Weaning off of bottles

[salondon]

Hi

My daughter is 3.5yr old and doesnt have any feeding/drinking issues. I am having trouble weaning her off the bottle.

In way of more detail, she only drinks milk and water. She will have water using the straw cup. Wont drink using the hard spout. If I hold the open cup, she might sometimes drink from it.

She has two bottles at night. And how much so ever I try, she wont drink the milk. I have tried to sweeten and flavour it. She doesnt care. She just lies down and drinks from the bottle. She isnt at all interested in juice (so I cant use that to move her to cups).

Any tips appreciated.

Thanks
SA

It should have read "And how much so ever I try, she wont drink the milk from the cup"

How about a sports type bottle as a small step? Some of the toddle ones even have softer spouts.

It took us years to get all the way to a cup with a straw for milk but we did get there in the end.

Would she choose a new cup? Supermarkets have a massive choice and she might find a nice one that she would tolerate. Be prepared to try a few until you find one that she copes with.

Good luck

Ineed - My daughter doesnt understand making choices for this kid of stuff.

I will try the sports type bottles. How did your child learn to drink milk sitting up rather than lying down?

She used to lean on me! I would read a story and she would lean up against me and drink her milk. To be fair though she only had milk at bedtime, not in the night.

As a smaller step I have just remembered our bottle system (avent) had spouts and handles so it was only the teat that went intially. You might have more luck with those.

If she hasnt had avent bottles before maybe use the teat first with handles and then swap to the spout.

You could gradually water the night times bottles down a tiny bit at a time. Until you get to water. Do it really slowly though so she doesnt notice.

Good luck

Ineed -She doesnt have bottles at night. She has two bottles before bed time (I know!)

Are you talking aboout something like this or this?

If it wont spill while she lies down, it might work. If the cup requires her to sit up and tilt her head or use a straw(which she is happy to use for water) she doesnt drink

My DD had bottles until she was very nearly three. I'm afraid that milk had to go the way of all flesh as she would only drink it from bottles, and they were obviously hampering her speech (she has a severe speech delay). We miss them a lot, and I do worry about her calcium intake, but it was the right decision to make to just cut them out. DD moved onto hard spouted sippy cups with weak no added sugar squash in them, and then very recently onto soft flexible straw cups. So this one

www.tommeetippee.co.uk/product/active-sporty/

and then this one
babyworld.co.uk/reviews/munchkin-click-lock-insulated-flip-straw-cup/

MummytoMog - The straw (i.e. where she doesnt have to tip the bottle) ones are fine for water. She just wont use them for milk.. KWIM - She has the skill and given that she can sometimes drink from an open cup (if we old it), she can move to the open cup too. But just wants her milk in a bottle(which she has for a whole of 10-15 mins in the evening).

I stopped day time bottles for this very reason - In case it was hampering her speech

Yes that is the ones we had.

I agree with polter though, take it really slowly. I am pretty sure Dd3 was nearer 6 by the time we got to a straw cup at bedtime and she still has her milk in one now and she is 10

Actually that is because I dont see a problem with milk at story time so I just havent bothered to try to break the habit. It is the only time Dd3 drinks milk unless it is milk shake.

Both of mine drink gallons of no added sugar squash (literally gallons in DS's case, DD only has a couple of cups a day). Should they not? They will not drink water from anything, and I haven't a hope of getting them to drink milk, even sweet toddler milk, anymore.

The bottles for DD were definitely a comfort thing. It was the easiest way in the world to get her out of a tantrum, but my cousin (who is a speechie specialising in ASD kids) basically said they were the work of the devil for her oral motor skills, so we ditched them for both kids. DS wasn't all that bothered, but he only had them for a few months after BFing. Dummies now. They hung around for a while.

I bought 15 different types of beaker before I found one type DS3 will drink from. He's only just 2yo, but I had to get rid of them as he has severe speech delay, and oramotor issues anyway because of his Hypermobility.

Also, i was getting through 4 or more teats a week because he would chew holes in them, and at £4.66 for a pack of 2 teats, i couldn't afford to jeep replacing them.

The ones we have ended up with are a hard spout, Nuby non-spill beaker with a vent that can be swapped from slow flow to fast flow. They come in lots of different colours, they all have pictures on - I have two green ones with pictures of trains on, they have blue lids, they do others but that might give you a clue as to the ones I mean without me being able to link.

It might be because the bottles will have a very fast flow, but most non-spill beakers have a fairly slow flow of liquid. These seem to work on the fast flow because he can drain one, whilst lying down, as quickly as he could a bottle!

Can't link on my phone, but they have been on offer in Tesco for £2.24 for the last few weeks.