Stopping the bottle at 2.5 years old?

[Happyclappy20]

My d's will not drink milk from a cup and wants a bottle all the time. She wakes in the night for it too. How is the best way to stop? Should I stop? Go cold turkey? She gets so upset when we don't.

Offer water in a milk bottle instead. She'll try to refuse or have a major meltdown but by second or third night will get used to this and just accept the comfort of a milk bottle filled with water. I had to do the same.

Go cold turkey during the night - any half and half measures will leave them feeling confused and frustrated. Explain the night before and offer a bowl of porridge before bed (which shouldn't be necessary but may soften the change if they're a bit more full).

They can cry, scream, kick etc but you have to stick to your guns. It'll take a couple of nights but they will get over it. Their teeth will thank you for it in the long run!

I would stop. I'm no anti bottles , my ds still had a bottle at this age but he had one a day at bed time and we brushed his teeth after. I'd go cold turkey tbh, offer a sippy cup of water in the night and cups of milk during the day. If you really don't think she could manage then a bottle of water in the night and cups of milk at other times.

I think the issue is the bottle rather than the milk, so stop with the bottle completely, it will be difficult at first but worth it in the end. A child of 2.5 shouldn't need to have milk in the night either, if she is thirsty she can have water, if she is hungry try giving her a snack before bed. If you are worried that she isn't getting enough calcium and needs the milk try adding it to her food, you can put milk in soup, give her milky puddings, etc., but if she has a balanced diet (and there are no other issues) she should be getting enough calcium and protein from her other food and you can always add a bit of cheese to the top of cottage pie etc. if you think she isn't getting enough.

My DD aged 3 still has milk before bed but she has a special "bedtime only" cup which she chose and she has it at her table while bedtime hours on. Afterwards I brush her teeth and put her to bed. She took the change remarkably well.

I gradually reduced the amount of milk before bed and watered down the bottle during the night to it eventually became water and made sure DD had porridge before bed to fill her up. She used to sip and when she realised it was water she lost interest unless she was thirsty.

When she was three we chose a new sippy type cup for bedtime milk and she still uses it but only about an inch of milk in now. Her bottle was collected by the bottle fairy to take to a new baby. It was a her third birthday present that helped as well as we gave her a bedroom makeover and big girls bed for her birthday present.

DD thinks porridge is a yummy pudding which helps .

Whilst swapping milk for water worked with dc1, dc2 was having none of it!

I realised he was barely drinking the milk in the night, so he wasn’t hungry, but needed the bottle to suckle on (despite using a dummy) he was also aged 3 at this point, so didn't need “topping up” at night.

I swapped the bottle for an “anyway up cup” the type with a hard leakproof teat. We had a few tantrums but I’m pretty -evil- firm and after a couple of nights he learnt to self-settle without the need of a bottle.

Milk is not some utter demon you need to abolish from your kids dietary drinks and I don't understand why so many parents seem to think it is these days, or what magical things happen when you put it in food instead of a glass . It doesn't matter if she's drinking it or if it's in her meals. It's just milk (as long as it's not formula). And if it's whole milk all the better. Switch the bottle to water gradually and introduce a cup with milk so she can drink it from that instead and then brush her teeth after.

Milk is good for you and good for kids.

It will also help wean her from the night time wakeups to gradually replace the milk in the bottle with water. Do it an oz at a time, two nights then replace another oz with water. Then two nights and replace another oz etc. It should take 2 weeks and she'll be off the bottle.

is it the milk or the bottle that you have the issue with?
If its the bottle then why don't you try telling her that the bottle fairy's are coming to take all the baby bottles away as shes a big girl now. Take her to choose one of the any way up cups as suggested before, make a big thing out of it so she knows that they are going and has time to process it. Did this to get rid of the dummies worked a treat (did hide one though for a mummy meltdown emergency....not that it happened LOL) just got them to choose something to cuddle instead. Put them on a tray with a picture like you do for Santa.