Seeking Advice - Amsterdam,NY

Hello J.,
Funny thing about kids, they read adults well. With my son I gradually introduced the sippy cup. He was about 16 months old when I explained to him about a bottle. I got a bag out and he helped put all of the bottles into it and he then graduated to a cup. At night he still wanted a drink of milk but it was in a sippy cup. I then rubbed his belly and he went back to sleep throughout the night. I don't think it is necessarily the milk in the bottle but what the bottle represented. He now drinks from a cup without a lid. I offer camomile tea to him that warms up his belly at night. It is a passing phase. Best of everything to you.

okay just in case the sippy cup isnt working... i have to ask is it all milk in teh bottle?? i am having the same problem except my daughter is only 15 months so it might go smoother for me... but my dr suggested that we give her four oz of water in the bottle then the rest milk and keep upping the amount of water... and lowering the milk intake.. she did it for my daughter because she is drinking way too much milk.. but i gotta tell ya.. she doesnt really want her bottle anymore... she has had the watered down milk for a while and now will drink from a sippy cup at meal times and from my cup during the day... we have cut her bottle time in half in about a month... if he insists on the bottle only put a little bit of fluid in it... let him walk around iwth an empty bottle... (another suggestion from my dr) i found if it is empty my daughter wants it for a shorter period of time... if this doesnt work i dont know what else to do! sorry... you always want to wein kids off things but there may be a time you just tell him he is too big for a bottle... o and one more thing... dont give yourself a time frame of before he is two... it might take longer but its okay for a two year old to walk around with a bottle for comfort... some kids suck their thumbs some are binky babies... mines a bottle baby... if he is doing it for comfort see if he has a favorite stuffed animal you can give him with the bottle and then slowly just give him teh animal with the less and less amounts in the bottle until the bottle is empty and he just has the animal... good luck!

I had this happen with my son. He did not want to give up his bottle. We waited until he was 2 and removed all the bottles from site. We gave him a cup of milk at bedtime and he cried for 3 nights and then it was done.

Why do you want to get him off the bottle before age two? He sounds like he gets comfort from having his bottle. So maybe you can offer extra hugs and sources of comfort? Plus try getting the soft rubber cuppies. They might make it easier for your son to switch. Also, those Playtex cups with the rubber straws also help I think. I also kinda like the idea of just using water in the bottle. Remember lots of extra love and encouragement during this time of transition. My oldest son, was bottle fed. and my youngest son was totally nursed.

I thought I was going to have a terrible experience getting my son off his bottle but I found this cup by a company called NUBY its a sippy cup but the top is soft like the nipple of the bottle. And best of all its only $2 a cup. You can find it at any KMART, WALMART, BABIESRUS. He still calles it a bottle but we know that its a cup. I hope this works for you as it did for me.

-L.

hi. my name is J.
try giving him a sippy cup. yes it's like a bottle with a lid but it would help to ease him off the bottle. this way he still feels like he has his bottle but he will slowly work from having the sippy cup with the top on to taking the top off and praise him when he uses it making a big deal out of it, and tell him stuff like this is what big boys use and make it seem like it's a privilage that you are letting him use it because he's a big boy now.

my daughter is 2 years old and still has one bottle at night. just remember they won't be on it forever.

Have you tried giving him water? He might become less interested if it's only water and give him less every day. A friend of mine tried this and her son would take one sip of the water and be done with it.

This worked for my son, but he was 13 months old at that time. Try only giving him water in his bottle. He can have sippy cups of milk or juice, but if he wants his bottle, he can only have water in it. If he is anything like my son, he will give up pretty quick on the bottle of water, and start going for the cups. Once, you start doing this, you cant give in! If you give in even once, it wont work anymore, because he'll know if he screams long enough he'll get his bottle of milk/juice. Be strong! You can do it!
It took my son about 2 days to get used to NO more bottles. Ofcourse he was younger than your son, so it may take a little longer. GOOD LUCK!

could you try having him drink from sippy cup for just a sip or two and then reinforce the behavior with his bottle....each night try to increase the sippy cup ("first sip from cup then you can have your bottle") intake and decrease the amount in the bottle...this helped with a child who is autistic that i worked with to get him off the bottle..it might work for you too

hi jen

well a very smart mom told me to switch from the bottle to a sippy cup (i used the avent one) it took two weeks but he was done with it in no time. that is when i started to decrese his milk at nite. i would ony let him have 8 oz and then i went down from there. i showed him all the nipples were going by by and he was ok (dont leave any around where you will be tempted to give him one
wish you the best of luck. stick to your guns. we as mommys have controll remember that

jenny in cromwell