Weaning off the Bottle - Haslet,TX

For both of mine, we gave them the choice. A bottle of ice water or a cup of warm milk. For my oldest, it worked like a charm, day one empty bottle full cup, day two half and half, day three full bottle thrown at me and we were done.

For my second, totally different story, she never drank the milk, she choose the cold water. So, I decided to just take the bottle, that worked fine until she dehydrated herself and we ended up feeding her liquids via a syeringe while someone drove to WalMart to get a bottle. By dehydated I mean, 4am with no tears, no wet diaper, no liquid to spare and she screamed like my mother and I had never heard, she was in pain.

From that point on, I decided she could take a bottle to kindergarten with her if she wanted, I would happily explain why my five year old is still on a bottle as long as I have a five year old still with me! At about age three she gave it up all on her own. She is almost five, in kindergarten and doing just fine!

Good luck, it is a hard battle with no clear way to win!

Our dog chewed the nipple off of one of my son's pacies so we just told him that she broke it and then hid the extras. He asked for it for about 3 days and would then say the dog broke it. It was easy and then he just stopped asking for it.

We were able to get our now 19 month old off the bottle at around 16 months by just doing it cold turkey. She was very attached to the bottle, so I waited a while to finally do it. We decided on a certain day that there would be no more bottles and replaced them before her naps and bedtime with sippy cups (we hid all signs of the bottle). She was used to sippy cups of milk during the day, just not at night. It took a couple days of 20-30 minutes of crying, but soon she had completely forgotten about it. I was worried because we had our second baby a couple months later and I thought she would fall back into it at the sight of the infant's bottle, but she doesn't want it. She calls it 'baby's baba' and hands it to the baby. My sister went through the same thing recently and she found that her toddler took to milk in a sippy cup with a straw better than a regular type sippy.

Good luck!

Throw out the bottles and move to nuby cups, they are really nice and soft, but if you want to move more quickly than that, just take out the after daycare bottle, and offer a cup instead...do that for 3 days, and she should be over it that its gone at that time, then do the same for taking out the morning one, offer her a cup instead then also, and by day 6 because its the hardest, take away the bedtime bottle. It will not be easy, make sure she knows how to drink from the cup, and if she is thirsty, she will do it. You cannot give in, she will cry, just cuddle her and my other advice to you is to THROW OUT ALL of her bottles when you're done, you don't want to keep any around, it will be way easier to give in that way. Good luck, don't cave, it will all be over really soon!!

first of all, nuby cups rule! but try them all if you have to. cut one bottle out at a time, demanding that she use the cup instead at that time. also the no milk in the bottle can work well. if you put what they want in the cup, it is great motivation. don't rush it but don't dawdle either. it took a month atleast to break my oldest boy, but by the age of 2, we simply threw the bottles away. he promptly cried for 3 days, but then it was forgotten. be strong and do it!

Be tough Mom. She knows you will cave, so why should she eat?? :) She sees your anxiety as you try to coerce her to eat. Just get rid of the bottles and give her a sippy cup and wait her out. I promise she won't starve or die of thirst. It doesn't matter what the age, you will be faced with this over many issues throughout her life. The sooner you take a stand and show her you are the Mom and not her the less times she will challenge you in that way.

I had twins. One would take a bottle of breast milk or nurse depending on what I needed her to do at the time. Her sister, thought she would wait me out she only wanted to nurse. They were only 6 months old and as much as I hated to see her miss a meal, she eventually realized I was in charge. I loved her, hugged her, but I needed her to do what was best for her.

Also, find the sippy that takes the least amount of suction to get liquid. Since she is prone to ear infections it probably hurts to suck too hard with an ear infection. Doesn't mean you don't give her one, it just means you are sensitive to that.

Good luck Mom!

just pack up the bottles and get rid of them. Once they are gone, they are gone! Then she will have no choice. She insists on a bottle at home because she knows she has a choice; your best bet is to take that away from her.

Hi N.,

If your child is still struggling with ear infections and teething, right now may not be the best time to wean from bottles. The sucking kids do on bottles, makes the fluid in the ear move an helps them feel better when they are teething. If your child has had recurrent ear infections, please talk to your doctor or chiropractor about allergies. Recurrent ear infection can have a lasting impact on many things as they grow, including struggles with learning, coordination and attention.

Good luck!
S. M.
The Cerebellum Center
www.cerebellumcenter.com

Some children give up the bottle easier than others because we are all different. I say take it slowly. No need to rush. Drinking from a bottle for a few more weeks or months while you wean her off them isn't going to hurt. It is better than putting her and yourself through total misery. My oldest took a night bottle until he was 2 and my 2 year old still takes one. As far as I'm concerned, he can have the night bottle until he's in college.

My daughter is now almost 18 mos old and we are down to 1 bottle at night. I wasn't up for a huge battle and she loved her bottles (started asking for them in sign language AND learned to say baba, then would go and point to the cabinet where we keep them, LOL!), so when she is/was sick or teething she'd temporarily get more bottles and then when she feels better we go back down to two, then one. It has been an on-going process for a few months, but overall I feel like I'm winning slowly. Giving her a water bottle if she's already had her 'milk' bottle definitely helps, i know she won't dehydrate that way and she isn't that interested in a water bottle. Also she eats a LOT more without bottles, more than I do some days I feel like!! Every couple of hours I have to offer her more food, snacks, milk sippie cups, etc. I did not realize what a difference it would make at first and I think I wasn't offering her nearly enough food options. Now when she asks for a bottle during the day I give her a milk sippie AND food, we go through a lot of food some days but it seems to be working! Also sometimes she asks for the bottle when she is clearly just upset (just fell down or was told "no') and then I give her a pacifier instead and a sippie cup and just hold her. Usually that works and the bottle idea passes, and now sometimes she even asks for her paci instead of the bottle in those instances. She does get a lot of ear infections and she wants bottles much more then, so much i wonder if the sucking action doesn't help her ears pop and feel better...so i mostly give in when she has them and is asking for bottles and then once she feels better she doesn't ask for bottles nearly as much and it is easy to get her back down to one a day. I also started putting regular milk in the bottle, cold, so that it isn't nearly as attractive as warm formula and it is the same thing she gets from her sippies.
We are still in the process, though, so let me know if you get any other tips that work for you!