Breaking the Bottle

Congrats on baby #2! I have to agreed with the majority...just do it. I understand how you feel. I didn't have problems at all taking the bottle away. My oldest(now 3) had a really by viral infection around his 1st bday, there for he wasn't allowed milk because of diaherra, so when he was well again, I just never used them again. With my 2nd,(2 months old) I plan on introducing that sippy cup as soon as possible, so I don't even have to give a bottle, hopefully. I think the hardest thing for us moms is that WE are not ready for them to let go of things, bottles, binkies, crib to toddler/big bed. I think they are ok with the change, it's us that's realizing they are growing up and it's just too quick. That's how I have felt with everything....I'm dealing with potty issues...I waited till he was almost 3 to start really training and I know it was just me not wanting to let go of my "baby" and the responsiblity that came with it training. Hope it all works out well, it will in time either way!

I use the Gerber NUK bottles and sippy cups, my little boy is only 6 months old. Maybe you could try getting a wide mouth NUK bottle, and a NUK sippy cup, and put the sippy cup nipple on the bottle. After a few weeks or days put the smaller bottle (from the sippy cup kit) together with the sippy cup stuff and see if that helps, even if there's water in it. Maybe if she thinks that she's getting a bottle the transition will be a lot smoother. There's always the cry it out option- refuse to give her the bottle and put up with a few nights of screaming. Last resort but it almost always works.

Congrats on baby number 2!
I have a 3 year old son that at 1 year and 3 days I took the bottle completely away from him. I exchanged them with the Nuby sippy cup and he never looked back. I also have an 18 month old daughter that still drinks a bottle at nap and a bottle at night. I know the longer I wait to take away, the harder it is going to be.
I have a friend that still lets her 3 year old have a bottle (AND a pacifier) and her teeth are terrible. Not that the teeth are rotten but that the upper teeth are not in the right position anymore. So that is something to think about. Jo Jo from Super Nanny says cold turkey is the best way. Great advice on shopping for a new sippy cup and really good idea on wrappig her bottles up for her new baby brother/sister. Good luck and if you find a good solution, please share with us!

Sounds like it is completely for comfort. Similarly, when my son wouldn't ditch the binky, we told him the binky fairy would be coming soon to take all of his to new babies who needed them. We collected them all one night and left them in front of our fire place. The next morning, they were all gone, and in their place was a new favorite toy. He asked for them for a couple of days, and I would talk about the happy new babies and how cool his new train was. It was really easier than I thought it would be!! Wish I'd done it sooner.

Good luck!!

Two years old is a little old to be on the bottle but it's no different than the 3 and 4 year olds I see with pacifiers. I wanted my son completely off the bottle by the time he was 12 months old. It didn't work quite like I planned. I thought I would just take it away. That traumatized him. So I thought of a way that I would have him help me get rid of the bottle. That way it was his idea. I brought him to the kitchen, filled his bottle with juice and put the lid on it (he did not help me do this). Then I took a sippy cup and opened it and told him we were going to play a game. I told him - that I wanted him to pour his juice in the cup and put the lid on the cup and that I wanted to see if he could drink from his cup. Well being the big boy he was he was going to make the best of the game. We played this game everyday for about 2-3 weeks. After that he didn't care for the bottle. I think it took him seeing that the cup does the same as the bottle. Since yours is on the sippy cup during the day and only a bottle at night - you may just have to throw them out and let her cry for them for a few days.

"Is it really worth the meltdown?"

Of course not. There's no reason at all to be concerned about your kindergartener taking a bottle at night. And I hear it's all the rage for today's teens.

Come on. Why are you "embarrassed to admit it?" You know you need to deal with this. Bite the bullet and do it. You have to be the parent because she is 2 years old.

You're going to have to just be strong and take the bottle away if that's what you really want. I'm a SAHM with 2 boys ages 2 & 6, both boys stopped taking bottles at 12 months and pacifier at around 18 months. I guess I'm lucky that they were never really attached to their bottles. Yes, they did cry and ask for their bottles but we never caved in so we didn't have to listen to them cry. You're the parent not your child. Sorry to say but the longer you do drag this out the harder it will be for all of you. Good luck.

snip a tiny hole in the nipple so she gets nothing but sucking air and she won't like it. Take the bottles and give them to another baby (a friend that the new baby needs the bottles) or put them in a box for her new baby brother or sister. You may have to deal with some crying, it is natural and she will be fine in a few days. Let her comfort with the sippy cup, get one that does not leak and let her hold it as you rock her to sleep. My daughter sometimes wants her sippy cup as she lays in her bed. You don't want them used to drinking at night either b/c eventually you will have to potty train and they can't drink water before bed.

