Bedtime Problems and Bottle Issues

M.,

I would just go cold turkey and stop the bottle all together. Prepare him, let him know he is a big boy and because of that he no longer needs a bottle. It will be tough for the first couple of nights, but you'll be surprised at how quickly he adjusts. I give my kids board books to have in bed with them to look at while trying to fall asleep, maybe this would work with him or a stuffed animal?

Hope this helps.

If you are willing to go with a few loud nights let him cry. Yes it is hard but the payoff is worth it. I have 15 month old twins, and a 2 month old. When I brought her home I did not want to continue to wash 30 bottles a day so I just stopped giving them to them. At night he will cry but after a while he will fall asleep. Try the same thing with the waking up. Let him cry. I let mine cry for about 15 minutes. If they did not stop then I would go in there. Mine sleep from 7:30-8(usually). There will of course still be nights he is just not happy and wants his mom. You just have to bight your nails and listen to him cry. It sucks but seems to work. Don't listen to people saying he should have been off the bottle a long time ago. It is just discouraging. I know kids older then him on a bottle still. It is a personal preference. Our pediatrician told us to just try when we were ready. If you are not 100% into it he will not be either. Goodluck!

Hi M.,
I have a 17 month old and we just had our first bottle free day yesterday. Yay! He also only took the bottle for nap, bedtime and first thing in the morning. He drinks out of sippy cups and adult cups the rest of the day (he has since 4 months). I broke him from the bottle in stages. First diluting the milk with water and reducing the amount to get his stomach used to less calories at that specific time of day or night. Then I took away the AM bottle and replaced it with a sippy. He refusing to drink milk from the sippy so I found a 1/2 soy milk, 1/2 fruit juice (Kidz Dream) drink that he loves and give him this. He is lactose intolerant so only has soy anyway.This was the easiest b/c I could distract him with cereal or whatever. It did still take about four days for him to not ask for it anymore. Next, I took away the nap bottle by changing his routine. I started giving him a sippy of Kidz Dream milk about 30 minutes b/f he would normally nap. By nap time his belly was sated and he would only put up a little fuss for an actual bottle. This took two days for him to not fuss. I did the same thing for the night bottle yesterday and he did not fuss at all. I guess he kinda knew that it was coming! :)
Hope this helps!

M.

I also think the way to go with bottles is cold turkey. I tried to ease my daughter off bottles and pacifier and it was agony... until I just got rid of both (although not at the same time!)... get RID of them so there's no chance of giving in. The first night or two might be rough, but I think you'll be surprised how quick he adjusts. My kids (4 and 5 y.o.) are in bed by 7:30, but are up between 6:30 and 7... which is what we need anyway at this point since my oldest is in kindergarten now. I'm not sure what to do about night wakenings.... not sure what happens when he wakes up. Do you play with him, etc..? Just make it clear that it's sleep time and don't interact with him beyond telling him to go back to sleep. Good luck!

M. - with the bottle issue, unfortunately to break him of the habit you just can't give it to him. Replace the bottle with a toddler's sippy cup. At this point he shouldn't be getting formula and there is no problem with putting milk, water or watered down juice in a sippy cup. He might have a problem with it at first but after a couple of days you will probably be surprised at how quickly he will get the hang of the sippy cup and like it. On the bedtime issue, we had a similar problem with our son (now 5) when he was around this age. We were consistently putting him down at 8 p.m. When he got around 2 years old...he was more active and was more interested in looking around and staying engaged than going to sleep. He also didn't seem to need as much sleep and so he would often wake up after an hour or two and want to play! Of course, at that time, we were ready for bed and that just didn't work! What did help was to keep him active during the day - gradually get him to a one nap a day (usually around 2 hours after lunch) - and then consistently get him to bed at the same time - around 8 p.m. probably. He might not go to sleep immediately but this will help him get in the habit and to go down without the bottle. Don't allow him to nap in the late afternoon or you will have a problem with him taking his 'nap' at 8:00 p.m. and then getting up for 'the rest of his day' later on. Good luck. C.

hi M., i to have a 2 yr old (or she will be in a few days) & we just went through the bottle war ~ lol!! but she was only getting it at night time. i tried several different methods that where suggested to me from here. the water in the bottle kinda worked, she refused the bottle but still didn't want the cup, which worried me cause i want to make sure she gets her milk. the nubbie cups really worked well! the nipple is similar to that of a bottle. (let him pick them put) the have some that are insulated & that helps keep the milk colder longer. we also put a little bit of nesquik strawberry flavoring in the milk (or you could try chocolate, my daughters just not big on chocolate anything so...) & to make my battle a little easier my cousin, who we've been around quite a bit throughout her pregnancy, just had her baby so we conivced her (my daughter) to give her bottles to the "bitty bitty baby". (know anybody thats expecting, or has a newborn??) hope this helps out!! good luck!

p.s. have you talk to your sons Doctor, mine was ok w/ my daughter still having the bottle, she said it was just a comfort thing.

At 2 he should have been off the bottle a yr ago. Have you tried offering a sippy cup that has a soft nipple instead of a bottle. Or putting water ONLY in the bottle to keep him from wanting it to much and putting something he likes in a sippy cup? It sounds like you get little sleep now so I suggest doing it cold turkey. Take every bottle you have in ur house and trash them completely. Of course you will have to endure some crying but I promise that if u hang in there he WILL find something else to sooth himself with. I am in the process now of getting my 9 month old a sippy cup and feeding him from the table more than I do the bottle to try and ween him. With my first son I took his bottle away a few days before his first birthday and replaced it with a sippy cup and he didn't even seemed fazed. Same thing with his paci which he was HIGHLY attached to until 3 yrs of age. Then I finally got tired of trying to find the easy way to break him and realized that this was a child....a paci and I could make it through a little crying in order to do my job as a mother. I told myself, "Hey, I've been through things more tough to handle than this, that's it..that paci is GONE!" And we just took it and to our suprise he never mentioned it again...ever! We held our breath that first night we put him down and he didn't have it waiting for him to ask and cry once he realized it was gone. But he did nothing.Listen it will save you alot of stress in the long run if you just take it away from him and offer him the sippy cup just as u introduced the bottle to him when he was a baby. My 9 month old will have his bottle taken probably before his first birthday and I have to say that it will feel nice not to have to prepare a bottle anymore.Gl