my son wont give up the bottle

Sue - posted on 10/22/2009

Megan, first of all, he is such a cutie! I'm no expert on this, but did you say thirteen month old? I studied under an educational therapist in the past five years. I also attended a two-day seminar called Ready Bodies Learning Minds in which I learned of the great value of sucking for kids. They want to suck and need to suck. And you'd be amazed at how much physiological development it facilitates for them to suck. And, know what? If they don't get enough sucking done by schooltime, they'll be sucking on their shirt, their buttons, their pencil or anything else possible, just to fulfill their need. Sucking, among other things, actually stimulates our brain's frontal lobe and helps us get ready to learn.
So I'm saying all of that to say, "No rush. Contrary to what everyone is telling you, sucking is good for your child." He'll get past it by age two. And, if not, you can help him along. I actually decided on a day and put all the bottles away discreetly one day. But you might try offering him a sport bottle with fat straw (requires more sucking power to operate) as a replacement. Try not to cut short his sucking days!
Sue

Jennie - posted on 10/22/2009

My twins are two and they still have not given it up. Ive closed it to two x a day but as soon as they get home from daycare they ask me for the bottle. I give it to them only because I feel that they haven't eaten everything at daycare and are hungry before I can even start to cook dinner. I think you should wait a little while maybe before two to take it away. Start introducing the cup more which I have and its been working. DOn't take it away too fast.

Samantha - posted on 10/19/2009

My first two babies were breast fed and trained to use a sippy cup at 6 months, when I started giving them solid food. if you get them going with it early, they learn that food of all kinds comes from other sources. If you wait until they are 12 months to even introduce a cup they are already attached to their bottle and want it for comfort and they think that's the only place the milk should come from. I did the same with my son, who was breast feeding when he started having some food, and then went on to the bottle shortly after. By the time he was 12 months, we took the bottle away one feed at a time, the same way i weaned my girls from the breast. He never looked back.
If your child drinks fine from a sippy cup, but is refusing milk, I would stop giving them juice. You can try all sorts of things to get rid of the bottle, but in the end if nothing else works you will just have to take them away and put up with the crying until they learn. If you take it away and then give in and give it back, then they will think they can cry and tantrum to get what they want.
I don't know what all you guys in the States find, but here in Australia, most sippy cups are the non spill kind, with valves in. I found that my kids couldn't drink from these because they had to suck really hard to get the fluid out. Try the cup yourself. It might be worth hunting around for a more old fashioned cup that just has holes and no nonspill valve. I got some really good ones from tupperware.

Samantha - posted on 10/19/2009

Quoting Kristie:

so, what do you do if your child will drink juice out of his sippy cup, but refuses to drink milk from it? I've tried different cups, both with hard tops and soft tops, but he'll only drink milk out of his bottle.

I'd stop giving him juice. They don't need it. Only milk or water. I find the more I give my kids juice, the more they refuse water and milk. Mine have water in between meals, and milk at meal times, only have juice or cordial as a treat.

Jennifer - posted on 10/19/2009

OMG.......I am having the hardest time with my daugther and her BABA! When she turned two the fairy came and took her binky so I waited awhile to toss out her baba. When i finally did she totally stopped drinking milk! She will drink juice fine out of a sippy cup and regular cup but no milk! After a few months and after talking to a few people we broke down and bought her a new baba. My child is tiny for her age and I was not happy that she stopped drinking milk! I tried straws, extra special sippy cups that she picked out and even a regular cup and still NO milk! Now that she has her baba back she is drinking milk fine! Does anyone have any ideas to help me??????

Maria - posted on 10/18/2009

I literally took it away cold turkey at 12mths. I took all the bottles put them in a bag and put them away...outta site outta mind...anytime my little wanted her milk or it was time I gave it to her in a sippy cup..She never complained ;-)

Flantashia - posted on 10/17/2009

When my first born hit a year and a week, my husband and I got rid of her bottles. I bought several soft, silicone nipple sippy cups and she never had an issue. Now for my second child, I started her on sippy cups at 5 months b/c I thought she would have an issue w/ the change. Try giving your child juice, not too watered down, in the sippy cup. That's how I got my first child used to the idea of one. Plus she liked the various designs on it. It may suck but in the end you might have to just throw out all bottles and when your child is hungry, let them cry till they reach for it. If they're hungry enough they will go for it.

Misty - posted on 10/17/2009

Quoting Megan:

my son wont give up the bottle

My 13 month old son does not want to give up the bottle and he wont take a binky what do i do?

well, my kids both were done with their bottle at 12 months. my daughter was done a few weeks before her 1st bday and my son a couple days after his first birthday. i had started introducing the sippy cup around 9 mos old and they didnt have one problem or complaint about it.

