier than we ever expected. We did them same thing with her binkie a month later. Good luck

Okay so you know that she needs to be off of the bottle. Now you have to follow through and be consistent. I just took my ten month old entirely off of the bottle three weeks ago. The first day was hell. He did a lot of screaming and I just continued to offer him the cup. He would sream more and push it away. By the end of the day he had nothing to drink. The second day, was the same thing for breakfast time but come lunch time he gave in and drank from the cup. I think he understood that mommy wasn't going to give in. He has been drinking from a cup now for three weeks like he's been doing it since birth. I also did the same thing with my three year old when he was 9 1/2 months. Seing that your child is older, it may take a few days longer. But you have to be strong and stick out what may seem like tantrums that won't end. Don't give in and be consistent. One more thing, that I don't agree with, is I have had friends offer chocolate or strawberry syrup in their childs milk. I truly hope that this helps.

Hi L.!

I don't know how much of a help I can be...my son gave his bottle up at 12 months, but he DID take a pacifier! He is 19 months old now and we are working on slowly weaning him off the paci now (he finally just gets it at bedtime...hopefully soon he will be off of it completely).

From my experience (and actually from what my doctor told me when my son was a year old), the before-bed bottle is harder to give up than the morning bottle. So maybe you can just focus on taking away the 5 am bottle before even thinking about taking away the bedtime bottle. Maybe you can buy her a real nice sippy cup (maybe even let her pick it out), and give THAT to her at 5 am. Make a real big deal out of it. ("Look at that! You've got a big girl cup!!!") When you decide to do this, when you decide to take away one (or both) bottles, the important thing is to stick with your choice. Do not give in and give it to her--this will only confuse her. Prepare yourself for a few days of full-out temper tantrums. But I guarantee you, she WILL get over it. (Okay, maybe I don't guarantee it, but I'm just really really really confident that she will!)

One thing that worked for my friend's son (who was actually 2 1/2 years old when he gave up the bottle) was this: She told him that the nipple of the bottle was broken, and she had him throw it away. The next time he asked for it, she reminded him that he had thrown it away because it was broken, and he seemed okay with it.

Oh, and how you said you know your daughter should've been off the bottle a long time ago...don't you worry about that. I know SO many people whose children are were still taking bottles well past their 2nd b-days. Like I said, my son has a pacifier, and it just seems like children this age need something to pacify them, whether it be a pacifier or a bottle. Don't worry about what the "experts" say about it. You are doing nothing wrong!!

Good luck!

Hi L. -

Last week we went cold turkey stopping my 15 mo. old sons bottle. Monday morning when he got up we threw all his bottles away (actually he did). We made a game out of it. I told him that he is a bg boy now and he doesn't need a bottle. The first few days were rough, but much better than I expected. The longest he has cried/complained if 20 min. then he goes to sleep. AND he's sleeping all night long! No 2:30 am or 5:30 am bottle. I wish I would have done it at 12 months but I was procrastinating because I knew it wasn't going to be easy. Cold turkey is was I did and it worked. But it depends on you and your daughter. Can you deal with the complaing/fits for a few crummy days. If you can, do it. It's worth it and it's better for her in the long run. Good luck and hang in there!
~Kim

I know it sounds horrible but we just took our daughters bottle away cold turkey one day, at 18 months. she is now 20 months now and never askes for a bottle. She was very dependant on hers. I couldn't even go in the car without it. It took her about 2 days before she stopped asking for it. She has never used a binky only her thumb. we just put her milk in a sippy cup(which she had already been using) and she didn't have a choice. I put all her bottles in the trash so we couldn't break down and give her one. I know how hard this can be but I think its the only way to do it. Good luck. I hope this helps.

I also had the same dilemma. My son is 20 months, and just last week I took the bottle away. He also recieved the exact bottles at the same times...funny. I warmed up his milk, and put it in the sippy cup. The first three nights he cried before bed, but at the 5am time, he took the warm milk from the sippy cup. Now we are a week and a half in to it, and last night he went from 8:30 to 6:30 until he woke for the milk. Hopefully this helps, I know how it feels to have a strong willed child. My son is definitely the stronger one. Oh- hide all the bottles, or get them out of your house-this way they are not an option even for you to give in to. Good luck!!! A.

i have three children 1, 2 and 4...and all of them successfully bottle-broken well before one year...and this is what i did...you need to switch the comfort that the bottle provides to another comforting ritual. begin by holding you toddler when she takes her bottle for a few days...then switch ONE of the "bottle" times to a soft nippled sippy cup, or transition cup...Nubby makes a GREAT one! after your child takes that cup well w/ you HOLDING or sitting w/ her switch the rest of the "bottle" times to that cup...and proceed w/ changing the cup out as YOU feel she's ready...but remember...it's not the bottle she's attached to, it's the ritual and the comfort it provides. GOOD LUCK!! let me know if i can help more!!!

~N.

Shortly after 12 months started geting my daughter to drink from a cup. I pretty much had to I was pregnant with my second daughter and did not want to children on bottles. You can start out by offering the cup at one meal. I offered it at lunch at first she would throw the cup hand it back to me. when she figured out that she was thirsty she started drinking from it. It is a hard transittion however I'm so glad I did it when I did. Because when my other daughter came we had no problem with my first daughter wanting the bottle anymore she was used to the cup! You may just have to put the bottles away and go cold turkey, they do learn to drink from the cup it just takes work! L.

Try the sippy cup by Nuby, look for the soft, clear "tip" for the part they drink from. It is the most similar to a bottle nipple. It was recommended to us by our daycare director when it was time for my son to transition from bottle to sippy. Walmart carries them, although the one by us only had the sportsbottle style in stock. Hope this helps and good luck!

I would start with the 5am bottle, since I assume she's been sleeping awhile already. She's either waking because she's thirsty, or out of habit. So instead of a bottle, try a sippy cup (you may want to get one of those ones with the silicone tops) She'll probably throw a fit because she's used to getting a bottle, but that's ok. She's gonna throw a fit anyway.

Once she's taking the sippy in the morning, I would gradually reduce the amount of fluid in her bedtime bottle unless you feel she really needs the full tummy feel overnight which at her age...probably not, but I don't know your child. My youngest son was still waking to nurse until he was 17months old so hey! LOL.

You could always do what my grandma did. She cut the nipples off so that they were more like a sports bottle and told my dad they were broken. He got the picture and started using sippy cups. Sounds funny, but at 22 months she should understand the basic concept of "broken" and start using something else. If she says she still wants it, fill it with water and give it to her. The worst that will happen is she gets wet. The other option is to fill it with something you know she does not like the taste of (nothng harmful). Give her a cup with what she really wants and a bottle with the "bad stuff" in it. She will eventually associate the taste with the bottle and stop asking for it.