Weaning off Bottle

When my daughter was just over a year old, and I wanted her off the bottle, I told her she was a big girl and I let her throw away her bottles and tell them bye bye. I kept one bottle in the cupboard (just in case) and I never needed it. I helped to see them go in the trash and say "bye bye". I also like the suggestion of taking her son to the store and letting him pick out his very own special sippy cup. Maybe he could say "bye bye" to the bottles and then go and get a new big boy cup just for him.

Weaning a baby from bottle-feeding
These suggestions may be helpful when you are trying to get your baby to stop taking a bottle.

Eliminate one bottle-feeding every 3 to 4 days. Give your baby extra hugs and comfort during this change.
Give a bottle only when your baby is being held in your arms. Do not allow the baby to crawl, walk around, or go to bed with the bottle. Doing so turns the bottle into a comfort item, may hinder two-handed development, and can lead to dental cavities.
Offer the cup first, then the bottle. Put a little more liquid in the cup and a little less liquid in the bottle each time.
Dilute the formula in the bottle with water gradually so that it will not taste as good.
Put liquids your child likes in the cup, and put liquids your child does not like as much in the bottle. Later, put only water in the bottle, and put juice, iron-fortified formula, or milk (if the baby is over 1 year old) in the cup.
Start a new bedtime ritual. Read a story and then give the bottle while you rock your baby. At each bedtime, slowly decrease the time your child drinks from the bottle, and continue reading a story. Eventually replace the bottle with a comfort item, such as a favorite stuffed toy or blanket.
Provide other sources of calcium, such as yogurt, cheese, or ice cream, if your baby is not drinking at least 16 fl oz of formula from a cup each day. Your baby needs calcium every day for growth.

Author Amy Fackler, MA
Hope this helps!

try giving a kiddie cup with a staw they sell them at walmart for about 1.99 they are the take and toss cup. my son went right to them he really enjoys it better then the regular sippy cup. Do you know how he would react with out the bottle? have you tried yet? My ped. told me that as long as my son has 16 oz of milk and 16 oz of juice or water a day that is good. (You could also give him cheese or yogurt for the calcuim intake.)you should be a little concern if he is only drinking 20oz or less. does your son like fruit? watermelon,cantelope, honey dew and grapes keep your child very hydrated so even if he every drinks 20oz he will be ok . while we were transitioning him froma a bottle to a cup we gave him fruit with breakfast, lunch,dinner and even snack just so that we knew he was getting his fluid intake. good luck

Take him to buy a special cup. Maybe spiderman. Then throw away the bottles. All of them. He will drink. He may have a tantrum for a few days but he'll drink. Be strong.

Best thing to do is pick a date, keep reminding your child that after that day he will no longer be able to drink out of the bottle, when that day comes.... Get rid of all bottles. Throw them away or hide them. If he can't see them he will forget about them. It worked great for my son. After the first day he knew all he could have was a cup.

if your concern is the milk and/or getting enough liquid to be hydrated then that's one thing :)
if he's a good eater then there are lots of foods with calcium; there's a lot of GREAT info posted here:
http://www.mamasource.com/request/15046134108751134721

if it's also liquid you're concerned about:
keep a sippy of water with him at all times. encourage him to sip at it throughout the day as he plays, etc. You might find that if it's right by him for him to see that you may not even need to encourage him to drink

if it's actually the sucking of the bottle that you're concerned about:
try a clear sippy- for some reason toddlers do better drinking milk from a clear sippy- maybe also try using a soft spout like a Nuby brqand one to begin with as it's more like a bottle and then slowly try other sippies...

Since your son can use the sippy, you need to get him off the bottle. I weened my son off by replacing one bottle a day with the sippy until he got a hang of it and would use it. He did have a time tipping it up though when the sippy got low in liquid. My son was off the bottle about 14 months I believe. And yes, milk is very important. At my son's 18 month checkup my pediatrician said he needs to have 16-24 oz. a day. He gets 16 oz. of whole milk a day. Once for lunch and once at dinner. Juice/water mixture in the morning.

My 18 month old son uses regular sippy cups (and sometimes regular cups)during the day and a nuby "sport sipper" cup (sold at walmart/target) at night with milk. His favorite time to drink milk was before bed with a bottle. He gave it up fine at 16 months, but was not drinking as much milk,so we found the sport sipper (it has a soft top similiar to his bottle). He does great with it. I hope to transition him to a regular cup soon:). Good luck!
J.