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Parenting
How long to wean from bottle?
Maybe some people will flame me because I have an almost 18 month old who still gets a bottle, but ok.
DS still gets a bottle at nap and bed time or if we're in the car and he's freaking out. DH and DS are both not ready to let it go, but I think he needs to quit, and our doctor agrees. He will drink it watered down 1/2 milk and 1/2 water, but he will not drink plain water in the bottle. He will also not drink milk or anything else in the sippy for bed time. It's like he needs the bottle sucking to calm him down.
I denied him the bottle in the car this morning (still offered him snacks and water in a sippy), and he cried the whole 45 minutes. I have a feeling bedtime would be as bad or worse. I tried it one night before, and it was like an hour of total meltdown before I caved and gave it to him.
For those of you who had really bottle-dependent LOs, how many nights did it take for them to give up the bottle?
I've talked with DH about it and said we just need to choose an age and take away all the bottles cold turkey. He suggested 7 years old. He was joking but making a point that he thinks it's ok to wait until DS is ready to give it up. I think 18 months is good, which will be on the 30th. Thanks!
DS still gets a bottle at nap and bed time or if we're in the car and he's freaking out. DH and DS are both not ready to let it go, but I think he needs to quit, and our doctor agrees. He will drink it watered down 1/2 milk and 1/2 water, but he will not drink plain water in the bottle. He will also not drink milk or anything else in the sippy for bed time. It's like he needs the bottle sucking to calm him down.
I denied him the bottle in the car this morning (still offered him snacks and water in a sippy), and he cried the whole 45 minutes. I have a feeling bedtime would be as bad or worse. I tried it one night before, and it was like an hour of total meltdown before I caved and gave it to him.
For those of you who had really bottle-dependent LOs, how many nights did it take for them to give up the bottle?
I've talked with DH about it and said we just need to choose an age and take away all the bottles cold turkey. He suggested 7 years old. He was joking but making a point that he thinks it's ok to wait until DS is ready to give it up. I think 18 months is good, which will be on the 30th. Thanks!
This discussion has been closed.
Re: How long to wean from bottle?
DD had a bottle until 18m. I think for the last month she had the bottle, we only gave her it once a day- in the mornings when she woke up. She didn't fuss too much when we finally stopped with the bottle, so I am no help there.
My suggestion would be maybe try offering him a "lovey" to use for comfort (instead of a bottle)? DD has a stuffed animal that she sort of chews on when she falls asleep at night.
BFP 1- EDD 2/09/11 Missed MC DX @11 weeks D&C- 7/25/10 BFP 2- EDD 12/22/11 Natural MC @ 5w 2d BFP 3- EDD 1/25/12 DD Josephine born 1/16/12
We use the Tommee Tippee straw sippy cups. He loves them, plus he still gets the "sucking" action from the straw.
One time I gave him his Nuby at bed time with 1/2 milk and 1/2 water, and he just cried and kept asking for the bottle. Finally when I caved after an hour, I literally poured it from the sippy cup into the bottle so that he could see it was the same thing, and he drank it immediately and then went to sleep.
If I could just know, "Ok, it's going to be awful for 3 nights, but then it'll be fine and he won't ask for the bottle anymore," that would be comforting.
Part of my reason for wanting to get on this all of a sudden is expecting #2, so I just want DS to be in a good routine for not having bottles and STTN before this new baby comes.
With DD, she would refuse the bottle of water, but then I realized it was because the water was cold. Once I heated it, she took it.
From there, it didn't take long for her to not really be into a bottle of warm water so she gave it up on her own.
I will say that I know lots of peeps who have three year olds still on the bottle.
I'm just trying to think of the shock to him of going from milk (or watered down milk) in a bottle to water in a sippy. I don't know if I should do it one step at a time like milk in a sippy and then gradually water it down more and more to plain water or just go straight to water in a sippy. I feel like terror will ensue.