Trying to Get My 15 Month Old to Sleep Without a Battle - Any Tips

it is interesting how in the American culture we take are told to take the bottle away.....in my husbands culture children have a bottle sometimes until they are 5-7 years old. I'm following my husbands traditions.....my kids both drink their milk from sippy cups but they still get it at bedtime....they are 4 and 2. She's not ready to let go of it if it is this big of a deal. Start using only the sippy cup during the day and then put her regular milk in the sippy cup.. When she is ready she'll give it up on her own.

Hi L.,

You certainly have different opinions. And it is really up to you and your husband and what works best for you. There is no sure given age when to take the bottle away at night. One of your posts mentioned when they are ready. I would have to agree. My youngest, had a bottle/sippy cup oh till 3 or so. But we had a nightly ritual, and everynight we would explain to the little one what we are doing. After her bath and before bed she could have a drink while we read and rocked her, then to bed, no bottle etc. Usually the fighting for what they want only lasts a few a nights then they eventually get accustomed to it. Its just a matter of holding up till then. My daughter is now 5, she still takes a glass of water with her to bed. She doesnt drink it mind you but its kind of like she knows it's there if she wakes up thirsty. Good Luck

I'm suprised to see that you give your daughter milk as she sleeps because this can cause rapid tooth decay during the night. Perhaps you can try water in a bottle my husband found that our daughter loved ice in her cup because it was so cold and rattled and she was quite content. Maybe you can try first useing ice water in a bottle and hopefully transition to a sippy cup if you feel you need to but I highly suggest that you stop giving her milk in bed, our daughter still insits on ice water at bedtime and she's 3.

How much of a routine do you have at night? When I was weaning my daughter (from the breast, not bottle, so a little different) I completely changed her nighttime routine. I switched what order we did things, added reading a book, ect. I had also gotten her drinking from sippy cups during the day and she had the one feeding at night (which was more of a comfort thing, as there wasn't much there to drink on). I did the cold turkey deal and it took us about two weeks before she realized I meant it! She stayed up until ten, eleven o'clock every night, and every night was a battle. But after a week and a half she was so tired (I wasn't letting her sleep any more than usual during the day, I would wake her up from naps) that it was only taking an hour or so to get her down instead of three. By the end of two weeks she had realized that she couldn't win the battle and that life was a lot more fun when she slept as much as she needed to. Like you responded, different things work for different people. I hope that some of this works for you!

After dinner I let my 17 month old run around in just her diaper and socks until 6:30. Then she puts on her pj's and we get ready for bed. She loves being in just her diaper and she plays more and wears herself out. I also offer her the sippy cup during this time so she has it before bed. THen we go read and she goes down.
Maybe she needs to go to bed earlier. My daughter goes down at 7pm sometimes 7:30. It has been tricky with daylight savings. Have you read any sleep books? Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child saved my life when she was young.