How to ditch the bottle?

tfarabians

So I keep trying to give Cruz a sipy of milk instead of a bottle but he just screams and cries until I give in and pour it in a bottle.  I know I'm weak but I just can't deal with hearing him cry and cry.  He just got better from being so sick and he has 4 eye teeth coming in so maybe this isn't the right time?  I just feel like maybe he shouldn't be doing a bottle all the time?  Any thoughts on this?

DAWNNA76

sorry you are hving such a hard time with it. It sounds like he is just not ready and with being sick and teeth I would just wait.

 

We never gave Eli regular milk in bottles. he only got breastmilk in bottles and real milk in sippys so he knew the difference. he got both for a time being and then we just sorta dropped the BM bottles off and he never noticed the change.

LuvBug12683

I completely know what you mean...we made the mistake of giving Jacob milk in a bottle and it was so hard to break...I mean we were literally giving milk to him at night in a bottle at 18 months! (horrible I know!) we just distracted him with story time (like 5 books) and then we prayed and he never asked for it again....

I dont think we're going to do that with Norah this time around...too addicting for them!

Seattle_JiLLn

I would just wait.  It's not a big deal to still have a bottle.  Really, they're not THAT much different than sippy cups.  

does he use sippies during the day and just want the bottle at night?  or does he want the bottle all the time?   If he wants bottles all the time, maybe just try switching to the sippy with water during the day at first.  Get him used to sippies sometimes.    Also, try different sippy cups - maybe the ones he has are too hard to suck on?  Or try the straw cups instead?

I think the issue with bottles is having them fall asleep with a bottle in their mouths.  That's bad for their teeth.  Just because milk keeps dripping in. 

 Those eye teeth were the WORST.  I'd give him a break for now.

pixelvixen

Oh Tiff, I feel your pain.  We weaned Payton this weekend.  It wasn't fun but I can say she's officially weaned.  Now hopefully daycare doesn't give in......... her last bottle at home was Tuesday night.

The first two days were the hardest, the third day was ok and by Saturday, she was fine.  We now call everything by their names - water, juice and milk.  We don't refer to the sippy as a sippy, and we do NOT use the word "bottle"!! 

Also, we use Playtex sippys.

HTH!  Good luck!

babyaustin725

I don't really have a suggestion, but I did want to tell you that I gave Tillman a middle of the night bottle until he was about 15 months.  I would worry about it too much.  He won't be going out to dinner with his wife asking for his coffee to be put in a bottle.  I have seen kids Tillman's age walking around with bottles.  That's a little odd, but at Cruz's age, I think it's fine.

tfarabians

Well he takes sippy's of water during the day just fine but he wants bottles of milk during the deay too.  He doesn't fall asleep with a bottle we let him have one about 1/2 and hour before bedtime.  But he still drinks about 3 or 4 bottles of milk during the day there is only about 3 oz of milk in those bottles.  He won't drink juice or anything other than water or milk!  Strange kid!!

Kim what did you guys do to wean Payton?  And did she throw fits wanting a bottle?

DAWNNA76

could you try watering down the milkin the bottles so that he loses the taste for them?  I would think that you need to make him not like them anymore.

 

also you could always go cold turkey and throw the bottles away and then he has no choice. it could be a day or so of hell but he will drink eventually!

Seattle_JiLLn

You know, now that yo usay it, Ben was the same way t first.  wouldn't take milk from a sippy but was fine with water.  I think I just kept trying.  I'd give him a sippy of milk at meals.   Eventually he just stopped caring whther he had a sippy or a bottle.  I really bet it was around 17 or 18 months for us.

pixelvixen

Payton was still on formula in the bottle.  I put it in a sippy and she wanted nothing to do with it.  But after asking the Toddler board for ideas for weaning, they suggested showing her that you are throwing away the bottles.  My sister suggested not using the word bottle or sippy, calling the liquid by it's name instead. 

When Payton screamed "BABA", I just told her "no more BABA's - they are ALL GONE!"  She seemed to get it but was very upset about it.  Especially with the night bottle.  Oh god, that was hard because we always gave her a bottle then put her in bed.

We now give her 4oz of whole milk 3x a day in her sippys.  The small sippys are for milk and the large sippys are for juice or water.  I've noticed she is more hungry now too, so we've added an extra meal in the afternoons. 

Email me if you want to chat about it.  Hang in there, you'll all get through it. 

MissLauraQ

When I had Alex, I rea din my baby book (365 days of baby) that you wean off the bottle at 12 months old, or it becomes a comfort thing (habit) to them

but we had a flight and I wanted him to suck, so I weaned him at 13 months - and he did it totally fine

With Willow, we had her using water from a sippy at 10 months, then at 12 months switched to whole milk in her bottle, and then two weeks later just handed her a sippy with milk.  She didn't really know what to do, but after a coup,le days (there was no whining or fight) she just slurped it down.