Hi Mommas, I am looking for any helpful tips to break the habbit of my 2 1/2 year old daughter having sippy cup for bed time. I usually do half water and half milk. This is my way of feeling better about the milk on her teeth. But i know that this is still not good. My daughter suckles on it to fall asleep. She never took a passifier so this was her soother. When she wakes up in the middle of the night she insists on milk or "milky water" as we call it. I am ready to make the change. She will cry and cry for it. So I need some tips to break this habbit.
My parents dont think this is a problem because she is so young.. Please help!
THank you,
Steff
Add a new routine. Try the sippy cup of milky water an hr before bedtime, brush teeth , then a bedtime story, and after the only thing in the sippy cup is water. Its going to be difficult at first but after a week it should get easier. Anything new actually takes 4 weeks before it becomes routine for an adult so be patient and hang in there for the little one
what i did with my daughter was i would decrease the amount in her cup 20z every few days till she ran out. what you could do since you mix water with the milk is decrease the milk till your just giving her water. explain to her that she is a big girl now and doesnt need a cup for bed. take her to the store and let her pick out a small stuffed animal to replace the cup.
cold turkey is the best. it will suck for a few days, i mean REALLY REALLY SUCK....but after a few days she will be okay with it. the key is not to replace it with something else because then you ahve to break that habit later. good luck!
Well, I know this doesn't answer your question really, but my kids are all teenagers and STILL bring a drink up to bed every night. Now they just like water bottles but for years it was milk or juice. They brush, floss, and rinse twice a day and have had no dental problems. Personally, this is not a battle I would choose to fight.
:)
Just put water in it.
Wipe her teeth after.
Use "Spiffies Tooth Wipes."
www.spiffies.com
Even adults can use it.
It has Xylitol in it. All natural. Prevents decay.
Give her milk, BEFORE bed time.
Then, have a sippy of water IN her crib. That she can keep with her.
EXPLAIN this new routine to her.
MILK is outside of bed.
Water sippy, she can keep IN bed with her and she will still have that to soothe with.
ALSO, does she have a Lovey to sleep with? If not, let her have one.
So she can soothe to sleep with that.
A comfort object.
Nothing wrong with that.
My kids still sleep with their Loveys.
We tell my son, no milk after you brush your teeth. He gets water while we read and he can take it to bed with him.
Put plain water in it and let her keep the sippy.
I got some great advice a year ago with the same problem. Someone suggested telling my daughter that the "ba ba fairy" was going to come and take her ba ba's for a new baby and leave her a gift when she woke up the next morning. It worked! It was hard the first week, but just kept telling her that a new baby now has her ba ba's and she's a big girl and doesn't need them. I had to do this because she ended up having 6 cavities and needed to get rid of the milk at night. Good luck!!
Just do the same thing you are doing but use water. It's kind of like going cold turkey but you are still offering something.
Also, my kids always responded really well when I would blame the doctor " the doctor said no more milk at night". When she fusses remind her that the doctor said no.
We did the "big kid" milk stays at the fridge earlier than this age and told them straight that it was no milk after teeth brushing. They do have a sippy of about 1/2 to 1 inch of water by their beds each in case they wake parched. My older kids are 2.5 and 4.
Good luck!
My daughter had a bottle full of milk every night before bed until she was three. The bottle was not left with her. She drank the bottle then went to bed. She has perfect teeth.
Hi S., I cut liquids off at dinner especially to help kids stay dry at night, I have a daycare little boy 20 months his mom was always giving him a cup at bedtime because she had to be at work at 5 am and needed her sleep when she left to go over seas the kids moved in with me, I justr started rocking him to sleep like I did my own and no more cup, I just didn't give it to him, the cup is not designed to be used like a bottle however so many parents arwe doing it. Watery milk sounds gross (Sorry) but it does. I read all the replys and they are all suggesting water, it's still using the sippy cup as a bottle. J.
This is what i did with my little guy when he turned 2 in April: Sippy cup with milk during bedtime ritual, made brushing teeth with flouride-free toothpaste the last thing to do before getting in bed, he then gets his sippy with water only (he loves it iced) for the night. Your daughter may take a few days to adjust, (he really didn't and he'd been getting full milk) so just don't cave ; )
Like another mama said you can "blame" it on the doctor!
I had to break my kids of a milk sippy before bedtime. My approach was taken from Calmer, Easier, Happier Parenting which advises that for any new action or change you simply prepare the child well ahead of time by 1) saying there is a new rule 2) the new rule is there will be no sippy cups at nighttime 3) have them repeat the rule 4) keep practising this every day until they know and understand the rule then 5) implement. You can visit the website of the aforementioned parenting approach by googling it.
I did this for 2-3 weeks. They were really ready for the change and accepted it no problem.
Good luck
