Bottle Battle

Holly - posted on 08/24/2010

its not good to give infants and toddler drinks in bed, especially when potty training comes in! best thing to do is talk to them and repeat your self every night why they cannot have drinks in bed. when they wake up in the morning give them juice or milk. i have went threw it with my 8 yr old daughter, when she was a babe. OMG the irony of mother in laws, what they do behind your back! i had my daughter bottle free till one night she stayed the night with her granny then all of a sudden she had to have the milk bottle in bed! formula at that! she was 8M old.. i had a hard time trying to get the bottle and cup away from her for 3 years. off and on she would go to that hags house and she would give her a bottle then it came to cups! it was so hard braking her from the bottle but one day i decided i was tired of the crying and i let build up on how others would do things behind my back to satisfied her so i told her no and explain and did not give in! then finally she gave the bottle up! it took a month for me.. then out of the blue after spending 3 days of the weekend with her granny she is all of a sudden sleeping with a sippy cup. her granny would put coolayed in her cups at her house! i had to battle with this women for a year then finally she stopped but she hates me now lol.. idk because of this my daughter suffered bad cavities and such in her moth till age 6. she had over the years since she was 2, surgeries and had all four teeth from bottom to top pulled and her top and bottoms didnt come in till age 5. she hated it caz she was made fun of! just talk to your little one, tell her "no bottle tonight!" and put it up. try to read her a book, lay next to her and let her see what your reading and show her the pictures. that should help take her mind off the bottle and also will encourage her to read when she gets older the more you do it! good luck mom.

Brandy - posted on 08/13/2010

I have 3 kids. My 1st one I learned mistakes with her. I use to put her to bed with a bottle and it would always be chocolate milk. Well what I didn't know till she started screaming and crying when she ate because it hurt her teeth for anything cold or hot to hit her teeth. That her teeth was rotting. My parents and I took her to a dentist. At 3 years old they told us her permanent teeth was right there ready to start making the baby teeth loose. And the only way to get her out of pain was to let them pull her 4 front teeth. BIG MISTAKE. Her teeth didn't come in for years. And she stayed on a bottle for a while. 2nd child came he never got a bottle when he was put to bed. Not only because of the not wanting to ruin his teeth but he never got ear infections either. My 1st one kept them. That was due to her laying down drinking her bottle in her bed. 2nd kid the day after he turned 1 years old. I threw out the bottles and he got just a cup. Which that was to easy. He took right to the cup. 3rd child came. Me and my husband tried giving him a sippy cup at 6 months old. The ones they have to suck the liquid through. He wouldn't have anything to do with that. After he turned a year old he was still on the bottle because he wouldn't take to any cups. We tried every single one out there. Even the one bottle that came with a sippy cup nipple on it. Nope wouldn't take it. We we went to the commissary one day and found a cup we hadn't ever seen before. It was one of those straw ones but it had a flap on it so the straw folded down. He took right to it. So we went back to get more and they was sold out. But they had the regular straw ones so we bought them he took right to them. Since he did that I through out the bottles. Now he is almost 3. He likes drinking from regular cups. Shall I say he likes wearing the drink out of the regular cups. But I bought those kool aid bottles thats almost like a soda bottle. He drinks out of those no problem. I don't mind buying them because they are 1.00 a 6 pack. Plus he loves his milk. It has to be plain whole milk. No chocolate or strawberry milk allowed. He won't drink it. Now we are introducing him to the potty thing. He is starting to go into the bathroom with us and we let him flush the toilet. But now it he likes to do it while we are still going. LOL But my husband has started taking him to the bathroom with him every time. And he has to use a step stool because he is so short. But he tries but nothing comes out. But he is starting to not like poppy diapers or wet diapers. He will wake up if he diaper is wet during the night. So maybe it won't be long till we are done with diapers. I have always been told by my grandmother, my mother and mother in law. You can't train them when you are ready you have to wait till they are ready. If you do it when you are then you are wasting your time.

