Tips for getting a two year old to give up her much loved bottle

[GColdtimer]

I don't mind the bedtime bottle, I really don't but because DD finds her bottle such a comfort, everytime she gets upset or hurt she immediately asks for a "drink a milk from a bottle". If she doesn't get one she goes into meltdown and I refuse to carry a bottle of milk around in case of emergency. She isn't a baby after all. She isn't a great sleeper and often the only way of settling in the middle of the night is with a bottle and so I think the time has come to ditch them.

She is a milk monster which is fine by me but flatly refused to drink it out of a cup, day or night.

Any tips?

My dd was exactly the same. I noticed her front teeth were getting a bit discoloured, so that was crunch time for us. I took her shopping & let her choose a cup (foul Winnie the Pooh thing ). Then we 'gave' the bottles to a baby of our acquaintance (that was as much about getting them out of the house so I couldn't weaken!)
To my utter shock she actually adapted quite quickly, although she does drinks a LOT less milk now.

When DD was almost 2 I decided it was time to stop bottle use - she too liked it a lot (although it was mainly bedtime and lots during the night).

What we did was go to Boots and find a Really Exciting Big Girl Beaker. I went totally OTT about how it was such an exciting thing (shop assistants must have thought I was mad ) and kept going on about how DD was such a Big Girl to have it.

It was quite a big one with pictures on it and a flip lid. I wasn't sure about how well it would work but was amazed when my bottle loving DD stopped needing it almost overnight.

HTH

The other option (tried and tested with my DM with DB) is to go on holiday and "forget" the bottle - she did in fact have it just in case he managed to make our lives a complete misery, but it didn't come to that!

Thanks, been out all day so only just seen your replies. We did try the "big girls beaker" a couple of weeks ago but didn't have much success but perhaps if I let her choose one then that would be much better....

We are going on holiday on Saturday so that could be a good ploy.

sleepycat, I know you are right. It is exactly what my friend said yesterday but I just can't bear the fall out.

Stick to your guns. Children should not use a baby bottle after one year old. This perpetuates an immature suck pattern as well as being bad on teeth.

I know it's hard but just bin them and go cold turkey. If they are in the bin, you can't go back to them. Mine both stopped daytime bottles at 1yr and evening by 14mths and, although I braced myself, it was fine.

I did the ' left them on holiday' thing. that way your child can have the bottle whilst in differant/strange surroundings,)therefore not ruining your holiday. But, when you get home they have amazingly been left behind. Oh dear, never mind! at 2 years old they will definately understand and within 2 days will stop asking for it. Honest!

DS at 21 months still had a bottle before bed, until we went on holiday to Crete and I forgot to bring one! He did, however, learn to drink through a straw instead, and wanted to drink everything with a straw!! He never once asked for a bottle, and when we got home we bought some flipper beakers (the sort where you lift up the flap to reveal a hole for a straw) He managed fine and we could take them everywhere with us. The bottles were secretly given away to a pregnant friend!

Our health visitor commented that a completely new environment and a bit of a change in routine can be enough to distract the child from the old routine at home where the bottle is expected, but she only told me this after the holiday! The trick is, as others have said, is to provide a more exciting alternative to the bottle.