How do i cut out my DS bottles?

[krisskross]

My DS will be 4 is Sept and my DD is 2 in July.

Both have a bottle in the morning and one in the evening before dinner (rather than before bed IFYSWIM).

I want to cut out their bottles now. I didnt cut out DS bottles earlier because I knew he would find it hard to see DD with one, but now I think they are both old enough to stop. But how?

The bottle is such a lovely cosy routine- in the morning they have it in bed with me or DH and loads of stories, in the evening they have it with their TV programme and they love it. If i give them milk in a cup they both look completely bemused and spit it out, despite having water happily from a cup.

Also, despite being potty trained for almost a year, DS still wears a nappy at night and its wet every morning. I figure i cant work on him being dry at night til the bottle stops, as he is taking in alot of liquid at end of the day.

Please advise!

I just stopped ds's bottles at 20 months ish.
I bought him a special 'milk only' straw cup thingy to replace bottles and also to minimise spilt milk.
Maybe get them to help choose cups and donate the bottles to a new baby you know? :)

Buying special milk cups with them sounds like a good idea. As for the wetting at night, do you use disposables? DD was wet at night for ages then I tried her with cloth nappies and she was dry overnight. Could be worth a try.

Oh, and don't worry too much if they won't take milk from a cup, get rid of the bottles anyway. They don't actually need milk and may start drinking from a cup once the bottles have gone. Plus, dumping the bottles will please their dentist.

soppy- did you get a special straw cup thing that stopped the milk spilling? Good idea about 'donating' the bottles!

Thanks for cloth nappy advice- it would not have occured to me. Did you DD just work it our for herself?

Thanks everyone.

We went on holiday, didn't take the bottles with us only sippy cups, and the bottles were nowhere to be seen when we got home. Was much easier than I thought it would be.

Yeah the straw cup was meant to stop spillages but ds can work out how to get liquids out of any 'spill proof' container!

do they just accept it then and drink the milk from a cup? Mine are so put out by milk in a cup and i have to really nag them to drink water, i am thinking they wont get enough liquid or calcium.

krisskross think if you offer water with meals and snacks they will be fine.

Oh and soppy yes she did. She absolutely hated feeling wet. We talked to her about it and she decided she would rather wear pants and call us if she wanted a wee. Not long after we left a potty in her room and she gets up and does it herself.

Krisskross, they are both old enough that they don't necessarily need milk before bed. If they refuse to drink it out of the cup then so be it. There are plenty of other ways if getting calcium, e.g. Cereal with milk, cheese as a snack, porridge is very high in calcium.

Just bin the bottles and don't replace them.

Ability to be dry overnight is also down to a hormone. So once the bottles are binned, I wouldn't worry too much about the nappy at night until ds is ready. You can't 'train' them to be dry at night but the reduced liquid before bedtime should help.

My ds was at school before he started being dry at night (was potty trained daytimes at 2yrs). It was like a switch. One night he was still wet, the next he was dry and didn't ever have accidents really. One thing I did have to do was to make sure he went straight to the loo when he woke up and have a wee and remove his nappy, otherwise he would wee in it rather than in the loo!

I would also avoid lifting them at night I.e. Picking them up out of bed and sitting them on the loo. As, IMHO, it prevents the bladder from learning to hold enough urine to last through the night.

"I would also avoid lifting them at night I.e. Picking them up out of bed and sitting them on the loo. As, IMHO, it prevents the bladder from learning to hold enough urine to last through the night." totally agree with that Daft, we've never lifted ours and know lots of people who have and have suffered with bed wetting for a long time.

Would say though that staying dry at night can be down to the hormone but it was clear to us that our DD was just being lazy and becoming dry in one night sort of proved that.