how can i get dd off her bottles? Advice needed.

[dontbitemytoes]

hello, dd is 14 months old and LOVES her bottles. she is down to 2x9oz bottles a day, one in morning, one in evening. Until recently she had a dairy intolerance which she has now grown out of, and this week has started taking straight cows milk in her bottles.

I had tried giving her a cup of milk before now, but assumed that she rejected it because it made her formula taste stronger, and it really was a disgusting taste .

for the past couple of days i have tried to get her to drink her milk from a cup, but whenever i give it to her, she takes a swig then signs for bottle and says "bobble". She will literally sob for her milk and I have no idea how to get her to change.

The morning feed takes place at 5am (she is hungry then) so i give her the bottle and she goes back to sleep for an hour or so (as do i) then she'll get up and have a proper breakfast. she is eating fairly well, but really really loves her bottles

What can i do?! Any hints/tips/tried and tested methods appreciated

many thanks.

No, no, mine's just an incredibly frustrated baby who'd like to be able to do everything, include talk . Lovely but very very hard work, will be many years til I have another

Ds is nearly 3 and I have just stopped his bottle and that was only because I didn't want him having a drink just before bed as we are going for dry nights only now He obviously drinks using a normal cup during the day but his bottle was a comforter for him (although I clearly thought that more than he did as he hasn't asked for it once since I stopped it!)

my dentist told me the advice was because of the way the milk comes out of the bottle it tends to pool around the teeth and cause worse decay. also a baby with a bottle will often take longer to drink it becuse they can stop/start more than with a cup and this exposes the teeth to risk for longer. but he also said the advice is to start changing at 12 months because babies this age are considered more malleable than 2yos, not because the risk is highest at this age. (ds had only one tooth at the time i think!)
however ds is still firmly wedded to the bottle at 18mo: drinks water happily out of a beaker, an adult cup (with a lot of spillage) or a straw but throws it on the floor and howls if it's filled with milk. it is an enormous source of comfortto him and cant quite bring myself to have a fight about it.
suspect it's going to be like the switch from breast to bottle which he refused pointblank until a few hours before i went back to work......but he did it in the end. shall watch your progress with interest!

haha woodstock, i think its more likely to be me watching you - am not ready to have this battle yet I don't think, she's still such a baby attached to her bottle!! good point about teeth though. Thank you.