Katie - posted on 10/17/2009

I had the same problem with my youngest son who is now 2 1/2. I couldn't get him to give up his bottle either. I expressed my bottle problem with my sons doctor and with WIC. They both gave me the same advice. When giving the bottle put milk in it and water it down little by little, but during the day offer a cuppie with straight milk in it, he will soon realize that the milk in the cup taste better than the milk in the bottle, and will give up on the bottle. This took about 2 weeks for my son to give it up completly.

Stephanie - posted on 10/17/2009

When both my kids were one their bottles were thrown away and they were given cups. My oldest did really well but my youngest cried for the bottle for a few days. The way I look at it, a few sleepless nights are alot better than thousands in denist bills.

Becki - posted on 10/17/2009

playskool makes a sippy cup that has a nipple just like a bottle, it only took about a week for my daughter to make the transfer to a regular cup.

Sandy - posted on 10/17/2009

I have a 23month old daughter. She only has a bottle in the morning when she wakes up, and only has her dummy when it's sleep time. The dummy has been the harder thing to let go of, but she is getting to the age where we can explain why she cannot have it all the time.

My first daughter only gave up her morning bottle at about 2 1/2 years. It is a comfort for them and I believe that if you are hoest and open with them in your reasoning, they will understand in their time. That is not to say let them have their way, there has to be boundaries. Limit their times with the bottle/dummy - wean them off slowly. Otherise they will replace them with something else - a thumb??

Heidi - posted on 10/16/2009

My two year old still will not go without her bottle. We've started giving it to her only at nap and bed time, but still sometimes she has it at other times during the day. She's a little head strong:) My oldest was very easy to wean, I just stopped giving her a bottle when she was one and only gave her cups and she was fine with that. I think it all depends on the temperment of the child. I know my doct. wants her off the bottle but I feel that she'll get there in her own time.

Alecia - posted on 10/16/2009

I would try Nuby sippy cups with the soft spout, they worked great for my daughter, now 2 1/2. But we introduced it around 5 mos. old just for a little water to get her used to it and when she turned one we got rid of the bottles. Now she is just on regular cups for everything. But those were the only ones that worked for her and we went through a lot of brands before finding the Nuby.

Gisela - posted on 10/16/2009

my son's pediatrician said to do it cold turkey. don't give in and be prepared for a few rough nights but then it should be alright. i had daddy take it away and he actually did fine with it. while i was reading to him before bedtime he was drinking milk from a sippy cup and i guess he got his fill from that. good luck, i know its trying and all but you can do it.

Lou - posted on 10/16/2009

Gosh I am battling with my 2yr old and trying to cut down her bottles. I personally don't think you should be worrying at 13 months.

Keira was great and only used to have one in the morning and one at night - then her sister was born and when she went onto bottles Keira went backwards and wanted a bottle all the time. I have recently put my foot down and make her eat food before I will give her her evening bottle, and I make sure she has had it well before bedtime. There have been a lot of tears and a few sessions of time out but I believe we will get there.

She has been so easy to potty train (haven't tried the bedtime panties yet due to the bottle) and doesn't wear a nappy all day and I have to say I cannot take any credit, it is all due to seeing kids in her nursery school doing it! Good luck

Alicia - posted on 10/16/2009

Quoting Abbie:

13 months is pretty young, my doctor wanted our son off the bottle at 12 months, well I decided to not push it. I worked on him drinking out of his bottle sitting up and him holding it. Also he didn't have the 'suck' ability down yet. Well fianlly around 15 months he had that figured out then we went to the bottle only before naps and bed. Now we are down to just a bottle before bed.

He will figure itout if you push the cups, you have to find one they like, The best one I found was a little tiny one at the dollar store!!

Also the best advice I ever got was from my mom "honey, no one goes to kindergarten with a bottle, he'll do it when he is ready! " LOL funny but true!! Don't fuss over him being off the bottle now, I'd aim for age 2 for good, but work at the cup.

I have read that by 8 mos you can introduce a sippy, by 12 off the bottle, by 15-18 mos they should have the skills to drink through a straw and by 2 you can start working on drinking from a cup, but that they won't have mastered it until about 3-4 years old. My daughter was able to drink from a straw at a much younger age, but uses sippys 95% of the time. She turns 2 on Monday & we've already started experimenting with the cup. She loves it -although she can make a mess, but that's part of learning!

