Weaning from the Bottle - Lynchburg,VA

I weaned my twins from the bottle at about 10 or 11 months and just put the milk in sippy cups but all children are different and all children will give up the bottle eventually. I would go to the store and buy a couple of the nuby sippy cups, the ones from wal-mart that have the sippy cup type spout but it is soft like a nipple from a bottle. That's what I did and it worked so well that they didn't really even take notice of the difference between the bottle and the new sippy cups they were being given. Eventually he will take other types of sippy cups but you have to learn things take time and it's not going to be an instant thing......let him go at his own pace. I think my twins didn't start taking the hard topped sippy cups until they were almost 2 but they had been on the soft topped sippy's since they were 10 or 11 months old so it took them a little over a year before they would take just any sippy cup. Hope this helped!

I think we told our son that his bottle was broken, and he believed us, and never went back. He was hard to wean before this, and somehow it worked.Maybe this will help you.Good luck

My son is 14 months and we weaned him off the bottle completely just a few weeks ago. Instead of giving him a bottle I gave him a sippy cup of milk. We sat on the couch and I held him (upright) and he drank his milk just as if it was bottletime. I thought he would have a difficult time but he didn't. His last bottles were at nap and bedtime so we replaced them with a sippy cup of milk and a snack- like graham crackers- something that would stick with him. He sleeps through the night- no problem! We did take away one at a time- I was a little worried about going cold turkey.

First of all...NEVER put a baby to bed with a bottle, unless it's plain water. It will cause tooth decay in babies and toddlers. Secondly, you are late in taking the bottle away so it will be more difficult. All my children were weaned either from bottle (my older two) or breast/bottle combination (younger two) by a year old. I introduced sippy cups at about 5 months old. Yes, it was a challenge at that age, but they caught on rather quickly. They were all fine with just sippy cups by 10-11 months old. My younger son and younger daughter both needed a little extra comfort at night, so they did have a 4 oz bottle of plain water at night after they were weaned, but that was only until they were competent enough with a spill proof sippy cup to have that in bed with them. I strongly believe weaning should be started early...as far as the bottle is concerned. Breast feeding is different, I think it should be allowed to continue as long as mom and child desire. The two I was able to breastfeed quit right about a year, but by that point they were down to two nursings/day and using sippy cups frequently during the day. Neither of them showed any interst in nursing after a year old so weaning them from breast was easy. Anyway, to your actual question...if you put plain water in the bottle for nap/bedtime, they may decide for themselves that if the bottle doesn't taste like milk or juice then they don't want it.

use a sippycup not the softtips they will hurt his teeth since he went to bed with a bottle send him to bed with a sippycup hr'll barely know the difference

My daughter was over 2 when I took her bedtime bottle from her. That was the only bottle she took for about a year. Many people tried to gently force me into taking it from her BUT it was her only comfort object. She did not use a pacifier (SP?) have a favorite blanket or stuffed animal she took to bed. I didn't make a big deal of it and when the time was right to stop we did. We went on vacation for two weeks and said we forgot to bring the bottles. Good luck.

Hi K.,

You might want to take him to the store to help pick out his new big boy cups. Neither of mine ever took a sippy cup. They hated them. They went straight to a hard plastic juice box type with a straw. Back then, they didn't have too many options with straws.

Good luck!

I just weened my 14 month old completely away from bottles and did the same thing to get him down for a nap and bed. I changed it out for a sippy cup and while he fussed the first 3 or 4 nights, its now been a week and he falls asleep without either. An I mean right to sleep. As soon as he's rubbing his eyes and showing me he's tired, I took him to bed with the sippy cup and by about 2 days ago he pushed the cup away, rolled over, and went to sleep.

I am kind of at the same point with my son. I tried to wean him about a month ago and realized that he wasn't ready. He only takes one or two bottles a day but I am trying to wean him off of the night bottles first. I learned not to rush it and he will do it when he's ready. I have changed his nightly routine a bit to help with the transition and he's doing great. Another mom said the same thing I'm about to. Fill it in with something else comforting. Reuben (my son) and I will lay on the couch together after bath and jammie time and watch TV for about 20-30 minutes with dim lighting and low volume. This along with the lavender baby bath and lotion additionally relaxes him and we still get our cuddle time in. I will also tell you to make sure you follow your instincts. Remember that you are the only one who knows what is right for you and your baby. Also, he will let you know when he's ready for new things mostly. So just pay attention to your gut and follow that! You're doing great!!! Good Luck and let us know what you decide and how it goes!

My son didn't take a bottle, but when I was trying to night weaning him from nursing I found I couldn't just take that thing of comfort away. Instead I transitioned him into a new soothing night time routine. Instead of putting him down with a bottle, put him down and rub on his back or whatever else you find that he finds comfort in. Then you can gradually slow down on that until he no longer needs that bit of comfort and just falls asleep on his own.

My son was also older when we did this, probably around 21 months. I will caution though, as soon as I weaned my son from nursing to sleep for nap time, he dropped his nap. He still takes one occasionally, but it's on his terms.