Good luck

Well I am with you.
I have a 2 yr and 1 month old whom I still give a bottle.
Sometimes during the day before bed but always at night before bed. It is a comfort thing too and we haven't moved and there is not reason other than that is wind down time. She takes a bath and gets up on our bed and her da (what she calls him) reads her a book and then they watch either Jacks big music show OR Blues clues and takes her ba-ba and vitamin.
That is just kind of our routine. When it she is done, she knows it is bedtime but it is a relaxation thing and I don't intend to take that away. I think that when the time is right, it won't be hard. She never took a passifier and that is how she gets her milk also.
The doctors told me to take it away at 12 months but it is my baby and I don't mind. I personally don't see anything wrong with it.
I would say go with your instincts. Do you particularly want her to quit? Do want her to keep taking it?
Go with your instincts a listen to her.

If the drama is too much to handle than each night put less and less water in the bottle for her to drink. By the last night when she takes her drink have her put the bottle on the dresser of night stand since it's empty. Let her do that for a few days and then have her put it in the sink when it's empty. pretty soon she'll just want a cup at the sink.

Giving only water when they can lay down with it is the best antidote, so you're on the right track. Don't make a big deal of it. 'This, too, shall pass!' LOL I WOULD recommend using a nipple with a small hole, though, so she really has to work at getting the water out. Little bit sneaky, but she might get tired of it quicker! (Tee hee)

About making a 'deal' over it -- I have 4 kids, and I read LOTS of stuff when I was pregnant (each time) and when they were little. I would've been mortified if our first child had needed a 'security item'! (She didn't). Then the 2 boys both had colic and NEEDED a pacifier. (Both gave it up fairly easily, tho). THEN, number 4 was a thumb-sucker -- from age 3 months! By then I'd read that if something gives your child 'security' and comfort, and you're trying to take it AWAY, it only makes them MORE insecure and uncomfortable! They panic and need it even worse (makes sense, doesn't it??) So, we let it ride and told her how her thumb-sucking was making her front teeth project (and she inherits my 'prominent mandibular', anyway!) When she started pre-school at barely 4, she broke herself. It was so cool. She's lay down to sleep, purposefully keeping her thumb OUT of her mouth. Then just as she was nodding off, her thumb would 'automatically' find its way to her mouth. As soon as it touched, though, she'd JERK it back out.

Just take it easy, maybe even have a little 'adult-to-adult' talk about it, and leave it up to her. All will be well!

My son was the same way. This is what we did. We slowly hid all of the bottles. We hid one a day until they were all gone. When it was bedtime we looked around for the bottle and made a huge production of it. Is the bottle in your crib? No the bottle is not in your crib. Is the bottle in the dish drainer? No the bottle is not in the dish drainer. Look all over the house. Involve your little one in the hunt for the bottle. We did it for about 15-20 minutes. Then we said, 'Ut oh the bottle must be lost." Kids lose things all the time. They lose their tennis shoes and you have to hunt for them. They forget where they left their favorite toy. They understand the concept that something is "lost." Then we asked our son if he wanted a sippy cup of milk and a book to read. We sat down with a sippy cup of milk and a book. That is our new bedtime routine. It worked for us.

You're definitely not alone on this one! My sister's youngest son took a bottle before bedtime until after he was 2 as well. He was a little skinny so his pediatrician wanted him to drink a bottle of carnation milk once a day. She always gave it to him at night in a bottle and never thought twice about it since he drank from a sippy cup the rest of the day. Then one day, just before he turned 3, he decided completely on his own that he didn't want it anymore and never asked about it again. I'm in a similar situation now with my 2 year old who is totally hooked on his pacifiers. I only let him have it at bedtime, but he has no desire to give it up. I've already started telling him that at Christmas we have to give them all to Santa so he can deliver them to the new babies. So far he is agreeable, but i'm sure it will not be easy. My oldest was much easier, we just traded them for a fish tank and he never looked back!

