Weaning off bottles, help!!

[bcblondie]

DS just turned 2. Until christmas he always took a bottle of goats milk before nap and bedtime, and at midnight. After Christmas he was sick with some kind of tummy bug for a week and didn't take any bottles. All this past week he continued to go to bed and sleep half decently without them. He would drink a few ounces from a glass before bed.

 But today he would not nap whatsoever. We finally caved and gave him a bottle which he chugged. We feared the same thing for tonight and sure enough....

He's been eating a ton of solid food during the day and lots of liquids. I can't imagine he's that dehydrated. He does ask for water, milk or juice when he needs it and we offer it even more than that. I'm also nursing still and the last 2 days he's been trying to nurse forever to delay bedtime. he's been trying to fight bedtime in general the last couple days which is SO not him. He's usually "ok nii nii, see you."

I dunno what to do. How do we wean off bottles???

[KJunebug]

I did it right at 1 because she had a cold and it was hard for her to take a bottle, so I just cut it out.  We were down to just the one before nap and bedtime.... I remember her being disoriented for a bit, but then she got used to it.  Like all transitions, it was hard, but soon enough, it was over.  Though I imagine it was quicker with my 1 Year old, a 2 year old has more spirit, and stubborness....  good luck!

[justKate]

Does he specifically ask for a bottle?  If not, I would just stop giving it to him. Sort of preemptively bring a sippy cup, or whatever you use.  So rather than give him an option, just say, "here's your drink before bed!"

Good luck. :)

[bcblondie]

No, he doesn't ask for it specifically although sometimes he just says numnums. I don't think he knows the word bottle. He's never said it.  But we've tried giving him his drink before bed in various forms, cups, sippies, in the kitchen, in his bedroom. Nothing works. He just fights sleep until he gets a bottle now :(

At this point we're caving and just giving it right away. Not worth the battle when you already know the result. But it sucks so much becuase I thought we were done with bottles! Totally regressing here... :(

[Engineering_Mama]

Hugs! I just wanted to let you know I'm in the same boat. My DD is 2 and will only drink milk (hemp milk here) from a bottle. So yeah she gets a bottle at the sitter's while I'm at work. My one concern was that it would mess up her teeth, but after talking to a bunch of people I decided it wasn't really an issue. Sure I'd like to be able to stop dealing with the bottles, but oh well.

[just_lily]

Could you go buy a really cool sippy cup and fill it with water for him to have at bedtime?  Does he have a favourite character (Thomas, Diego, etc?) or find one with trucks or something else he likes?  I don't like very much about SuperNanny but I do agree with her philosophy of not taking something away from a child without replacing it with something else. 

[bcblondie]

Thanks girls.

I dunno. I don't feel that we've taken it away without replacing it. He HAS been able to drink milk or water or juice before bed, from whichever cup he wants. (sometimes we use a gatorade bottle because it's easily sealed and you need to suck slightly to get the liquid out. Much like a sippy)

[Baby_Cakes]

It's super tough, mama!  I did this just recently with DD.  She always had a bottle during quiet time and once she turned 2 I knew it had to go.  I switched her to a straw cup. 

It was not easy.  The first couple days, she threw the cup on the floor and begged for a bottle.  I felt awful.  I didn't know what to do.  I just told her she didn't have to drink it, but if she wanted her milk, she had to use the big girl cup.

Soon she was getting up to pick it up from where she threw it.  It took maybe 2 weeks total and she never looked back.  Some days, she didn't get her milk during quiet time.

Just be consistent.  Don't give in and give the bottle back. They need to know that time is over and it's time for big boy/girl cups.

[bcblondie]

Ok thank you. You're right, it's just so hard during that transition. Im starting to feel like I'm not ready for it. Maybe we'll try in a couple months again.

[Super~Single~Mama]

Originally Posted by just_lily 

Could you go buy a really cool sippy cup and fill it with water for him to have at bedtime?  Does he have a favourite character (Thomas, Diego, etc?) or find one with trucks or something else he likes?  I don't like very much about SuperNanny but I do agree with her philosophy of not taking something away from a child without replacing it with something else. 

I agree with this one, although, if he's old enough to really love characters or colors, or whatever, can you take HIM to like babies r us (the land of sippy cups...) and let him pick out one that HE likes??  Make a big deal out of it, talk to him about using it for night nights, and how its so cool, and the perfect sippy for bedtimes, and he's such a big boy that he got to pick it out all by himself.  Might make it a little easier?

[tnh2007]

Hi there!

I was there with DS at one point.  I knew it needed to go, but I wasn't ready yet!  So then he was 26 months (yes, over 2) and we went camping.  There was no way to really do the whole bottle thing cause he still liked it warm and I wasn't going to heat it up in a pan for him.  So, we didn't have it the whole time we were out there.  When we got home he asked a few times, but I knew he could go without and we just kept at it.  He did still have a binky though (I know!!!!) so it may not have been such a big deal because of that.  I also just wanted to say after talking to our dentist, as long as they brush afterwards it probably itsn't a big deal.  Some of the pressure I felt was more "social" pressure.  Once I reminded myself of that, I seemed to relax a little about the whole thing.

Hang in there!  You are doing great!