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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jul 2004
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    Default How to eliminate bedtime bottle for 16 month old.

    My 16 month old still has one 8oz bottle at bedtime. It is given in the glider and has become somewhat of a ritual before bedtime.

    I am looking for suggestions of how to eliminate this bottle. She takes a sippy cup the rest of the day. She seems rather attached to this ritual and gulps the bottle right down. She currently eats dinner at 5pm and has this bottle at 6:30/6:45pm and goes to bed right after.
    Thanks!

  2. #2
    ykc Guest

    Default RE: How to eliminate bedtime bottle for 16 month old.

    Just noticed that this is a pretty old question. If it's still a problem:

    You can try to dilute the bottle with water gradually (7oz milk/1oz water for a few days, then 6oz milk/1 oz water for a few days, etc.) until it's all water--if you even make it that far. She probably won't be as interested in the bottle once it's watery tasting. Or, you can try the cold turkey approach and tell her that it's time to throw all the bottles away because she's a big girl who can drink from a cup. She can still have a cup of milk before bed, if it's the milk and not the bottle that she wants--but don't forget to brush her teeth!

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jul 2004
    Location
    Illinois
    Posts
    439

    Default RE: How to eliminate bedtime bottle for 16 month old.

    This is a really great tip -- diluting. We still give our DD a sippie with 3 oz. milk before bed and I want to get rid of it. I am going to try this tip and hopefully the night sippie will go away. Thanks!

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    Virginia Beach, VA.
    Posts
    1,006

    Default RE: How to eliminate bedtime bottle for 16 month old.

    I would simply give her a sippy instead.

    there may be some tears, no matter how or what you do, but this way, you keep the same liquid, keep the glider, the rocking, just simply change how the milk is delivered.

    once she learns that the sippy does not mean you won't hold it and her and cuddle her in the exact same way, she'll be fine.

    When my daughter switched over to sippies starting at 8mo (she was totally off the bottle at 9mo), one reason she went to them as easily as she did was that I held the cup as I had the bottle and cuddled her.

    it wasn't till she turned 2 that she wanted to hold the cup herself if it had soymilk (she doesn't drink cowmilk) in it... and now always holds the cup herself, even at bedtime and naptime.
    after she finishes, she tosses the cup off the bed, snuggles into her blanket, and goes to sleep... then I take the cup to the sink.

    I do wipe her mouth out with a wet cloth once she's asleep, but the ped says the main thing is she's not sipping in her sleep.

    Now that she's going to be 3 in March, we're looking at when we can get rid of the sippies (when she can consistantly drink from her open cups without spilling)

    each of my kids went off the bottle at a different time (my oldest didn't drop his milk bottles till 18mo, my second till 12mo (he was only taking one bottle at night at that time)) but they all did it the same way.

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