My 2and a half year old is still taking a bottle at bedtime...any GENTLE suggestions on how to wean?

Question

The bottle is a slow playtex nipple and i put multigrain baby cereal and half soymilk, half water. Water only leaks all over the place.....I could never get him to take a paci, and at this point i dont want to do that anyway...

Answer 1

best suggestion is to first change to other type bottle, solid plastic start with 7 oz milk and gradually decrease every other day to less and less milk till you have all water and then do the same with the water till its all gone .....but i did see a cute way to stop it on supernanny the other day she had the little girl collect all the bottles and place them in a gift bag and told her the bottle fairy needed them for a new baby and that she would leave her a special present the next day and then they hung the bag in a tree outside and the next morning in the same tree was a larger bag with several smaller gifts in it for the girl. it worked .

Answer 2

i found out when i was weaning my children from the bottle that if i took a sippie cup in there as well and only filled the bottle up a little bit ( half way) then when the bottle was empty, he could get a drink from the cup. After about 3 nights of this i gradually put less in the bottle and then for 2 or 3 nights, sent him to bed w/ an empty bottle and a full cup, eventually he knew that the bottle was empty and he could get a drink from the cup and no longer asked for the bottle. then gradually lessen the amount of milk you put in the cup so he would not ask for anything to drink at bedtime. This will help w/ pottytraining as well, because they are not drinking all that stuff at bedtime.

Answer 3

The only way to stop this is to just bite the bullet and quit giving your toddler the bottle. Yes, he/she will be upset and not understand, but you need to do this for a couple of reasons, both health issues. Giving any type of bottle in bed is bad for a child's teeth, and giving a bottle with cereal is just like feeding them a large snack in bed....which can lead to weight problems when they are older. Plan a easy couple of days when loosing some sleep won't stress you out and just pack the bottles away. It will only take a couple of rough nights to break the habit now. The longer you wait the harder it will be. Just be calm and strong and understanding and don't give in or start the paci thing! You can do it!

Answer 4

Try a sippie cup with a soft nipple and water. Milk at night is really bad on their teeth and you could have serious dental prblems as he gets older. My daughter has been on a sippie since she was about 10 months. I used to elt her go to bed with it. She is now 2 years and 3 months. She still asks for a sippie every once in a while, but I jsut tell her "no sippies in bed and she's fine with that. We are also potty training, so I am trying to get away from fluids right before bed.

I know weaning can be very hard, but whatever you decide to do, be very consistant. Don't sway, they will pick up on the and play on it. Good luck!!

Answer 5

no offense but why would you ever put your baby to bed with a bottle anyway. I have five children and I fed them before they had to go to bed and then when it was time and they were tired put them in there crib and off to sleep they went. They might whine a bit but never screamed and that is all I ever did. no I am not an older woman that does things old fashioned either I am 30 and I have a 4 month old (2) 6 years olds, a 10 year old and a 12 year old. My 4 month old goes to bed everynight about 8pm and sleeps until about 7 or 8 am. no crying or screaming at all maybe a whine for about 5 seconds then out like a light.

Answer 6

He should have been completely off at 12 mths.I am not trying to judge what u do as a parent.No more bottle.This will rot his teeth out very fast.There is no weening,it is pretty much cold turkey.Give him a sippy cup at bed time.Alot of babies will only take water or juice out of one at first.This is ok.My 14 mth old would'nt take milk out of the cup until a month ago.I was worried that he was'nt getting milk.The doctor said he would be fine as long as he was getting calcium from other things.Such as yogurt & cheese.I also mix ovaltine with it for him to drink milk.It is nutrtious & loaded with vitamins.Throw all the bottles away.Offer a sippy cup & keep offering it.He will eventually take it.He is use to sleeping with it at night.After a week he will be over it.I just went threw the same thing taking mine off the paci.It is ok for him to cry it out a little at night.If you don't stop it now at this age,it will get harder & harder as he gets older.Don't try weening,it seems easier but it does'nt work.No more bottles.

Answer 7

I have 14 month old twins and my mother in law told me to weened them of with the sippy cup and it actually worked at 10 months i would heat up their milk and then lay them down with the cup like it was a bottle it was hard the first couple of days because they didnt know how to use the cup but gradually it became alot easier and they just totally forgot about the bottle.

Answer 8

i have a 2 and a half year old as well. he drinks out of a cup but prefers to have his milk in the bottle. what i have done is split the playtex nipple and told him that he can no longer use it. to my suprise he tossed it out himself and said mummy i don't need this any more.

to this day he has never asked about it and when he sees my sisters baby he doesn't ask at all why it has a bottle to drink from and i don't.

hope my answer helps.

Answer 9

I went through the same thing as a child. But the reason I still had a bottle was more for security. It was like a baby blanket to me. My parents took me to the store and had me pick out a stuffed animal to replace the bottle with as well as giving me the big girl talk. It's sort of bribary but it worked.

Answer 10

I saw this on Super Nanny (though they did it with pacifiers; it could work with this, too). Tell him that the bottle faerie came and talked to you, and there are children in the world who need bottles, and since he has so many, the faerie was wondering if he could give up his. If he says yes, put them all in a gift bag, and hang it from a tree outside. Tell him that the faerie will leave a gift in the morning. After you put your son to bed, tie a gift to the tree - something good, that he'll enjoy and forget all about the bottles because of it. If he asks for a bottle again, remind him that you gave them all to the bottle faerie so she could give them to the poor children.