Any advice on getting a 17 month old off a bottle ?

[OnEdge]

He is really addicted to it, but it gives him wind at night and he wakes up crying. After a burp he is fine. Also I am concerned it will rot his teeth.

He is happy to drink water and juice out of sippy cups but he is in a habit of having a bottle of milk before lunch time nap and then at bedtime. He wont have a bottle. The couple of times i have attempted to shift to a beaker, he has gone so mad that I gave him the bottle.

let him have it as long as he wants I think.

if its just milk and its only twice a day dont think it would damage teeth, I can see that its a problem if it gives him wind but maybe you could experiment with a different teat that would slow him down/ speed him up

in my experience they give up when they are ready, ds1 was over 2 before he gave up bedtime bottle, whereas ds2 and ds3 both gave it up before first birthday, much to my disappointment

I think back to those days now and think how wonderful it was, particularly as ds1 is now a very stroppy 14 year old

Agree let him have it and try slower teat perhaps. I never thought my then 2.5 year old would ever give up but he did!

thanks, its the bloomin wind that is the problem

I wish! My dd is knocking on 3 and I posted for help the other day. I think she'll be at school with it

try a slower teat to help with teh wind

and please stop giving him juice in a sippy cup, its bad for his teeth. milk and water is fine

Would he try an open beaker with a straw? DS has had his drinks like that sice about 10/11months (as BF and didn't want to introduce a bottle for water/juice)

He has water in a sippy cup still but juice at breakfast time in an open beaker. Our carpet is wrecked though

The HV told me that if I didn't wean my 2 year old of the bottle soon her teeth were going to rot. She was totally addicted, she couldn't sleep without it and always woke up at least once during the night looking for it. It took two days and nights. The first was awful, she cried and cried, we got almost no sleep and I felt so cruel and the second although a bit better was also really bad. By the 3rd day she didn't ask for it any more and that was the first night she slept right through EVER!! Now she's sleeping and eating better althought it's hard to get milk into her but I'm trying.

My 2 year old DS (2 and 3 months, actually) still has a bottle of milk at bedtime, and sometimes a bottle of milk first thing in the morning. I haven't really considered stopping it as he doesn't wake in the night for milk & it's just these 1-2 bottles per day which I doubt would affect teeth unless the whole diet involves lots of sugary stuff & there's no proper teeth brushing.

Vicky08, good to hear your DD has now been weaned off the bottle- it must be particularly helpful not doing the middle of the night feeds anymore!- but I feel it's a bit heavy-handed to say teeth will rot just because of the 2 bottles of milk.

Or am I deluding myself?

No I don't think you're deluding yourself Maria2007loveshersleep, the problem was that my DD drank a lot more than 2 bottles a day. She had 2-3 at night, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, she used them more for comfort than anything. If she could just have one in the morning and one at night I would be happy for her to have them, that way I would know she was getting a good milk intake, something that has gone done a lot since giving up the bottle. I agree that as long as there is a good dental hygiene routine the teeth shouldn't suffer but in my DD's case it all just got too much, she went crazy if she couldn't have her bottle, also it took away her appetite and she was eating next to nothing at one stage.

my ds 19ms has 1 bottle of whole milk before bed occasionly a spot of hot chocolate. he likes it and it helps him go off so im happy to let him have it aslong as he still wants it. I will be honest i dont like seeing kids getting on for 3 with juice in a bottle or even worse tea. As i say though he will have a sippy cup for all his drinks but think the teat is a comfort thing.

Why the judginess about tea? Juice I can understand but why is tea worse than milk in a bottle?

Luckily dd drinks everything but milk in an open cup, but the bottle is definitely her comfort blanket.

yes what is wrong with tea? I sometimes give him tea because it is a bit milky and warm but it doesn't have such a negative effect on his appetite. I don't see what harm tea does.The bottle is definatley a comfort thing. Think I might just have to have a few nights of misery. I am sure it is bad for their teeth, remember seeing it on a documentary.

My Boy had a bot bot until he was 5.5 and his teeth are fine. i know everyone says no. He was also clean at 2.5. My daughter is still in nappies at 3.10. She doesn't have a bot bot.