My 2 yr old wants a bottle before bed and even in the night. Help?

Question

I've tried breaking her of this habit by giving her less and less, and I've also tried adding more water in her milk until it's hardly milk anymore. The second one certainly didn't work. I was in for a screaming match all night long! At the moment I'm trying by giving her less and less milk. She isn't liking it but still goes to sleep - so far. Any other ideas?

I do use sippy cups during the day and she does take a few drinks of milk from it though she seems to think they are only for water. I'm going to try the sippy cup at night again and see how it goes.
Thanks to all who posted. It was helpful.

Answer 1

Hi there

I've had exactly the same problem with my two year old, the way i found to get around it, was to still offer him a bottle of milk but about an hour before bed, and whlst reading a story downstairs, I then offer him a small amoutn of warm milk in his cup just before bed, he wasn't impressed at first but after a couole of days was fine about it, we are now two weeks in and he drinks about two oz from the bottle and just holds the cup

Good luck, ignore the people who are condoning you for still giving your child a bottle , each child is an individual with different needs and respond to differerent methods accordingly

Answer 2

Once my daughter got the hang of a sipppy cup at one and a half I took all the bottle and either throw them away or gave them to my niece which was six months old. This way I had no bottles and no matter how much she didn't like it I couldn't give her a bottle. NUBY makes a sippy cup with a nipple type top and this is the only way to break my daughter off her bottle. Don't worry too much about it because my daughter will be three soon and we just broke her of a cup at night. We have to give her a snack at night before bed to help tide her over until the morning. She was so reliant on the milk as a meal soo try giving her something to eat before she goes to bed she sounds like she waking up because of hunger. Good Luck and you are doing a good job.

Answer 3

The magic number of nights for withdrawl from binkis and bottles is 3 nights in my house.

Yes, the kicking and screaming match starts, but after a while they learn a new coping mechinism to fall asleep. The earlier you do this, the less tramatic on the child it will be. The longer you wait, the worse it gets...like anything when raising children.

Take heart, your toddler crying and yelling won't hurt her and will only reinforce the fact you are the parent.

Let me add, that giving a cup of milk before bed becomes habit and a crutch, this also makes the bladder full for night time too, is your child potty trained at night yet? Maybe a bottle before bed is the culprit?

Answer 4

Why is it a big issue if she has a bottle before bed? She will eventually give it up on her own, without all the drama. Parents try too hard, sometimes, to make their kids mature at a faster pace than the child is ready for. Once she gets used to drinking out of a cup regularly and is not taking a bottle during the day, she will probably stop asking for one at night, too. Don't sweat the small stuff; there will be plenty of things to "fight" with your kids about as time goes on. While it's true that keeping milk in her mouth might contribute to some tooth decay, she's going to lose her baby teeth, anyway, so it doesn't matter that much. If she's still wanting a bottle by the time she starts kindergarten, then you might be a little concerned.

Answer 5

The longer you let this go on the harder it's going to be, Talk to your little girl and tell her that there are babies in the world that don't have any baba's and what a big girl she would be if she let the baba angel come and take the bottle for another baby, Then some night go in and take away the bottle and all other remnants of, if she wakes in the middle of the night give her a pacifier if she's thirsty give her a sippy cup of water, Then the next morning tell her what a big girl she is and that the angel stopped by and told you how very special she was. I know it sounds far fetched but stories like this do work. My son loved to watch the water in the creek go under the bridge,he was also attached to his pacifier, one day I just said to him, why don't you let the fishy have your nook, their sad because they don't have one, plop, he threw it into the creek and that was that. Oh, we talked about it for about a week, And then for about a month after he would wave to the nook in the water. He was 3 at the time.. Good Luck.

Answer 6

I'm at the point were iam slowly weaning my 14month old.toddlers need milk for the nutrients they that dont get.i give my daugther 1 bottle in the morning,water during the day in a sippy cup and milk in a sippy cup not long after dinner so that she has time to settle.It works because not only is she tired but she's full too.hope this helps.

Answer 7

I wouldnt begrudge your daughter the milk, mine is 2 1/4 and still has milk before sleepies. She has hers in a sippycup that is only for nightnight. During the day she drinks from normal cups. Also she doesnt fall asleep while drinking. She drinks, gives me the cup then we say night night and she goes to sleep. During the night she only gets water and hardly ever demands it.

To get there was 3 days of hardship. Throw all bottles out. Offer her a soft spoutet sippycup. If she refuses, tell her she will go to bed without milk if she doesnt want the cup. Put her to bed if she doesnt want the cup. She will cry of course. Leave her for a minute. Go back and offer the cup again. Continue the procedure until she is A-asleep or B-drank the milk. 3 days should suffice and she will accept the cup to drink from. Or if you want to stick with water in a cup, that is fine also.

Answer 8

How come you aren't using sippy cups?

Make sure that the toddler is fed well before bed. Let the toddler know that there isnt anymore bottle because he/she is too big for bottles now.

Have a sippy cup with water in the room so he/she can have a sip of water if they wake.

Answer 9

Stop putting milk in the bottle. Put plain water in. She will get used to it after a few days to a week. Then switch the water into a cup incase she needs a drink of water through the night still.

Answer 10

If I were you I'd put up a fight here and discontinue the use of ANY liquids at night. If you really really strongly feel the need to do so, only give her water.
Child's teeth are in a critical development stage at this point in their lives. While going to bed with a bottle is bad and your child could develop and overbite, she could also enter stages of decay in her teeth.
When children go to sleep with milk, parents automatically assume its ok. Milk does contain sugar and many times when children fall asleep, there is still just a bit of milk in their mouths which rests on the teeth.
I'd fight her on this one...as much as it might be a pain in the butt. It'll be helpful in the long run.