Getting a Child off the Bottle? - Chicago,IL

Even the soft 'Nub' ones at Walmart? I think thats what they are called? They made my kids' transitions very easy.

Other than that, my only suggestion is to just throw the bottles away. There is not a lot he can do when they are not in the house anymore. He may be upset for a bit but he will get over it, promise.

~I may be way wrong on this though...my kids were all off the bottle and onto the sippy cups at 1y/o and onto regular 'big kid' cups right away...they were excited by the prospect of being a 'big kid' and didn't even really want the 'baby cups' (thats what the oldest called the sippy cups) and always asked to have a regular cup!

Start putting water in it, if he wants his milk, he has to use a cup. My daughter never used a sippy, she only liked a regular cup with a lid and straw.

Oh my goodness. My kids didn't make it to a year. Take the bottle away, cold turkey! Throw them out so *you* can't revert. He will get thirsty and work through it.

Cold turkey. A kid fussing or not cooperating should not dictate what YOU do. Take all bottles away, and that's it; If he's mad or doesn't like the new cup, don't change your mind.

Kids can actually start drinking from a real cup well before his age, that is what he needs, don't go to sippy cups.

We went cold turkey at a year. We just gave the bottles away. I NEVER used a sippy cup. I saw no point in teaching my son he could disregard gravity and then have to re-teach it later. So - regular cup it was. I thought there would be hysterics - but no. He just accepted it, no problems. He had been 'practicing' with a regular cup since he was 9 months old at daycare but was still on regular bottles.

I assume since your son is two he can handle a cup (don't put a lot in it and expect spills initially) so I would tell him the bottles are going away and then make it happen. If you are donating them, you could tell him they are going to a little baby who can use them and then ask him to help you box them up together.

My son just turned 15 months, and up until about 2 weeks ago was stubbornly clinging to his bottles.

One day I decided enough is enough, and put ALL the bottles away (in the basement.) He asked me for a bottle, and I opened the cupboard where they had been kept and said, "Oh, look. The bottles are all gone. No more bottles!" After half a dozen refused sippy cups of milk, he finally started to drink from a sippy for his night time milk.

My older kids did cold turkey without a problem the DAY they turned 1.

Just take it away. I took it away from my son (he was much younger) and he was fine. Your son will be fine, too. Stop trying to bargain, it will never work.

Yes, give him a big boy dixie cup (3oz) throw away the bottles and move on.

You take them away and toss them in the trash, seriously. You tell him there are no more bottles (let him see you throw them away in a trash can or bin you drive to so you are not tempted to dig them out) and that he can choose which cup he will drink out of, a sippy or a regular one, which at 2 is preferred.

My guy was 13 months when he gave up the bottle, cold turkey. We also lost his pacifier that day, so guess what? He gave them both up at the same time. In 3 days he was over and done, no more crying fussing or asking for either. When I tell him he once drank from a bottle (he's 3) he shakes his head and says, "Bottles are for babies!"

A few weeks before our daughter turned 1. I took her to the store to pick out a cup.. Then I purchased a few others.

The night before her birthday I threw away all of the bottle stuff, when she woke up, I just asked do you want milk or juice in your new cup?

Then each day, I let her pick out the cup she wanted to use.

Not a peep.. she was fine with it..

You can get fun cups w/lids & straws.
Call them his big boy cups.
You can "wean" him off the bottles by allowing only one when he first wakes up then only one at night before bedtime. Just be sure he brushes his teeth afterwards. We would give him a "heads up" by letting him know after he finishes that bottle it's time to brush his teeth before bedtime & have a storey read etc.

If you don't have any bottles in the house, he can't drink out of a bottle. It's really that simple.

He doesn't need as much milk now. He needs food for his nutrients. Ask the ped how much milk you need to get into him for his calcium needs. Calculate what he gets in the foods you give him, and how much you are able to get him to take from a cup. Then tell him that the bottle fairy is coming to get the bottles on Monday, so there will be no more bottles. It's tough, but you need to just do it.

Make sure you feed him foods that have calcium in it until he gets used to the new "system".

Dawn

The more you focus on the bottle the more of a focus it becomes for him to want it.

I think just letting it go for a while then trying again is okay.

We never did the weaning thing. They just got done and handed me their bottles one day. It was to a point at that time though they only got them at bedtime. Not nap time or any other time.

It was very easy, I think my 5 yr old was about 2 1/2. He did it on his own. I did offer cups all day long though. We used the plastic cups that you can get with either straws or the sippy top. There are 4 in the package and they're about 43 at Walmart. Take N Toss is the brand.

I didnt read the other responses..but cold turkey is best. I took all of my kids off the bottle cold turkey on their 1st birthday. I simply threw all of the bottles away. They had no choice but to drink out of a sippy because thats all I had. If he is thirsty, he will drink.