Joana - posted on 08/13/2010

This idea was given to me by the staff at Children's Hospital Feeding Clinic...try poking extra holes in the nipples. They said he (my son) was using the sucking mechanism to sooth himself to sleep and by adding more holes in the nipples it changes the dynamics. Therefore, you are not taking it away, per se, but changing it enough that he doesn't rely on that sucking action. Eventually I used small scissors to cut a small "X" in the nipple. This essentially turned the bottle into a sippy cup for him that he continued to use for about another month or so and then decided himself that he actually had more control of the volume of fluid when he used a real sippy cup. It's worth a try...worked for me! GOOD LUCK!

Samantha - posted on 08/13/2010

its easier to do when they are younger. i started taking my sons away at 10 months and by his first birthday was completely off. i took away his night time bottle first tho, thats the hardest one to take. he didnt seem to mind much he had a few fussy moment at bottle time but it faded out quickly. he loves eating big boy food now instead of the bottle, and at 15 months he starting the big boy sippys, no handles and hard top. a good sippy to try, his first was the gerber first steps, we had to switch him tho because with all his teeth my monster is starting to eat the soft plastic. but maybe try a few different brands of sippys until he gets confertable, as for the bottle you might just have to bite your lip and let him stick it out, its going to be hard but trust me the bottle is the worst thing for baby teeth.

Heather - posted on 08/12/2010

Brittnany,

I wouldn't worry about it too much.My son is almost 17 months and he still has his bottle for naps and bedtime and I have no intention of rushing hi to get rid of it. If that's what he wants to feel comfortable them so be it cuz I know first hand that the sippy isint any better my first son was off the bottle at 13 months and went straight to a sippy as recommended by doc and everyone else cuz they said the bottle will rot his teeth well guess what at 21/2 he had to have his front teeth capped and the dentist said to me "let me guess he uses a sippy at bed time". I was like yeah and he said that the sippy is just as bad so if you are gonna go from bottle to cup he said you might as well let him keep the bottle till they are not interested in that nighttime bottle.so with my little one now i am just letting him lead the way and making sure I brush his teeth every morn and night. Also I get very upset that it is looked down on if our kids still have a bottle past a year but its praised by most if you let your child nurse till 2 or 3. And I am not knocking bf moms as I did nurse both my boys till they decided they were done, it just frustrates me that I am looked down on while they are praised. Bottom line in my opinion is do what YOU and your child feel is right.

Carol - posted on 08/12/2010

i just wanted to mention when i introduced the sippy cup i still held him in my arms while giving him the sippy with the straw so he still felt comfortable and it wasnt much of a change, i still do it once in awhile but he's getting very independent and usually runs away with it lol

Sarah - posted on 08/12/2010

We are having the same problem with our 2yr old. She isn't best pleased her teat bottle got taken away at night but we are using bottles that have a straw (nuby bottles) she is sort of ok but drinks way less milk. So until she is happy with the night time milk she is still on teats for her morning milk and she drinks it all. We also think it maybe that the night time one doesn't have handles which she likes holding. Think it's a case of try different bottles and keep going which is tough to see when they get so upset.

Spring - posted on 08/11/2010

He is almost 2. He knows what he is doing. He is having the major melt down because you are letting him get away with it. Give him a sippy with water or nothing at all. Milk or juice will rot his teeth. And since he is almos 2 are you going to start potty training soon? If no I wouldnt give im a sippy to sleep with. My youngest son is 18 month and he dont use a bottle at all.

Tamara - posted on 08/11/2010

my daughter was 13mths when we took her night bottle off her coz we needed it 4 our newborn she got a little funny but a wk later she was fine.

Brittany - posted on 08/11/2010

It took us 4 nights to break our son of the bottle. Its your will against his. Eventually, he will give in first. Just be consistent and make sure you don't give in. Just give him the sippy with the soft spout but not with milk especially if he has all of his teeth. This could cause bottle rot and cavities. Just stay strong! Hopefully, within a week he will forget about the bottle! Good luck!

Jenn - posted on 08/11/2010

You could just try putting water in his bedtime bottle,eventually he will not want the water and just give up!! (hopefully),Good Luck

Samanta - posted on 08/11/2010

hey what i did i juts stop giving it to my daughter and the first night is the hardest but after that she dont even complain

Carmen - posted on 08/11/2010

I know it can be very heart breaking to watch them cry, but sometimes it has to be done. My son also had a hard time in the beginning letting go of the bottle. As silly as it may sound, I had a talk with him the day before his first birthday and told him "tomorrow is the big day. Momma is going to throw away all the bottles and you must drink from your new sippy cups." That night I let him have his last bottle and then threw them all away after he was done. The next night he did hesitate a little but I stood my ground. To this day (he's 23 months old) he has never asked for a bottle or a pacifier.

