How did you wean off the nighttime bottle of milk?

[momtoemma]

I'm trying to accomplish two things eventually with DD's eating habits. First, I'd like to get rid of the bottle and switch to a sippy cup or straw cup and second, I'd like to cut out the bedtime bottle completely. I'm thinking of going the route of seeing if DD will take a sippy cup of milk before bed, then brush her teeth and try to get her to sleep by rocking, etc...Currently, I brush her teeth at bathtime, but she always has a bottle right before going to sleep. DD is almost 16 months old, and although she doesn't seem particularly attached to the bottle during the day, I tried to give her morning bottle of milk in a sippy cup a few weeks ago, and she woudln't take it. I'm starting to get worried about the effects on her teeth, particularly having the milk sit on her teeh during the night. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[babymama]

Transitioning to a sippy cup w/ my DS took months. I think the transition could have happened sooner if I had tried lots of different types of sippy cups. By accident, I found one he liked and just bought tons of them.

I would try to transition away from the nightime milk by offering water instead. This worked for us. He'll occassionally still ask for milk. If so, I'll just give him water instead. This typically satisfies him.

We had to do the transition in stages. We didn;t attempt to do them simultaneously. So it may work differently for you.

In our case, we transitioned to the sippy first, then did away with the nighttime milk.


Lydia
Mama to Santiago, born 11/16/03 and
One on the way, due 01/03/06

[R2sweetboys]

You may want to try gradually watering down the milk and then switch over to water. Once there is only water in the bottle, it may seem less appealing anyway. I would then try offering a sippy cup with water. You could either use one of the sippies that she's used to during the day or buy a special one for bed that is more appealing. They have some cute designs and colors available. I just bought some Playtex sippy cups at Walmart that light up-Matty loves them! Good luck!
~Leslie

SAHM to...
Ryan 8/14/00
Matthew 2/14/03

[kensjen]

Does she use a sippy at all? If not, I would transition to that first. Once you find one that she likes, that should be a relatively easy change. I found it a bit harder to get rid of the nighttime bottle.

My son took the straw sippy very well, it was easier to start with. Then we eventually also used a sippy that he had to tip to drink. That was a harder skill to manage. Although your daughter is older than he was, so maybe it will be easy for her. Try a few different cups until she seems comfortable (and sometimes if it has a cute doggie or something on it, it may be more attractive!).

I would think that would be too much change at once, especially if she is not using a sippy yet. And I agree, eventually change the milk to water, and it will be easier (at night).

Good luck, I know it is hard!!

[amp]

I thought it would be hard, but honestly, we just started doing little routine things in between the bottle and bedtime (this happened almost by accident), and before we knew it, he could handle just going to bed. Some nights he cried after going to bed, so we gave him the bottle, but most nights he was fine without it. Within a couple weeks, he was no longer fussing for that bottle at all. It's like he weaned himself! But for us, the key was making the routine a slightly different routine. Last bottle was in the living room, on the couch, rather than the rocker, and then we added teeth brushing, story, whatever. And then we stuck to that routine. So the bottle wasn't the very last thing he expected.

[JBaxter]

we diluted the milk with water then finally at 17months ( both older DS's) my ped suggested I give them only water in a sippy cup and make them sit up in their crib and drink. It took about a week for each DS but they eventually stopped getting up and asking for a drink.