getting rid of the bottle

Dana - posted on 12/02/2009

Ok, so my dilema is that we want to transition to the cups with the straw. Brienna will take it no problem, but when she see's the bottle she would yell for it. Now, we thouhgt about doing it cold turkey but here is the problem. We have a newborn who is bottlefed breastmilk during the day while I am gone at work. I am afraid she is going to see her sister drinking from the bottle and still want hers. Any suggestions on what I can do? Should we just cut her off cold turkey anyway? I was thinking about telling her "bottles are for babies, and you're a big girl now!"

Lydia - posted on 12/02/2009

My daughter still takes a bottle at night. I have been told that if you start putting water in the bottle instead of milk she will start responding better to a sippy cup. My daughter also refuses to give up her last bottle, but it's starting to work. Give it time and she'll come around. Give her an option - milk in the cup or the water in the bottle. Best of luck to you! :)

Jessica - posted on 11/25/2009

What works for us is two different sippy cups! One for water and juice(http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp...) and a different one for milk(http://www.playtexbaby.com/Products/Prod...). I was also told at my son's 1 yr check up no more bottles, so we just stopped! We have a routine at night he gets his milk 1/2 hour before bed sitting on one of our laps (it's the only cuddling Mommy and Daddy get these days) and then its relax time until bed, we read a few book and watch a little tv.

Melissa - posted on 11/19/2009

I got rid of Lila's bottle when she was 12months. The doctor said its time so I said bye bye bottle. She was nursed up until 10 months then the bottle for 2. I just started giving her cups and she likes being a big girl. She now is drinking out of straws and regular cups, no more sippy cups. I would try a different source of comfort and of course it is going to be hard at first but well worth it in the long run. Do every other day and switch it out with a sippy cup then eventually go to a reg cup. Sooner or later the drinks will slow down and you will be so grateful. Good luck

Myra - posted on 11/18/2009

The problem may be with the cup. Since milk is a good bit thicker than water (or juice), the holes may not be big enough for her to be satisfied, and she's just like "ah, whatever". I tried drinking from one of my daughter's sippy cups once because she was just not getting it. It's no wonder she had no luck with it...I knew how to drink from it and couldn't! The best advice I've read is to let your child pick out their own cup when you go to buy them because they automatically have a desire to figure it out.

My daughter will only drink juice from a cup...but I'm hoping that will change because I plan to go "cup shopping" and let her pick out one. If she does fine with that one, we'll get 6 more! If she doesn't, we'll do it over again with a different kind.

I would stop the bottle except at bedtime, and just try to use cups all during the day. That bottle at bedtime is part of her comfort routine...no need to take that away.

Kerry - posted on 11/17/2009

I'm in exactly the same position Dana! I hope to set up a routine over the next few days where he sits with me and watches some Thomas (his favourite show) before bed. Up until tonight he was having his bottle in bed.....bad bad i know :( But he went to sleep without a drama, so I'm going to do that for a while then replace his bottle with the sippy cup I used for my older son, I'm hoping he will like the Thomas routine enough to relenquish the bottle!! heres hoping....Let me know how you go

Kristen - posted on 11/16/2009

the type of sippy cup makes a huge difference. All 3 of my kids we cut off the bottles cold turkey, but found there were only a select few types of cups they would drink out of consistantly. She might be cranky for a day or two, but it will smooth out

Dana - posted on 11/15/2009

Thanks Everyone for the advice. We are using the cups with the flip up straws. She loves it when she drinks water, but not milk.. I will keep trying. Thanks!!!

Lisa - posted on 11/13/2009

Neither of my kids did "sippy" cups... we went straight from the bottle to cups with straws... they are leak proof with valves in them. We started them before a year. My son was still nursing when we started with the straw cups, and had no problem... I would try the straw cups - and get yourself some plastic straws... when they see you drinking out of a cup with a straw, they like to imitate you...

Amy - posted on 11/11/2009

My son never used a Pacifier and was addected to the bottle. We kept him on the bottle until shortly after a year (We were flying and figured the bottle would help him on his flight). When we got home we cut him off cold turkey!

We found that he didn't like most sippy cups, and my mother in law found this somewhere (At Pick n Save or something) it's the best sippy cup ever! http://www.thermos.com/product_catalog.a...

It is leak proof so when we switched him to the sippy cup we gave him that cup at night, we didn't take away his night/nap time milk until he was used to the sippy cup. We also had to make sure we had cleaned and boxed up his bottles, we forgot one, and the first morning he was complaining because he wanted that.

Basically, from my expierence you need to go cold turkey. Also try leak proof sippy cups to help transition at night/nap time.

One last tip, when looking at if they are leak proof, make sure it is twisted tight, and that your child can't rip the sippy part off (We tried a few where he was able to do that, soaked his entire bed and clothing!)

Renee - posted on 11/10/2009

When I first stopped the bottle all together with my son, he didn't want to drink his milk out of his sippy cup either. I also allowed him to keep his bottle at naps and night time longer than he got it in the day time. About 4 mos ago we stopped the bottle cold turkey. It was a hard few days at nap time and bed time without the bottle. He would push the sippy cup away and cry for his "baa". A few days later he was drinking his milk out of his sippy cup because that was all he had.

Dana - posted on 11/10/2009

If I stopped the bottles cold turkey she would probably be ok with it after a day or two, however I still want her to drink milk daily. With meals and things. She just doesn't like it from the cup.... She does not use a pacifier, but does suck her thumb when tired. My goal is to be able to have her drink the milk out of the cup before bath time so I can bathe her and brush her teeth and put her right to bed. A friend of mine put alittle strawberry syrup in the cup with milk to get her to drink it, and then each time put less and less of the syrup untill it was all milk. Not working for me though..

Mary - posted on 11/10/2009

We do the same thing at home. The bottle is a source of comfort for my daughter and when she drinks her bottle its one of the few times of the day that she winds downs and relaxes for a few minutes. It seems one concern about having kids drink milk right before sleep is tooth decay. We try to brush my daughter's teeth after the bottle and before bedtime. I suppose its not that big of a deal that she still drinks from it and perhaps when my daughter is a little older, I could reason more with her about not needing a bottle. Still, I'm interested to know if and how others have kicked the bottle habit.

Stephanie - posted on 11/09/2009

Our daughter still drinks a bottle both at night and often in the morning. She does what you describe - she has the bottle in our laps at night, and again in the morning. We discussed this with our doctor since we heard that "they" said to get rid of the bottle at a year. He said to re-assess at age 2. We did substitute her nap time bottle with patting her back, or taking her for a walk in the stroller, and she doesn't seem to miss it. Our daughter also does not use pacifiers, or suck her thumb, so I figure if she wants to suck on a bottle a few times a day, why make a big fuss?