How did you get your baby to give up the bottle?

[janet715]

My daughter's pediatrician keeps hounding me to get her off the bottle (she's 16 months), but I am finding it to be almost impossible!!! I always offer a cup first when she asks for her "ba-ba", and sometimesshe will take it, but other times (esoecially when we are in the car or away from home), she will scream endlessly for her bottle.
Anybody have any secrets for making this an easier transition???

 

[ntburns22]

With my DD now 6 we had a really hard time getting her off of it. I finally just went cold turkey around 18 months. We just stopped giving it to her. With my DS2 he stopped using one at 9 months on his own. He liked his cup better.

 

[Minnie824]

My oldest DD was 2 when we got rid of her bottle...she was up to almost 8 4oz bottles a day, and wasn't eating as much. We tried everything. Finally, we just said that the babas had to go to the baba fairy, put them out one night, the baba fairy brought her big girl cups and that was it. Unfortunately, she was a little stubborn and has not had milk since then (other than chocolate milk) but after that 1st day, she seemed to forget about the babas. Good luck!

 

[Nite0wl71]

I went cold turkey on all my kids. They would cry some for the first couple of days but by the third day it was fine.

After 5 kids I have to say the earlier the better. Around 12-13 months is a good age, after that they seem to think of it more as comfort instead of a necessity. Like a blanket or stuffed animal.

Once you decide don't go back, it is so much harder then.

 

[Beth76]

When my first son turned one, we just stopped giving him a bottle. He was only taking about one or two a day because I thought he wasn't getting enough milk from the sippy cup, but he was. The second one was earlier because we switched to milk around 11 months and phased out the bottles about the same time. Neither had any problem with the switch.

If your daughter knows how to use a sippy cup and is demanding the bottle, it's just a control issue on her part. So, you need to decide who you want to be in control of this situation. If you don't want her to have the bottle then don't give it to her. Throw them away in front of her. If you don't care, then just continue to give her the bottle.

 

[tar heel]

Cold turkey. He only used the bottle at bedtime (I know -- awful thing to do). The first night he didn't have it, he cried for awhile, then climbed out of his crib and came to get me to let me know his bottle was missing.

I have a friend who got rid of the bottle at the end of a trip by telling her son they had forgotten it at the beach.

Don't say something/someone took it. For some reason, my mom told me that an airplane swooped down and got mine. For years, I was afraid of airplanes -- would run into the house when one flew over.

 

[Ava83]

Ava was just under a year. I did it cold turkey. I just handed her a sippy cup and said to myself..if she is thirsty she will drink, and she did! Never had an issue (with that..there are so many other things though ) (I saw an above post) we did it with the milk switch also. Formula bottles, milk...sippy cup.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

You just have to go cold turkey. I just threw them away and when they would ask I would say I can't find one and then give them a cup.
When they cry and scream, you ignore it. If they throw the cup you just pick it up and walk away.

Does she have a "lovely"???? Perhaps you can get her something special like a blanky, stuffed animal, that she can cuddle.
From your description it sounds as if she is using the bottle more for soothing herself than getting nourishment.

 

[MoniqueU]

With one of mine I put chocolate milk in a cup. HE loved chocolate milk and that worked.
With another I had to take the bottles to Disney Store and trade them in for a pretty cup.
With the last one she was just easy. I just gave her a cup and that was that. As long as she had blankie she was fine.

 

[Linnie The Pooh]

My kids were both around 20 mos. It seemed for them they'd reached a point where, if they couldn't see it, they didn't want it so it was a natural transition for them. I just never let them see a bottle again.

They'd cry a little the first day, but by the 2nd and 3rd day, they were over it.

One word of advice-sippy cups are very popular, but there is some evidence that they can hamper speech development. Straw cups are best. They cause the child's lips to really pucker and round, which is really good for the mouth muscles.

My son has a disability and no one had told me that. He already had a speech problem, and it was made worse by using a sippy cup. Most kids don't have a problem and sippy cups don't affect them like they did my son. But I do tell people this, just in case. Good luck!

Also, when we did away with the bottle, I fed my kids more food, so they weren't getting full by drinking a bottle of milk. That seemed to help too.

