Losing the bedtime bottle

[Ateam]

My 14 month baby boy will not take his bedtime milk from a beaker and still has a bottle every night. He does drink from a beaker in the day although I only give him water and occasionally juice. Does anyone have any suggestions to get him to take a beaker rather than a bottle at bedtime.

We had this problem with dd but went away for the weekend to friends and I forgot to take her bottle - I had no alternative, she took a while the first night but took is fairly easily on the second - when we got home I just carried on with the beaker. I know this sounds drastic but if you have no alternative then you cannot give in and offer what they prefer, set your mind that you will not give in, that he will drink it out of a beaker or they go without, give him lots of cuddles while he is having his beaker - and you may be surprised.

Think your little one is doing well if just taking bottle at bedtime and all other drinks from a beaker. My dd was same at 14 months... I tried but she seemed upset, so decided to stick with bottle for a bit longer. I did try now and then and on one occassion she took the beaker and I never offer bottle again. Immediately put all bottles away so she couldn't ask next day. Think in our case it was at about your ds age. Certainly after 14 mths but before 18mths. We decided to take a gentle approach since she was doing so well with cup otherwise.

Think yoursef lucky. My son is 2yrs 8 months and still refuses a beaker. I consider myself a tough parent and I have done everything else well and on time, however I know if I took his beloved bottle away there is no way he would ever be able to go to sleep or ever be consoled again. He has 3 bottles through the night and 2 during the day. Please help! P.S. There is a family history of this I had my bottle until I was 4 and my husband had his until he was 5. Genetic or am I just grasping at straws?

I stopped bottles just after one year - I was a little anxious because ds didn't drink very much through the day from a beaker, and I didn't expect him to drink much from it at bedtime. This did prove to be the case initially (although he wasn't at all upset at not having the bottle - I'd already dropped it at naptimes so he was used to being cuddled and sung to before sleeptime rather than sucking) but over the course of a few weeks he started drinking more from the beaker. Now he happily swigs away and has about 4oz, which I think is fine.

I think if you want to stop the bottle you will need to do just that - stop offering it. Your ds may or may not start drinking from the beaker (my guess is he will, but it may take a little time) - but does that matter? They don't necessarily need milk just before bedtime if they're getting it at other times. Or alternatively I don't think there's a problem carrying on. Just in my experience I found that I was worrying about nothing and I'm glad we stopped them at that point now.

My 3 year old still has a bottle at night - is there a reason to stop this - is it bad for the teeth or something?

I have been advised that it could be bad for the teeth but have decided to allow my dd to continue with the evening bottle as we brush her teeth once she is finished the milk so there is no chance she could develop problems. She is only 14 months and to my mind still a baby so if she wants a bottle in the evening then I see no problem with that. I am however busy getting her onto the beaker for her morning milk and she has all her water from the beaker during the day. I think what the others have said is valid in that if you want to stop the bottle then do it cold turkey... Good luck.

My dd stil has a bottle at 2 - she drinks perfectly well from beakers during the day - ad is even quite competent with a lidless beaker so I have no developmental worries but she refuses milk from a beaker at any time of day and I am keen to get at least one bottle in her as she is dairy allergic ( when say milk I mean Nutramigen) - tho becoming a lot less so now. Like a few people have said I just decided not to worry about it. Even if it does slightly harm her teeth - well they're going to fall out soon anyhow so it's not worth getting too worked up about!

I took the no worry approach too. My youngest ds had a bottle at night until he was nearly three but was happily drinking out of a beaker during the day.

I found the best way of dropping the bottle was to 'forget' it when we went to stay with our inlaws for a week. Once we were there, I told my ds in a matter of fact way that we had not got his bottle so here was a new beaker instead. He accepted the change much more easily in a stranger's house, where he was using their cups, plates and cutlery at mealtimes. At three years he was more than able to see different house rules applied in different homes, and the no bottle rule sort of fitted in with this, I think.
By the time we came back home he was happy with his beaker at night and I conveniently 'lost' the bottles.

BTW, I had tried the same tactic a month earlier at home but my son complained far more. It seemed harder when everything else was familiar.

Going on this I'd advise introducing the change when you next stay away from home (you can always take the bottle and bring it out if there's a dire emergency).

We stopped the bottles around 16 months with my DD. She was drinking with a beaker by day and down to 2 bottles - one before bed and one first thing in the morning. What we did was take her shopping one weekend afternoon for a 'big girl' cup - let her choose new beaker and then made such a huge fuss that evening about how great it was.. and put the milk it in (hid bottle out of sight) and even let her take it into the cot with her. That worked great. Left her have her morning bottle for about a week more and then one morning ... got her to "help" me put the milk into the 'big girl' cup... then put all bottles away to never be seen again and she never bothered even asking. I think that was a good age as now she is really vocal (23 months) and not quite so easily deterred from something she wants ... getting rid of the soother will be another days/weeks work sometime soon Hope this helps....

Changing the subject slightly (I went straight to cups at 8 months after stopping b/feeding so never had the 'bottle' issue) but how essential is the 'last drink' thing? MY DS is totally uninterested in a drink of milk before bed, DH likes to insist (on the odd occasion he is home before DS's bedtime!) as he thinks it is comforting (to whom?) but I feel as DS clearly is not interested in a drink before bed - does it matter? He eats a good diet, drinks plenty of milk, his last meal is fairly soon before bed so he is probably genuinely not hungry or thirsty, so should I persevere? Have to admit that as DH has been away for the last two weeks on a business trip, I have not bothered to offer DS anything & he has not asked ........ he is 22 months now? Any thoughts?

Sorry this is rambling, am a great believer in late night drinks (wine!!) for myself!

Ateam, my first two both kept on with a bedtime bottle till about 2 1/2; ds2 only stopped at 3. I personally think its a nice thing, if they want it, and like CP we brushed their teeth afterwards. It seems like a warm, cosy way to end the day. Also it means you can be sure they are having a reasonable amount of milk. A friend of mine who went straight from breast to beakers regretted it slightly because the child didnt drink much at all from a beaker and she felt he might have continued to drink more milk if he'd had a bottle. We did the 'oops, gone on holiday and forgotten the bottle' thing too. Ds was not too impressed but after a few days he stopped asking. Trying to cut it out at home had not worked.
Havving said that, Lindy, I dont think there is any need for a bedtime bottle if yr ds isnt interested and drinks plenty of milk.

Wish I hadn't come across this thread. Dd is 41/2 now and still won't part with her beloved bop bop. I know it's partly to do with me being weak willed - she seems to derive such comfort from it that I find it really hard to make her do without. She will make an effort with a tumbler, but I worry about her milk intake, which is minimal until last thing at night. Everything else is fine in a plastic tumbler.

Anyhow, hope this makes you feel a bit better Bekki. Either that or it'll give you the impetuous to ring up some friends to descend upon tomorrow night!

Thanks for that Pamina, actually reading some of the comments on this thread makes me realise it is probably a lot better that we don't have these 'problems' to deal with!