Hi mommies I have a 21 mo son and he loves loves loves his bottle. We have been using the same ones since he was born. I only had one nipple left and guess what??? He put a big hole in it. I want to get him off the bottle so I guess he picked the time. His dad said now you need to put them all away and give him a sippy cup. So thats what Im trying. What do you all think about this sitution?
Well all in all its been pretty good. Im standing firm! Its not that bad. I had to buy him two new cups and he likes both of them thank you all for your advice and stories! :)
I would show him that his bottle is broke and let him throw it away himself. When he ask for his bottle remind him that it was broke and he threw it away and offer a sippy cup instead. This is how I broke all of my children from pacifiers at 24 months, only I "broke" the pacifier with a pair of scissors when they weren't looking. They only ask for it for a few days and then I never heard them ask for it again.
I think your hubby has the right idea. I think the bottles should be pitched out or at least stored where they cannot be gotten to easily (in a moment of weakness--attic, etc).
I think getting rid of the bottles was harder for me than it was for our S.. I waited too long, too.
He may fuss, but if you stand your ground and tell him big boys drink from a cup, he will get over it quickly.
This is what happened with my S. and his pacifier. He was about the same age... I had one pacifier left because we lost all the others and he threw it away in the middle of a dark movie theater. We couldn't find it and I bought him a new one. He didn't want the new one... he was done.
This is fine as long as your S. is not freaking out about it. If he is, use sippy cups during the day but only give him a bottle at night. Then try to wean the nighttime bottle.
Good luck! Hope this helps!
Cold turkey is really the only way to go, and quickest. I did that with my kids, they were both 22 mos. and I explained it to them a few weeks before we did it. I told them they had to throw them away because big girls didn't drink from bottles. They were fine with it. It was the binkies that were hard, but after a few days they got used to that too. They are teens now and not mentally ill because I took their bottles and binkies away!
He's plenty old enough and though he may fuss about wanting the bottle instead (since the sucking action is comforting to some kids) he'll do fine.
I would not let him continue to use the torn nipple as a transition, though. It could tear further as he uses it and that could be a choking hazard.
I did this when my first DD was 15 months old. Hubby said go cold turkey and that's what I did. While crying my eyes out, I took all the bottles and nipples to the dumpster at our old apartment.
It took a good three days or so of her crying and crying at bedtime for it, but then she was fine. I'd reccomend a sippy with water if you're replacing a night time bottle.
You can do it. It will be fine.
Try to make the sippy cup as exciting as possible and don't cave and go backwards!
Well, where in the nipple is the big hole? Can he transition from sucking out of the big hole for a few days, then on to the sippy cup?
Does he know how to drink from a sippy? If so, do it! My S. turned a year old and knew how to do a sippy and I went cold turkey...He does get one at night before bed but that will change soon. If your S. does know how to do the sippy also intoduce a cup with the straw so he can learn that to and a make it a fun game..You may deal with some tears and resistance but be strong he is a big boy and will adjust :)
My S. transitioned without any problems from bottle to sippy at 13 months. With my daughter I thought we'd never wean her from the bottle. If we tried to give her a cup when she was doing the sign for milk, she'd shake her head NO and cry her eyes out. And she definitely knew how to drink out of a sippy cup, because she would drink her water out of a sippy cup no problem. What finally worked was to just do it one day, cold turkey (she was 18 months). She was really mad for a for a few minutes, but I calmly told her that her milk was in there. She'd take a sip and then hand it back and do the sign for milk again, of course she wanted the bottle. I would give her the cup back again and tell her that her milk was in there. It went back and forth like that for awhile but she did finally (rather unhappily) drink some of her milk. The nighttime milk was harder...she's used to drinking some milk before bedtime and was NOT happy about getting the cup again. ;) But I stuck with it - I knew that if I gave in and gave her the bottle it would just make it way more confusing for her. She was pretty mad but again drank some of the milk reluctantly. By the end of the 2nd day we were totally fine.
One thing that may have helped was that I used a certain type of cup for water and a different type of cup for milk.
Good luck!