Our kid weaned himself, and it took us a day or two to catch on. We introduced sippies at 9/10 months. By 11.5 months, he started refusing the bottle. Knowing he was one to wolf, we figured he must like the faster flow of the sippy. Couldn't get a bottle into him no matter how we tried. Held onto one for a week or so, but found it was unused so we gave them all away.

We didn't wean ours, our kid was younger, and he was stubbornly refusing a bottle. Nonetheless, maybe you can disincentivize the bottle, and make the sippy more appealing. Only allow water in the bottle, milk juice etc in the sippy. Use wacky staws. get his buy in, and reward him for each bottle he gives up or for each time he drinks out of something other than a bottle. go cold turkey, and feed him salty/ sweet foods which leave him thirsty. bypass sippies and give him a sip or two of beverage in a non breakable cup.

good luck to you and yours,
F. B.

Both my kids hated giving up their bottles. I found I have to make them do it cold turkey. We talk about it a LOT beforehand. They protest of course, but it starts sinking in. I tell them they are too old for their bottle and on x day they have to give all their bottles to a baby. They are no longer a baby - now they are big and it is time to give all the bottles to a baby. I go on and on with them for about a month before we do it. On the day we put every single bottle in a bag and we deliver it to a friend's house who has a baby (she throws them out of course). For both kids it was hard for about 3 days and a bit longer of complaining/wishing for a bottle. But once their are no bottles around and there is no temptation to give in to them I am always amazed at how smoothly it goes. They both got attached to sippy cups for a while, but it was not that big a thing for them. My daughter is still attached to her pacifier (which she never cared about when she had her bottles)...so that is our next addiction to give up.

either my daughter was ready or i was lucky.

haven't read all the responses yet....but....

we started talking about it for a couple weeks or so....about how her younger cousin and other babies in the world could use bottles....and that she had a bunch and could share hers with the babies that needed them. .......and then talked about the "bottle fairy". and that I heard she was going to be in our neighborhood soon......and then one day, how the "bottle fairy" called (could have the bottle fairy send a letter in the mail too) and wanted to know if she could leave her bottles on the front porch and she'd pick them up and deliver them to the babies that needed them. i told her a little bit about the bottle fairy and that I heard that she leaves special treats for the big girls and boys that share their bottles with the little babies.

so that night before bed we colored a bag and decorated it and put a note in for the fairy and then put all her bottles in the bag and put it on the front porch and turned on the light.

that night we went to bed and used a sippy. in the morning she woke up and on the porch the bottle fairy had left her some fun little presents .....including some special sippys and cups with fancy straws that she can use to go to bed.

it went really well. she asked for a bottle once or twice in the next couple weeks....but i reminded her that the bottle fairy came and got them for the babies that needed them....and she forgot about it...

good luck. as with everything - i'm a firm believer in if they are ready it will be easy....if they aren't ready...just let it go a little longer and try again....at some point they will be ready.....I don't know any 10 year old still using a bottle ;) ahhahaha

I agree, cold turkey. My kids were off the bottle at 1. My youngest, it was no big deal. My oldest was a different story. She went all morning without drinking a thing. I was really nervous. She laid down for nap, woke up thirsty and downed two sippy cups! We never looked back. I never, ever gave my kids bottles in their beds. I hear that's the toughest habit to break when you start that. If you don't want to throw out the bottles, then you have to pack them away so that they can't be taken out. You cannot break down. You have to stick to your guns. If he is on a pacifier, now is the time to get rid of that too.

Just try using a kids cup. Neither of my kids liked sippy cups because it would hurt their neck and because they couldn't see everything around them like they could drinking out of a cup. It made them feel older that's why they liked it. I only gave them one rule they would only be able to drink milk in kitchen. When they had water to drink I let them take it to the living room. Easier to clean, lol. When we went out and about we used straw cups from Munchkin, you can buy them everywhere target, bed bath and beyond, babys r us, or online. It is called Munchkin Mighty Grip Flip Straw Cup 10 oz - Boy. They also closed so they didn't leak which was great to put in the diaper bag.

As the bottles got lost, I never replaced. I remember when we were down to one. I warned. Then it happened. Yep lost at the grocery store. That was
that. Never did look for it because he had been warned. Good luck.

For me, I tried to imagine the pain cries and agony of sending her to the dentist to fill cavities because I kept her on the bottle too long. (mine was also past two). Imagining my child in the dentist chair gave me courage to listen to her cry without her bottle at bed time. It still hurt, but I was able to recognize that I was hurting her by keeping her on the bottle. He really needs very little milk now past age two, so if he takes anything from a cup that should suffice. What he doesn't drink in milk, he'll make up for in food.