I say try taking her to the store and letting her pick out a NEW sippy cup that is just for big girls and also let her pick out a NEW bottle which will be for her new little baby sister/brother. Keep emphasizing that the bottle and bottles are for babies and u are going to need all the help u can get from her as a BIG sister. My son's are 13 mos apart and I had to make sure I had my son weened when his baby brother came so he wouldnt take the bottle from him. But just make sure u take a doll or something to let her know about the new addition and that the bottle is for babies and that she is such a big girl now and that you are sooo proud of her and every time she drinks from the sippy cup make it such a big deal...even if you have to come up with one of those oh so ugly songs we make up and sing for our children...lol

I went thru this a while back with my daughter. She had had some trauma with a broken elbow at age 2 and I had just gotten her off the nighttime bottle a week prior to the accident. I gave the bottle back to her becuase I guess I felt sorry for her. Anyway, I ended up taking it back away from her a few weeks later and replacing it with a sippy cup that had cool pictures on it and reading a book called "bye bye Bottle" to her. We read this book over and over for weeks. She never took the bottle again but breaking her from pacifer was another story...

boy do i know where you are coming from! my 2 year old still had her bottle also... however the melt downs only last a week at the most. just toss them. if YOUR not ready to give them up just think of it this way no one goes to college with a bottle :) but she will be fine i promise but the longer she has it the harder it is to make it go

The big problem around bottles is that the sucking makes the mouth awash in the liquid--the liquid usually being milk with lactose. Thus, the sugar coats the teeth and can cause tooth problems that can result in problem with gums and adult teeth.

Since you are feeding water, I really don't see the issue. I say, let yourself and your daughter have a break. You could tell her that big sisters don't have bottles and let her wrap it up in a box to give to her baby sibling as a gift. Just a thought. No need to beat yourself up over this, though, as long as it is water. Verify what I'm saying with the Dr and Dentist, though.

You will just have to take it away and tell her that they are lost... she will cry but you will have to deal with that for a few nights then she will get over it... DON'T GIVE IN BE STRONG..... DON'T ASK HER IF SHE WANTS A BOTTLE.....

You need to break her know because it will only get harder... my niece is 5yrs and my sister in law still gives her a bottle because she does not like to hear her cry.... You should have broke her completely when she started to drink out of a cup.... I have 5 kids and they where all broke from the bottle and nuk by the time they where 2 and they where potty trained also.....

You could just let her have the bottle. My pediatrician said that age of weaning is a cultural thing--in some countries, kids go until 5 with a bottle. And if you think about it, in some cultures children are breastfed until about that age. My son is 3 and still gets bottles when he wants them. Yes, people think we are a little strange. And maybe they are right. But the bottle calms him down, and a calm child is a good thing.

Here's the way I think about it. How would I feel if someone took chocolate away from me just because I'm 36? :)

Dont feel bad my dd was a little over 2 when we finally broke her of her bottle. One weekend I decided that was it she's not going to get it anymore. I started with naptime, she asked for and I told she was no longer going to get one. She cried a little. And it only took maybe a few days of her asking for one and than she didnt care. So be strong and if you really want her off the bottle just take it. Maybe you can replace the bottle with a soft cuddly stuffed animal? Good luck and congrats on baby #2!

Does she actually drink the water or just cuddle the bottle. My oldest son, 4yrs, still asks for a drink at bedtime but rarely drinks it. He usually just snuggles it. I give him a sippy cup with water. In the next couple of months I plan on breaking this habit. I haven't worried about it too much since its little more than a stuffed animal/comfort object.
I suggest getting down to one bottle then "losing" it. If you're comfortable with it you can offer a sippy cup to replace it.

Do it now, get her a "lovie"if she does not have one. Our God daughter will be 4 next month and she is still on the bottle and paci. Child has no skills to calm herself down if it's not a bottle followed by the paci. It will get harder the longer you wait.

My 16 month old still takes his milk in a bottle (all other liquids in a sippy cup). I truely think it is a comfort thing for him as well. I'd say, if your little girl is only taking a bottle 1 time per day of just water...no biggie. 1 time per day isn't going to mess up her teeth and there's no sugar to stay on her teeth with water. She isn't going to take it forever. Personally, at this point, I'd say save your peace of mind, and let the small bottle of water be. And if someone wants to judge you for that, I wouldn't even worry with them!