Trying to get 18 month old off bottle

[MalibuStac]

My dd is nearly 18 months old and totally dependant on her bottle for drinks. She can drink from sippy cups but generally refuses. She doesn't take a dummy so I think she has now made this her comforter.

Anyway I have tried in the past to remove them but unfortunately she's had a spate of illness since August which involved various colds, flu's, viral and bronchial infections. So in all honesty it was easier to let her keep it so I could ensure she got much needed fluids.

Pleases advise how I take them away?

SB cups are better for the child's teeth, bottle-drinking can mean liquid such as milk or juice pools around teeth thus eroding enamel and causing decay

Mal I would be inclined to do water in sippy cup and retain bottle for milk til she's cracked the sippy cup. Make sure that the last bottle before sleep is followed by teeth cleaning and don't let her sleep with the bottle in her mouth at all

you might need to try various soft spout type sippy cups til you can find one that she will accept

or a doidy cup, as she's a Big Girl now?

My DS1 would never drink from a sippy cup. He was breastfed and I was keen to stop bf but was worried about his liquid intake. I eventually stopped bf when he was nearly 13m, and he continued to refuse sippy cups (and bottles) so for a while he was drinking no milk or water at all!! I made sure he had lots of calcium in his diet (eg cheese) and hoped for the best. Soon he learnt to drink from an open cup and I breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe try moving your DD straight to an open cup?

sorry to have answered your question

She seems to be using it like a child would use a dummy and the nursery seem to think its why she is being unsettled. I've bought the normal tommy tippee cups, the non spill, the sports cap, straw cup but she doesn't like any of them. Ds is 12 and just dropped his himself so I suppose I didn't deal with it before.

I'm happy to keep bed and morning bottles but she seems to want them all the time. How do I break the comfort. I have tried giving the dummy back but she hates it. Yy to teeth brushing all the time.

okay

another gambit would be to send to nursery with just water in it, keep milk for morning and bedtime

any good?

obv ''it''being the bottle

She will take the bottle with anything in it as long as she has the bottle. I've so created a rod for my own back with this haven't I? Looks like I'm just going to have to take it away and deal with screaming :(

awwwwww

we all make mistakes, don't feel bad

on the plus side, how about not sending bottle at ALL to nursery and let them deal with the screaming ?

and you stick to say bottle for bedtime religiously?

so a bit of wailing and warbling but spread out amongst more than just you

My DD hated cups. She will drink straight from a bottle of water. (wino in the making!) we spill a little bit, she copies what adults do and loves praise when she manages it! Put ice cream milkshake in and I bet she would try it!

She loves drinking from normal cups, do I just give her that then? Thanks all its been stressing me out.

I would say just switch to ordinary cup then. My 2year old still loves bottle of milk before bed.

I think it is confusing to have cups at some meals and then a bottle at bedtime - I would just go cold turkey and throw the bottles out and present her with the cups - but I am a bit mean like that . I have never got over seeing my friend giving her school age children bottles at bed time .

do you know what I did? For two days I gave her milk with a bit of sugar in it in the sippy cup, and watered-down milk in the bottle. By day 2 she was on to it and rejected the bottle after that! Just normal milk in the sippy cup now and she's forgotten the daytime bottle ever existed.

This is a timely thread. DS is 13 months and I've wanted to wean him off the bottle for milk (he has it just for morning and evening feeds) onto sippy cup.

He won't take it! He'll happily drink water from the sippy cup all day but not milk. He starts to scream and cry (and he's not a crier).

Do you think 13 months is too young to go cold turkey? I think we should let him cry a bit but DH is softer and so I'm left feeling like Mommie Dearest.

Well what I've been trying is making her wait longer between bottles by distracting her. It has been working considering she would happily have had a constant bottle in her hand. Its going ok but I think cold turkey will be the answer :( Thanks for the responses.

Gobbly I wish I had did this earlier and know people who move onto sippy cups at about 10months.

I tried what kiwiinkits did, offered regular milk in cup and watered down from bottle Worked!!