Alicia - posted on 10/16/2009

My first question would be whether he gets his bottle all the time, or do you only allow it at meals and take it away when he's done? If he gets it all the time, he may have developed an attachment to it, which will probably be harder to break.

However I would recommend transitioning to sippy cups when you transition to whole milk. Our pediatrician said at 12 months she should be drinking whole milk instead of formula & that at 11 months we could start transitioning over by substituting one of her bottles a day until we worked our way up. In a week we switched over and never went back to formula or bottles & my daughter had no problems at all. (at age 2 you can switch them to 2% milk) My concern was that they make formula for up to ages 24 months. The pediatrician explained its more of a marketing thing than anything else. By the time a baby is switching to whole milk they are already on baby foods, so if you are feeding well balanced diets they are getting all the nutrients they need & don't need the added ones in formula. If you aren't sure you can supplement with baby vitamins. If you think about it it does cost $20-$30 for a can of formula & $2-6 for a gallon of milk, it would make sense that they make more money that way!

One other thing, babies are used to formula/breast milk being room temp or warm. Milk is cold & is a new thing for them, so if you use the sippy to transition, they may not reject having something cold in their bottle they are familiar with.

Teyaka - posted on 10/16/2009

There is a sippy cup at walmart that had three tops. It has a nipple top, a straw top, and this funny looking top. Try that to help him tranfer to the sippy cup. It is only $6 I think. But it help me huge with my kids. I love it because I can change the tops out. And the kids like it too. My youngest is 10 months. I started giving him this sippy when he was 8 months. He loves it and now will take any sippy that he see. My oldest didn't like it too much. He would only take it if it had the straw nipple on it. But I couldn't complain because when looking at it, you get 3 different cups for the price of one. Try it. It may just be what you need for him to move on. Cause with the nipple top it honestly looks like a big bottle.

Sandy - posted on 10/16/2009

Hi! I took my daughter off the bottle at 12 months, she was a little hesitant at first, but I found these great cups at Walmart made by Nuk. I put her formula/milk in those and she seemed like she didn't even know the difference! They are great! They have a soft top (mouth) and handles and it worked great as a transition between bottle to cup. She used them for about 6 months and then I slowly started introducing a regular sippy cup.It might be worth a try. I think the cups run around $4. Hope this helps!

Cathie - posted on 10/15/2009

We gave our bottles to a friends "baby" who was much smaller and needed it more 'cos they were too little to hold a cup like a big kid, or we waved bye to them (and dummies) with the garbage truck. I think I suffered more withdrawal symptoms than the kids did.
good luck

Jessica - posted on 10/15/2009

If you're ready for him to be off the bottle and he's not, it won't work. My daughter went off the bottle at a year. My son was different..it was 14 months when he was ready. Try taking it away during the day for a few weeks and then try taking it away at night.

Rose - posted on 10/15/2009

my oldest son i had off the bottle before he even turned 1 because we were already having another baby and we didnt want two on the bottle i took it away and put him in the crip never let him have it once he cryed at night but i sat in there with him. my youngest i took it away at 14 months when i got my own place he cryed at night but i didnt give it to him once either just switched to sippy therll relize if there thirsty thats what they have to drink ; )

LuChina - posted on 10/15/2009

With my oldest son who is 2 1/2 I started at 13 months i started weening him off the bottle by giving him a sippy cup for lunch for about 2 days and the bottle the rest of the times and then every other day i would take the bottle away at certain periods and give him a sippy cup, overrall it took about a week
My second son who is 14 mths, I started just giving him a sippy cup when he was anbout 10 mths just from time to time so he could know what it was, then when he turned 12 mths i just gave him the sippy cup one day and he just started drinking from it and has been every since

April - posted on 10/15/2009

My son didn't give up the bottle until he was 14 months old, I kept try and he would refuse anything else. And then one morning after a week of not trying he refused the bottle so I tried a cup and he hasn't used a bottle since! He just needed me to let him do it on his own.

Beth - posted on 10/15/2009

introduce the sippy cup.. let your son know what a big boy he is now.. u don't have to take away the bottle as of yet, but just add waterd down juice in it, and milk from the sippy cup..and remember to make a big deal about him using the sippy cup...Boys mostly seem to be slower at giving up the bottle and binkys, and also potty training..so hang in there it will happen :)

Kristie - posted on 10/15/2009

so, what do you do if your child will drink juice out of his sippy cup, but refuses to drink milk from it? I've tried different cups, both with hard tops and soft tops, but he'll only drink milk out of his bottle.

