Ready to Take Baby off Bottle

I know alot of people will say I'm wrong....but, I let my daughter let go of her bottles on her own. She got to the point (around 15 months) when she would just have one before bed. By 17 months or so, she was done altogether. I caught alot of flack from people when she was still having a bottle at this age. My thought on it is, you feed your kid how you want, and I'll feed mine how I want. I also have the philosiphy that I dont fight my DD over what food to eat. Seems to work because she eats a HUGE variety of foods.
I think that perhaps just dont offer it to her and have her tell you when she wants one. I'll bet that if you go a few nights without one, she'll "forget" about it.
Good Luck in whatever you decide,
Margaret :)

I posted this a few months ago.
Leading up to my daughter's first birthday, we matter of factly told her that she was going to be a "big girl" on her birthday. We told her big girls drink from sippy cups and the bottles go away.
We did not make a big deal out of it. We let her pick out the sippy cup she would "get" to use 2 weeks before her birthday, but did not allow her to officially use it. We placed the cup in the kitchen like it was a trophy and let her hold it if she asked.
The night before her birthday, I threw away all of the bottle stuff. The morning of her birthday I asked her if she wanted juice or milk in her sippy cup with breakfast. She chose milk. She acted as though it was no big deal and we did not make a big deal out of it.
She was given other sippy cups as gifts for her birthday and she was then excited to be able to choose which sippy cup she wanted to use at each meal.
We always found that with our daughter, if you just did not make a big deal out of things, and gave her some choices, she did pretty good with change. Give it a try and see how your child does. I bet she will be excited and will do fine. Good luck.

Hi-

My oldest child dropped the bottle cold turkey with no problems at all. My second was ok with water or juice from a cup but wanted her milk in her bottle. My suggestion is to buy some cups in her favorite colors or with her favorite characters on them, maybe even take her to the store with you to pick them out. Then try to just go cold turkey and see what she does. Honestly if it were me, I would not fight the bedtime bottle with her. You might have to just keep that one for a while and concetrate on getting her off the bottle for the rest of the day first. Or try sending her to bed with a sippy cup of water instead and maybe she'll just drink that when she wakes up instead of getting you up for milk.

Good Luck,
K.

I told my son that he was a big boy now and had to drink out of a cup. We went to walmart and looked at all the cups and he picked his favorite. We went home and I told him it was time to throw his bottles away because he was a big boy. He threw them all away and we replaced them with his cups, never again did he ask for the bottle. Hope this helps!!

C. B.
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Give her a cup - cold turkey! She will eventually take it if she is thirsty. I am sure at this point, it is an emotional attachment as well... I would give her a cup of milk a little while before she goes to bed and first thing when she wakes up. Good luck!!

Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems by Ferber was wonderful for us, and it has advice for unnecessary middle-of-the-night feedings. If nothing else, change her 3am bottle from milk to water. I'll bet she gives it up pretty quick. Also, we let our child have a sports bottle of water (the kind with a straw - using a straw is a useful skill when you're out and about anyway - if you forget your sippies, everyplace has cups w/ straws). We leave her water bottle in her bed all the time - it's always in the same corner of her bed - first the crib, now her big-girl bed, so she can always find it, even at night. (Less likely to leak than a sippy.) This also cut down on the bedtime stall technique of needing one more dring of water.

It's a shame these little guys come w/ such an incomplete instruction book.

Good luck, mamma.