ETA: I don't think there is evidence that sippy cups hurt speech development. Our SLP told us that if a child has weak lip muscles, they won't help strengthen them like a straw would. It's much harder to drink from a straw than a sippy cup-you use more muscles. My son couldn't drink from a straw until he was 4, which was when he finally was able to pucker his lips.

I think what I wrote above about hamper speech development is incorrect and misleading. I apologize for that.

 

[LMC]

Put water only in the bottles and juice and milk in the sippy cups. You can also look for the transition cups that have the very soft mouth piece on them. I think munchkin makes them.

 

[Hannathy]

I started putting water in them, and they were not allowed out of the house and only laying down, If he needed it for comfort at night it was there-no decay from water. This got real boring real quick.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

AH....forgot about that! I also put water only in them, but I started at 1yoish.
Oh and also my rule about the bottle was that it had to be drunk from in my lap only (or someone's lap)!!!
I would put the cup on the table and when they wanted the bottle I would only let them drink it in my lap. Well my active girls did not want to waste too much time drinking the bottle. They would jump up and grab the cup.
They got milk in the cup (we also used straw cups!). The ones from Tupperware are GREAT! Still use them today.

 

[disykat]

I stopped at around a year for both and it wasn't an issue at all. My Dad is a pediatrician and he told me to watch for a time when they didn't seem all that interested and replace it with a cup. He said if I did that it probably wouldn't be a big deal, but if I missed that "window of opportunity", they tend to recommit to it and it could be an ordeal.

 

[becka]

We took DD to WDW and on the Disney cruise and voila! ... she was off the bottle!

DD was down to just 1-2 bottles a day last month (in the morning and before bed) so I brought two with us on our trip. By the end of the 2nd day she was tired in the evening and there was so much excitement that she never asked for them and because they were packed away she never saw them. By the end of our trip she had been off the bottle for over a week. When we got back home I wondered if she would see them in the kitchen and ask but she never did.

If nothing else it just might be a good excuse to plan a quick trip!

 

[mickeyboat]

My kids both gave theirs up very early. (9 months for Hannah, 7 months for Emily), and I was really nervous about it. My pediatrician said not to worry as long as they were drinking milk from a cup - and they were. I was constantly pushing fluids on them, no wonder they potty trained so late.

I think they both just got very interested in people food, and didn't want to waste time with bottles.

BTW - they are both perfectly healthy today.

Denae

 

[janet715]

You just have to go cold turkey. I just threw them away and when they would ask I would say I can't find one and then give them a cup.
When they cry and scream, you ignore it. If they throw the cup you just pick it up and walk away.

Does she have a "lovely"???? Perhaps you can get her something special like a blanky, stuffed animal, that she can cuddle.
From your description it sounds as if she is using the bottle more for soothing herself than getting nourishment.

She totes a blanket around with her sometimes. I think it is more of a soothing thing. My son gave his up with no problem... but he used a binkie, and DD doesn't.

 

[janet715]

ETA: I don't think there is evidence that sippy cups hurt speech development. Our SLP told us that if a child has weak lip muscles, they won't help strengthen them like a straw would. It's much harder to drink from a straw than a sippy cup-you use more muscles. My son couldn't drink from a straw until he was 4, which was when he finally was able to pucker his lips.

That's good to know. Luckily, DD loves drinking from a straw and that is usually the only way to get her to drink from a cup!
Thanks!

 

[roliepolieoliefan]

With both kids it was cold turkey. DS was alot easier. I gave him the sippy cup and he never looked back. He was about 10 months.

DD was a different story. She loved her bottle. She was about 14 months and the pediatrician told me the longer they have it, the harder it is. One day, I just pitched them all. She cried for a day or 2 but that was that.

She just got rid of her pacifier 2 weeks ago. She only took it at bedtime for about 6 months now. But DH was putting her to bed and we just got back from vacation, I wasn't home. He didn't know the pacifiers were still in DD's suitcase so she went to bed with out them. I keep telling her they are for babies. I ask are you a baby? She's says no! I say you don't need them then. So far so good.

 

[Poohgirl]

I guess I was a mean mom. I told both of my boys that the bottle went "bye-bye, all gone" and only offered the sippy cup. I guess they didn't have much choice... I can't remember exactly, Im sure it was a tough couple days but they did fine.