Help us ditch the bottle

[SadieContrary]

DD was BF until my milk dried up. Every night she would fall asleep on the boob and then I'd put her down. Zero probs til the supply ended at 10mths. I swapped initially to formula then milk. Issue is that she still wants to go to sleep with the milk.

I can't give her milk downstairs then take her upstairs as she is upset. She completely drains the bottle, it's not an ongoing throughout the night feed but she associates going to sleep in a dark room with a bottle. On the rare occasion she does wake she will use the empty bottle like a soother but won't take a dummy.

She's 2 next month and I really want to break this habit as I'm worried about damage to her teeth. Her teeth are brushed before bed and milk but I know it's got natural sugars.

Any ideas or do I just need to go cold turkey and give bottle downstairs, brush teeth then put her to bed as normal and CIO? I've tried giving water as a substitute but she drinks that out of a cup and associates bed with milk in a bottle.

Guess I have the fear of losing the solid 12 hour sleeper I currently have! Thanks for reading

Just bin the bottles and give her milk in a new special bedtime cup before bedtime.

I'm planning on ditching our last bottle next week. I'm just going to deal with the upset for a few days and hope he forgets! We've swapped over the last week that he has bottle then teeth clean then sleep which has been ok. Would she understand an idea like the bottle fairy?

I would expect so. When the dummy fairy came it was only difficult for about a week.

I would go cold turkey on the bottles and get rid of them altogether. Her teeth will thank you for it - although the sugar in milk is naturally occurring lactose its still bad for teeth if she's not brushing her teeth afterwards.

Cold turkey it is. I'm just going to bin the bottles otherwise I may cave in.

Can't deny I'm dreading it. 7:30pm on the dot she goes down, drinks milk, sometimes has a wee sing or chat to herself then drifts off. She takes her headstrong nature from me so I fear a battle of wills.

Thanks to those who replied.

Just showed this post to DH and he laughed so much at the title. Said it reads like I have a drinking problem 🤦🏻‍♀️ (which I may well have by the time the bottle fight with DD is won)

I’d just stop. Tell her the bottles are for babies now and she gets a special new cup.

You might have some fuss the first couple of nights, but I doubt it’ll affect her sleep that much. We took away my DS dummy at around the same age and it only took a few nights of upset. Just make sure there’s no bottles lying around that she can get into or that you cave and give to her

Please let us know how it goes! We're having a similar issue with our 19 month old. As of this week, we've successfully started doing milk in the bottle before bath and teeth, then going to bed with water in the bottle. But she still needs the bottle to settle if she wakes in the night and is now drinking so much water her nappy is leaking too!

And to add to that, after drinking water out of a cup for months, she is now asking for it in a bottle during the day too! (And kicking up an almighty fuss when she doesn't get it.)