Hannah - posted on 08/11/2010

hey. We started teaching our son how to use a sippy at 6 months (for water and juice only). Then 2 days after his 1st bday we quit using the bottle. I think he did really good mainly because he was so young. I have a few friends that let their 3 year olds use bottles and they're having a horrible time trying to get them to quit using bottles. I would try to add something different and special to his bedtime routine (something that has nothing to do with bottles or eating). But if you try everything and nothing works, then i think you should just do it the hard way....only because it gets harder the older they get.

Carol - posted on 08/10/2010

i also wanted to mention i read somewhere that this helps more with their oral development -teeth growing and mouth forming and speech- as oppose to the smushed hard mouth piece because the straw makes the mouth form like drinking from a breast nipple (tongue at bottom of their mouths) and the ochunky hard plastic thing makes their tongues go to the tops of their mouths!

Carol - posted on 08/10/2010

hi brittany, we started introducing a sippy at 1 year, ive seen those bottle type sippys i dont understand..lol mine won't lift his cup or ever wanted to lift his bottle, my friend recommended juice boxes and it took about a week to show him to suck it out by lightly squeezing a bit into his mouth, once he had a few junior juices i bought one of those dora/diego sippy cups with the rubber bendable straw (no-spill! yeay!) and ever since he drank juice or water or mixed from it, it took us a week or so to switch from bottle milk to sippy milk and simply made the same routine but just had the sippy instead, sometimes he only drinks it warm at night, try warming it up a bit if you don't now, we first just kept offering it until he would take the first morning one with the cup then after a few days with the lunch one and then eventually supper and then bedtime i'd say it takes a good month or two to gradually get them used to the idea and be comfortable, but dont push, they will chose on their own after just offering it over and over again just pour it back in the bottle if he doesnt decide to do it that day, hope this helps! :) take care

Colleen - posted on 08/10/2010

Our son is 17 months old, and we weaned him immediately (aka cold turkey) when he was one year old. He took to the sippy cup beautifully, but I did find some interesting information for you...
http://bottleweaning.com/
http://kidshealth.org/parent/pregnancy_n...

I found this article particularly interesting because it cited data with regards to parental support from pediatricians:
http://esciencenews.com/articles/2010/07...
Good luck! It's one more step in helping our children to develop naturally and healthfully!!!

Helen - posted on 08/10/2010

My take on this is if he's drinking out of sippy cups/proper cups etc during the day then there are a few options:

a) let him stay with the bottle, he will give it up when he's ready.

b) go cold turkey and simply get rid of the bottles

c) a half way house - try the sippy cup and if he won't take it give him the bottle (but I wouldn't suggest this one - he'll just keep demanding the bottle, so you'd be better off just sticking with the bottle, imho)

d) stop giving a milk drink at bed time, then - if you want to - reintroduce it with the sippy cup.



My 18 month old drinks out of sippy cups, bottles, and cups, but still has 2 bottles at night - his bed time and our bed time, and will be for a while, partly because he likes it, and partly because I like having a cuddle with him while he has his milk.



Hope this helps!

Brittany - posted on 08/10/2010

yeah we use those he just chews on them and still wont sleep :- / (not a big fan of the hard ones he hit his little teeth ALOT) thank you ladies so much for you comments ♥

Christine - posted on 08/10/2010

there are sippys that come with nipples instead of hard plastic tops. we transitioned my son with those and now he will drink out of anything. the ones we used were by NUK and the bottom part was the exact same as their smallest bottle. good luck!

Brittany - posted on 08/10/2010

thanks..it it so easy tp say..but so hard to do..it breaks my heart..oh yeah after about half an hour i do give in after tying other thing ♥

EMMA - posted on 08/10/2010

so this is what u might want to try.. just leting him go there it will take about a week of just goin mad crying and stuff and ur goin to want to give in but if u show him that he is ok without the bottle then he will be ok