My little girl, Payton, will be 2 in May. I have been trying for months to get her off the bottle. She only gets it at night time & its only about 4oz. Some mornings she hasn't drinked any it & other mornings she has drank it all. We are down to about 4 bottles left, b/c she bits the nipples & causes the hole to split. I have no intentions of buying anymore nipples once these last few are gone, but how do i get her to let go?? I've tried EVERYTHING!! I've done the cup, we've tried the weaning, & cold turkey. She screams & cries till she makes herself sick!! The first few weeks she did really good then she got sick & started crying for it. ( i know, i shouldn't have gave in). I've talked to her Pediatrician & she doesn't have a problem it, she says it seems to be more of a comfort thing then actually wanting a bottle. So should i just leave it be or try to take it completly?? I really don't want to buy any more bottles/nipples ~ please help!!
Oh yeah, my daughter is in an at home "day care", my mother keeps her for me.
Ok first off let me say THANKS for all the tips!! I think I tried everyone, but so far no luck. She still cries & screams till she chokes herself & then it makes her sick. So my guess is shes just not ready to part w/ it. I still dont plan on buying any more nipples & this week the plan is to try the nubby cups. Maybe this will work. But all else is well, she eats good, sleeps good (once she goes to sleep), & plays hard. I was just mainly worried about her teeth, but the doc said they look fine, to just keep up the habit of brushing them & her teeth should be fine. So once again Thank You All!!! And I will continue to keep you posted!
I had the same problem with my son. until I gave him the Nubby soft top Sippy cup. You can get them at wal mart. They have a spout on them but they are soft like the nipple from a bottle. He loves it, now i just have to break him of taking it to bed at night......try it and let me know if it works for you. they are also very cheep!!
Hey. I would maybe try two different things. First I would put less and less in the bottles each night until there isn't much in there at all. Or I have heard of people diluting the milk with water until there is only water in the bottle.
Once the last nipple is gone go to a cup....my kids are 4 1/2 and 2 and they both have a cup of milk at bedtime....she's not ready to give it up - don't force the issue. Keep up the good work!!
Try a NUBY sippy cup. The "nipple" on the nuby is s great transition. Why don't you put a few in the Easter Basket and tell her the Easter Bunny brought them for the "big girl".
Your daughter is going to get bottle rot, and her teeth will decay! No matter what other moms say, that will affect the strength of her adult teeth.
Good luck
If bedtime is the worst time for her, try getting her into a new nightly routine. Cuddling with her favorite blanket or lovey in your lap and reading a couple of books might help her get over it. My daughter never took a bottle to bed, but she loves being comforted by being stroked on the cheek. If nobody is there to do it for her, she'll rub a soft blaknet on her cheek or just use her hands. I think your best bet is to try transitioning her into a new "comfort" routine.
try only putting water in the bottle , when I did that my daughter didnt really want it and didnt drink out of it. put juice/ milk into a sippy cup and put water in the bottle. she might reject it and wean herself.
LET IT GO/ YOUR FIXATION ON THE BOTTLE, THAT IS!/ your baby is only 2, two, she has only been on this earth for two short years. look at all she has accomplished in the past two years. it is truly remarkable/ ask yourself why it is important to you for the bottle to go/ sucking is a natural instinct from inside the womb/ sucking provides babies and toddlers security and comfort/ in a few short years she will be going to school and she will not be interested in a bottle or pacifier/ let your child be a child, for now/ the time will fly by and very soon she will be grown/ENJOY THIS TIME OF LIFE / my kids are 27 and 28 and I can't believe they're grown/ i ask myself , Where did the time go?" do not be in a hurry for your child to develop/
Hey! My son was off the bottle by his first birthday! We had a set night time routine, that he was used to, and that comforted him. Also, we found some Gerber sippy cups that had a hard "nipple like" lid, and that is what he drank his milk in at night, while I read him a story. After the story, he was done with his milk, and went to sleep. Now, that he is 3 years old, he still does the exact same thing, with a regular cup. But, he still wants milk before bedtime. He says it keeps his tummy from talking to him at night. So, I let him have it.
I think it depends on the child on whether they are ready and willing to give the bottle up. Remember, whenever they were babies and had that bottle that meant they were close to mommy. So maybe she is trying to hold on to that. If so, try to find some other ways to cuddle with her or spend some quality time.
I hope this helps!
Well, if she is biting the nipple I would suggest doing what my mother did with my brother. My brother bit the nipple off the bottle and my mother told him it was broken and threw it away. Of course, my brother did know that we had a cupboard full of bottles but he accepted that he broke it and that was the end of the bottle. So it may be worth a try to hide all the bottles accept one and when she breaks the nipple tell her it is broken.
That's a hard one. Weaning my kids from bottles and pacifiers... only thing that worked was cold turkey. I found that "weaning" only confused them and made things worse. When I didn't give myself the option of giving in (i.e. clearing all bottles/pacifiers from the house) it was really very easy. That said, mine never literally made themselves sick. If you can't bring yourself to do that, I would probably offer just water in it. She may not like it and at the very least it wouldn't be hurting her teeth so much, right? Good luck!
It depends...If she is just holding on to it ad biting the nipple NOT sucking on it like a baby would then you should let her wean herself, there's no harm nor is it a crime to let a child get attached to something wether it be a blankey or a bottle. If she still uses it as her ONLY sorce of fluids then you SHOULD put a little more effort into getting her to use a cup..it could be a sippy cup or just a regular cup with a straw. I'm sure at her age she has some favorite character or even color so take her to the store with you and make it like ur getting her a gift. Let her pick and remind her in silly ways of how little babies use bottles not big girls like her. My oldest use to be attached to the paci...he didn't give it up until he was almost 3. I thought it would be a battle b/c he had slept with one since he was born. We couldnt leave the house without it and if we did we had to buy another to prevent a crisis. I tried telling him how nasty is was and blah blah blah but one day he was riding in the front seat of the car to go take out the trash with his daddy and he got mad and thrw it out the window in the yard, my husband told him that he wasnt getting it back that it was gone and when he came back he picked it up and put it in his pocket unknown to my son b/c he thought he would later whine for it. Well night fall came and not a peep about a paci. I put him to bed as usual (Which I use to do by letting him hold my finger and stroking his paci) but he just held my finger and dosed off. About 2 weeks later he finally asked for it and I told him that the trash man had got it and it was gone,now it's just a distant memory. So if she's truly not ready to let the bottle go and ur ped. has no concerns about it then let her keep it until she finds something else to favor...I can garuntee you that she wont be holding the bottle on her wedding day!
Hi R.,
It's been my experience that 3 days is the norm. It typically takes 3 days of torture for you but she will get over it. The biggest factor is you -- YOU need to be solid in your decision that this is the way it will be and your daughter will ultimately follow suit. She will take comfort in your resolve. Trust me that in those 3 days you will be convinced you made the wrong decision but at 2, she does not need the bottle anymore and any crying and tantrums will be a thing of the past in a few long nights. do NOT buy any more nipples!!! Be strong and know that it is for the best for your daughter! (and for you!) I would also warn her -- say to her "after tonight, you will not be getting any more bottles! you are a big girl now and if you need something to drink, you can use a sippy cup"... then she won't be surprised. She may act extremely mad at your for those few nights but trust me, she will get over it. This worked on both my kids and on my sister's 3 kids. Good luck!
