I dropped a bottle per week, as told by pediatrician, but now my daughter has her one bottle at 7:30 for bedtime and seems to love it. My older daughter gave it up willingly and didn't miss it but I am concerned this one may flip out. How did you do it? Reduce ounces? Cold turkey? Change nighttime routine? Any advice is welcomed. Thanks mamas!
Hi!
I agree with kelly's post. My daughter is almost 2 and still has her nap &
nighttime bottles. I don't think it's anything to stress about. I don't know
why, but I think much too much is made of getting kids off bottles
asap, but as with everything, I'd say do what works best for you.
Good luck!
We let our son tell us when he was ready. He was almost two when he gave it up and one day he just didn't want it anymore and went right to the big boy cups-no lids. We were not stressed one bit. We have a ten month old right now and plan on doing the same thing with him. I don't see the problem in letting kids have bottles. It's just not something that I get worked up about.
I was a mean mama and did it cold turkey. My thought was that if they wanted the milk enough, they would drink it out of a sippy cup. We did practice for a few months before I took it away, like at meal times. My kids seemed to forget about the bottle within a few days. .....and so I was not tempted to give in, I threw away all the nipples! :)
I personally did all bottles cold turkey. It worked best for my boys. She might be mad but remember you are the mom and you make the rules.
We changed that bottle to a water bottle. We did it cold turkey, but you can gradually water down the milk, if that works better.
Depending on the kind of bottle you use, you can get increased flow and even sippy cup and y-shaped nipples for the bottle. My older daughter had a hard time lettign go of that before bed bottle, but with the y-shaped tip it was no different than drinking from a sippy.
It was alot of years ago for me..my daughter is 16 now..but I was a "mean Momma" and did cold turley. I took it away, and also, in my house, we only ever drink things in the kitchen. Cups do not go elsewhere in our home. So she fussed a few days and was over it. We snuggled in her room and did an extra story and it was fine.
I also do home daycare and shoot for that first birthday for kids off bottles. Again, I am the meany and just cut them off cold turkey and suffer a few days of their anger and some shorter or screwed up napping. But they figure it out and we move on. If you let the child decide...they would never let it go I think.
I accidentally weaned my son during a trip--I brought one of the slow flow nipples and he was so frustrated that he very willingly took a sippy cup of milk before bed. I couldn't believe how easy it was!
my oldest dd was 18 mo when she decided she didnt want the nighttime bottle. She had been off the daytime bottles since 12 mo. My youngest dd decided at 12 mo she didnt want any bottles, had to be just like big sister. Why force them to grow up so fast? One bottle a day isnt gonna scar them for life.
We are going through the same thing right now. My first son made the transition w/o any problems at all - cold turkey. I just tried this with our second son on Monday - he threw the biggest fit when I tried to give him a sippy cup first thing in the morning. Which is crazy, because he gladly drinks from a sippy cup at meals.
I think I am just going to wait a few more weeks/months and try again. I'm not that worried about it. I remember our dr saying that as long as they are off the bottle by 15 months we are good...and who knows where that age limitation even came from??
We did the same thing and that night bottle was the last to go. One night - I did bath as usual and instead of the bottle offered a sippy cup (with warm milk). He took it like a champ and that was it. That night, after he was asleep, I cleaned and boxed up all of the bottles and nipples and put them away - he has done just fine.
The bedtime bottle was the one that my twins held on to the longest. At about 13-14 months I just switched from bottle to sippy cup. They fussed a little but drank it once I reassured them that it was still milk inside. They still occasionally ask for milk before bed and I will give them very little (in a cup). I've started weaning the bedtime sippy cup of milk now (they are a little over 2 years old now) because once potty training time comes I don't want them drinking a full cup of milk before bed. Just something for you to think about in the future. Best wishes!
At 13 months, we just took the bottle away and out of site. My son was fine, it as like he'd never had a bottle before. I didn't bother him, at all. He went right to sleep.
