Bed-time bottle

[runragged76]

My DD is 2.5 yo and still taking a full 12oz bottle of milk before bed - when should I stop giving this to her?

I would say when she stops having a bottle in the day. Once she is on cups/beakers you could give her a hot chocolate or milky hot drink downstairs just before bed. Tell her it's a new grown up routine for big girls who don't drink out of bottles any more.

Hi nametaken. My dd happily drinks out of a cup during the day (and will only drink water or warm milk full stop). When I have tried to give her the milk in a cup at bedtime, she won't take it - I think its a comfort thing! I'll try the big girls routine thing and see how it goes.

Is the comfort coming from the milk or the bottle? If it's the bottle could you try putting plain water in it, just a thought. Would buy you more time and be easier to take away a bottle of water than a bottle or milk. good luck anyway.

runragged - i have the same problem, my dd is a bit younger. she drinks water from an open cup during the day but will not touch milk in anything other than a bottle, first thing in the morning and before her bath. at the moment, i would rather she had the milk than not, so intend to wait a bit and see if she gives it up herself. otherwise,, i think i'll just bite the bullet when she's a bit older, let her choose a new cup and make it a special 'bedtime milk cup'.
let me know if you suceed with anything!!

i think a slong as bottle isnt used all day theres nothing wrong wit a comfort bottle at night when a bit older you can go out and choose a new big girls bedtime cup for now id leave it

Thanks all for your replies. I think the bottle is the comfort thing, she only has a bottle in the morning and at bedtime. I think I will try her again with a regular cup, if that doesn't work, maybe taking her out to buy a new one will. Olivo - will let you know how I get on!

ds has been really hard to get off his bedtime bottle, sometimes he only has a couple of sucks and wastes most of the milk.

anyway we went away at the weekend and we realised he had gone down for two nights with no bottle so we are hoping we can carry this on and touch wood three nights on it is going ok.

he is 15 months by the way

my dt's were same age when we ceremoniously gave all their bottles to their new cousin. It was a bit of a battle for a few nights having milk downstairs then going upstairs, where they expected their bottles again - but we kept the response the same "you gave your bottles to cousin cos he's a baby and you're not" and it soon sunk in.

my dd is 4 - she has milk at bedtime from a "cow cup". She finally was persuaded to relinquish bottle about 9 months ago.

DS is 18mo and has a bottle still.

They both have about 6/7oz full fat milk first thing in morning whilst dh and I have cup of tea in bed, and same amount just before bed (but before teeth!)

They eat well during the day and I am in no rush to stop them having this milk. I'll probably start trying to get ds off bottle and onto cup in a year or so. He doesn't have bottle at all except for this milk. Evening the bottle is comforting and morning it stops milk being thrown all over my bed!