Almost 2 year old will not give up the bottle

[MoreCheesecakeNow]

Please help

I feel this falls into the category of ‘pick your battles’. Mine is 3 and stopped recently of his own accord. Tbh he’s only had water in a bottle, so I felt it wasn’t an issue requiring intervention!

if it’s milk, slowly switch to water. When they’re ready, choose a grown up bottle/cup together. In the meantime, keep offering a cup or bottle. Let them decide.

don’t sweat the small stuff.

Just put water in it
Say you've given it to a proper baby
'Lose' it
Learn to say no to your child

He won't have a choice if you don't give in and hand it to him/her.

My daughter had hers at bed time until she was 7!!
She's sitting her A levels at the moment... seriously no harm done!!

Bloody hell people are harsh.

I wouldn’t worry about it too much. He will give it up eventually. He’s hardly going to be still taking a bottle to school. Try to indroduce a cup maybe let him pick it but don’t stress urself out x

Both my kids had a bottle at bedtime until they were 2.5. They gave it up by themselves with no pressure from me. Don't sweat it, it is most definitely not a big deal at all!

DS had a bottle of milk at bedtime until he was five! His teeth are absolutely fine and he's over 30.
Sheesh - pick your battles.

I'm probably going to sound harsh but just bin them. They will soon get over it.

My god daughter AND my DD’s best friend in primary school had bottles until they were 6, and both had to have surgery to have 8 teeth extracted as a direct result. I don’t get people who reply to things with ‘well mine were fine’ when the evidence points to the fact that they may not be fine at all. I think it’s a case of ripping off a plaster op, it’s not that he won’t give it up. It that you won’t parent him and take it off him for an easy life

The problem is that he's actually willing to dehydrate himself. He's extremely strong willed and I don't want him getting ill because it's only going to get warmer. I have taken the bottle from him and offered milk etc in sippy cups and open cups but he's dug his heels in and actually refused all fluids for close to 24 hours so I've got no choice at that point but to give him the bottle.

Not quite 2 yet so completely normal for them to still require milk for nutrition and want to suckle. If you lived in some countries you’d still be breastfeeding for another year.

I wouldn't worry at almost two, two of my kids had a bottle until 2.5 and I didn't think it was an outrageously long time. I would definitely want it gone by three though.

Ultimately you can just take it away though - these things like dummies and bottles seem like they will be impossible to ditch, and obviously it's nicer and kinder if the child is on board, but they do soon forget about these things and move on. You might have a couple of awful days, but in the grand scheme of things it will likely be fine after that and then you're done with it.

Breastfeeding doesn't damage teeth like bottles do, and children don't need cow's milk for nutrition.

My son ditched his last week at 3 years and 9 months old It was just one bottle of cows milk before bed, for the past year it was a mix of cows milk and water. We couldn't go to full water as he'd get upset. His night time routine was falling asleep drinking it and I panicked constantly about his teeth. We tried brushing them after but it woke him up and would take hours to settle. So he kept his one bottle to fall asleep but last week he said he just wanted water and now has a small cup of water instead if he's thirsty then brushes his teeth and gets into bed and falls asleep. His teeth are fine, dentist had no complaints so it worked out ok. I probably could of battled through and dropped it earlier but this way was easier 😂

Take him to choose a big boy sippy cup

Put it in the kitchen in pride of place for when he’s bigger, comment on its lovelinesss

Loose the bottle

He’ll adapt quickly enough

Maybe do it in Sept when the hot weather is over if you are worried he’ll drink less for a big

This might be a better idea because my God the boy is stubborn.

He is 2. You are in complete control. Or at least should be. Bin the bottle, he will get over it. Don't play games with him by withholding, putting him by upset unnecessarily and giving it back after 24hrs - if you start the kindest thing is to follow through. Use bribery, distraction, get liquid into him with ice lollies, what ever works, but always follow through what you start when you know it is right.

A 2 year old doesn’t need milk or to ‘suckle’. No reason why he can’t have it in a sippy cup at least

I'll bet it wasn't one bottle of milk at bedtime that caused 8 teeth to be extracted, but your evidence is unquestionably better than mine.

(Another parenting fail 😳-#adds to long list!)

I'm not an authoritarian parent. I don't do the whole thing of 'I'm in charge'. My mother did that and we've been estranged since I was 16 and I'm 28 now.
I'm looking for advice on gently getting him into the idea. He is 21 months old but quite a young 21 months in terms of his communication.
He only has a bottle before bed and sometimes a bottle before midday nap and his teeth are brushed 3 times a day.

My son didn't give his bottle up until around 2.5 years, his sister had her bottle until around the same age.
They're 10 and 12 now and neither have any problems with their teeth etc.
Don't fret, they give up their bottles when they're ready and they won't be 30 years old still carrying their baby bottle around at work.

Why do you want him to give it up? So long as he's not wandering around all day with it in his mouth there's no problem.

@Inkypot @CurlewKate I think you might just be right. Maybe waiting till he's a little bit more grown up would be the right thing to do for him. Every child is different and I know my DS would have a breakdown if the bottle disappeared completely. He can drink out of open cups if it's something I'm drinking but he's adamant that milk belongs in his beloved bottle.