Tiffany - posted on 10/13/2009

thats a little young..my son didnt give up his bottle until 18months. I started only giving him his bottle at night for a week than took it away completly and he never really complained. first night without it his was a little fussier but other than that its been smooth sailing. just give it time every kids different

TICE - posted on 10/13/2009

BUY A SIPPY CUP WITH THE NIPPLE AS SOFT AS A NIPPLE ON A BOTTLE.

Brandi - posted on 10/13/2009

I GOT MY TO YEAR OLD TO GIVE UP HERS ABOUT TO MONTHS AGO. I THREW IT IN THE TRASH AND IN PLACE OF IT I GAVE HER A SIP CUP WITH A SOFT NIPPLE SHE THOUGHT IT WAS THE SAME. AND KNOW SHE TAKES JUST A RAGULAR SIP CUP SO MABY YOU CAN TRY THAT IT MAY OR MAY NOT WORK BUT ITS WORTH A SHOT...

Abbie - posted on 10/13/2009

13 months is pretty young, my doctor wanted our son off the bottle at 12 months, well I decided to not push it. I worked on him drinking out of his bottle sitting up and him holding it. Also he didn't have the 'suck' ability down yet. Well fianlly around 15 months he had that figured out then we went to the bottle only before naps and bed. Now we are down to just a bottle before bed.



He will figure itout if you push the cups, you have to find one they like, The best one I found was a little tiny one at the dollar store!!



Also the best advice I ever got was from my mom "honey, no one goes to kindergarten with a bottle, he'll do it when he is ready! " LOL funny but true!! Don't fuss over him being off the bottle now, I'd aim for age 2 for good, but work at the cup.

Tina - posted on 10/13/2009

Well, w/ my 2nd child he didn't want to give up the bottle, so the Dr. told me to start taking out 1 oz. of fluid out of his bottle, a few days later do the same and when it gets down to a few oz. just give them water in it and again after a few days take it down to 1 oz. at this point he was just like whatever Mom give me my sippy cup. It just wasn't worth it to him anymore. My 4 others were easy breezy getting them off it, I hv 2 yr old twins now and they were off bottles/nursing by 13 months and r potty trained but w/ all my kids they got sippy cups from 3 months on so it wasn't a big deal to drink from them when the bottle was gone. hope this helps...good luck

Magdel - posted on 10/13/2009

I think 13 months is to young. Both my daughters gave up their bottle at 18 months, it only took 2 days and a new spoutbottle and all was wel.
But remember no 2 kids are the same!

Crystal - posted on 10/13/2009

Kids do things in their own time if he wont potty train put him in training pants and sent him to pre school. He will want to do what everyone else does, it really helps. I did a church school (cheeper) and it helped. if he wont give up on the bottle you have two choices. Just throw them away and give him a sippy at night in place or just give the bottle at night (either way the only thing they should have for bed is water! it will save teh teeth) I would start with the bottel at night only them every night ask do you just want to use a cup (or sippy) tonight like the big kids do? make it fun and a reward. It will get easier (but don't threaten or punish he has the controll over very little and wont give that up easy. THis will save the fights for something harder to handel that really matters!

Lisa - posted on 10/13/2009

In my opinion, which may not be yours, 13 months is just a little young. I took my kids bottles away at about 18 months, I put them in a bag and hid them. All I told them was there were no more bottles, they are gone. First night was a little whiny, but after that it was a breeze. Then started pottie training about a month later, because while on the bottle they get so much liquid they go much more often. That also was a breeze, I think they need to be old enough to understand exactly what you are telling them. At 13 months I doubt they do. They also have to be old enough to know how to control their bladder. Be patient and wait just a little longer, he's still a baby. About the binky, some take it and some don't, can't force that on them. Good Luck.

Tyshani - posted on 10/13/2009

my son is 3 and a half and he just recently gave up his bottle (say within the last 6 months or so.) He was late to potty train too, so I tied the two together. He would refuse to go to the bathroom so I started taking things away. I took away his books, his movies, his toy cars, etc. Finally, I took away his bottle and he went about a week without it. By the time he was potty trained, he'd been sleeping without it for so long that he didn't even complain or ask for it back. If he has it all the time right now, you might want to start by just telling him that he can only have it at nap time and bed time. Then, gradually stop giving it to him then. It will be hard and he'll throw fits, but just stay strong and let him know that you're in charge or else he'll be like my son and still be taking it to bed when he's 3! lol.

Hope this helps.

Carrie - posted on 10/13/2009

When my daughter turned 1 i threw her bottles and binkies away and just gave her a cup it doesn't work for everyone but sometimes its the only i've also heard of people offering rewards and stuff but i don't do that kind of stuff and when in doubt talk to the dr he can give you tips