23 Months and still wants a bubba

[caydensmomma]

Help!!! I am a first time mom and have worked full time up until December, now I am a stay at home mom. I will admit that we (my husband - who works shifts at a steel mill and I) gave him the bottle at bedtime to help him fall asleep a little faster after a stressful day. Well, now he will be 2 at the end of March and still wants a bottle. I can get his mind off of it most of the time and only give it to him at nap time and bed time, but I want to rid him of it for good!! At nap time an bed time he cries so uncontrollably that he makes himself sick if we don't give it to him. He uses a sippy cup fine and drinks from a normal cup with our help and eats breakfast lunch and dinner like a normal toddler, but he just won't let go of the bubba!!! He gave up a pacifier at 7 mos, should I give it back to him instead of the bottle? I know there will be crying and tantrums involved, but I don't want him to keep throwing up from crying so much. HELP!!!!

[KelEMcE]

My kids never had bottles, but man did they love their pacifiers! I thought they'd walk into preschool with them! But at 2 1/2, we asked them to send their "boppies" to Mickey Mouse, so that when babies lose their boppies at Disney, he could give them new ones. It totally worked. One friend used the "bottle fairy", leaving the last baby bottle on the windowsill, and her child got a new toy in return; others take them to the nursery at the local hospital (call ahead first to ask the nurses if they will play along). Would your son be willing to part with it as a gift to another baby, or would bribery work? You can just say no and take it, but it's so hard to listen to the tears! I think that most pediatricians say if they cry that hard and throw up, you should just clean them up and put them back to bed with minimal attention. If you don't want to just take it and be done,then maybe you can separate it from actually going to bed. Give it to him in another room, earlier in the evening, until he's disassociated it from falling asleep. The other issue is his teeth - if he doesn't brush after he has the bottle, he's headed for tooth decay.

My best friend is hard-core - she took the last bottle, threw it in the garbage, and told her almost-2 year old that the party was over. Her daughter cried for two nights and then asked to call Grandma and tell her what a big girl she was for giving up her bottle.

It sounds like it's just a security thing. He'll be fine, he'll just need to get used to it! Just be sure not to replace it with something that you'll have to take away later. I wouldn't give him the pacifier at this point.

[nymom]

I didn't think my son would EVER come off the bottle but when he got sick once (bad cold) I didn't want him having much dairy so I changed his milk to soy milk. He HATED it so I told him that "(he) must be a big boy b/c big boys don't like bottles" and acted so excited that he was a big boy. It took about 3 days of soy milk in the bottle for him to finally stop trying it and then never wanted a bottle again. I put regular milk in the sippy cup but he was kind of scared of any milk for awhile. Got plenty of dairy though from yogurt so I wasn't worried too much.

[stay@homemom]

I totally understand my son will be 3 in june yes i said 3 and only about a month ago did he give up his bottle!!!! It was insane I know it was our fault, but heres how we finally did it..... One day Grandma came over as he was fussing for me to give him his bottle he went to his room for just a second, my mom told me to put peanut butter on the bottle...I did and we told him it was doggie poop!!! Poor thing was miserable....but he didnt want it with dog poop on it so we threw it in the trash!! The first few days were awful he cried and wined, you have to understand this kid is a brat, first and only child, first grandkid, first everything so you know hes extremely spoiled. But now he is doing great. Hang in there be tough you dont want your kid to have rotten teeth.

[jeneric602]

Hey I'm new to these boards so hi to all. I am the mother of a 7 (today) year old girl and a 2 (tomorrow) year old girl. This could prove to be an unpopular post but my two year old still has her bottle and I have no intention of taking it away.
My first would NOT use one she went straight from breast to sippy cup or a straw. Though she breastfed to sleep for two years. She also used her soother till she was (and I cringe as I say this) 4 1/2. She is a very anxious personallity. I tell you this as a precurser to saying her teeth are perfectly fine. No cavities still and not crooked. The younger one does have a soother for naps and bed though she isnt that interested in it for anything else or for long periods just for the first two minutes kind of thing. She WILL NOT use a sippy cup - flat out refuses. She has just given up breastfeeding altogether. We have a nightime routine where she gets her bottle and I let her know it is almost time for bed so she needs to have a drink then put it in the fridge for morning. She likes to put it in herself, then we brush her teeth. She gets her bottle and clean teeth.

In short I guess my point is that I have never seen a kid in highschool drinking from a bottle so eventually she will move on to something else - until then it doesnt seem to be causing issues so I will be leaving her alone to develop at her own pace. Arbitrarily removing something that means that much comfort and support to her strikes me as kinda unfair.

That being said however, I have friends who explained to their toddlers about dirty teeth and then gave water only for bed. Which worked in some cases not in others.
I also have 2 friends that simply said okay you are 18 months thats it - no more. That seemed to work perfectly for one and simply caused a great deal of stress on both sides of the other.

[egg321]

Don't worry, he'll be weaned by college.
I have an 11 year old son and an 18 month old daughter. The 11 year old we did just about everything mostly wrong. He was not potty trained or kicking his bottle habit until right before his third birthday. Did I mention that he was also a Binky addict? We had pacifiers everywhere. Lint covered, chewed, discolored; because like a ferret he would hide them. You threw one out, he pulled one from his "stash".
The best advice I ever got about both subjects was; "Relax, its not like he will be going to college and you will be packing up his binkies and bottles." And "Hey, I thought your brother was going to be walking to kindergarten with a diaper-bag." These both came from my mother, who was a small human trainer for 30 years. She had 7 small humans within 10 years, and we were all different.
As for my son, I made the battle with the binkies and bottle one between him and the Doctor. He was told after a regular Doctor's visit, by the pediatrician not me, to go home and throw everything out. That he was a big boy and he had to. Because it was the big boy law. This played very well with his almost three mentality, and I could also feel bad right along with him. That was it, over night, they were gone.
My daughter we moved in stages. From breast, bottle, cup. The bottles we used were the Avent, which were interchangeable. So about 6 months ago we started putting the nipple on the sippy cup and threw out all the bottles. We use only one type of cup for milk, another for juice. This way she knew what was what. After a month of that, we put the sippy piece on the morning bottle, a week later on the nap bottle, a week later the night bottle. She gave us guff at first, but we stuck it out. We recently got rid of the nap cup. The night one is the toughest. I sit with her and have her drink on my lap while I read to her. At first she did not finish the cups like she would her bottles. Adding extra cheese and veggies into her diet to make up for lost calcium, she eventually got the hang of the "big girl" cups and now she drinks them like a pro. Sometimes your company is what they crave more then the bottle and this is the way they know to get it. I stick to the same bedtime routine every night. After the bath, we collect everything we need. Blanket, milk-cup and 2 books. We make a very big deal about it. We sit together, she drinks, I read, when the books are done, she is done. Even if milk is left in the cup, I place her in her crib and say goodnight. 80% of the time it works. The other 20% of the time, I cry right along with her....saying "WHY!!!WHY!!!!!". just kidding. OK, not really. The truth is the night routine takes up less time for me as the "Mommy you are so horrible, I will cry till I shoot dinner out of my nostrils" nights. And, I know that even if she does cry after all that, I did the right thing. I gave her time alone. And I don't feel guilty. And, she has yet to really cry herself to death.

[Trebletrouble]

I'm sorry, I don't have experience really with a 2 year old, I do have a 13 month old son named James, we have actually stopped giving him bottles at all. He now puts himself to sleep when it's time. However, I hate unsolicited parenting advice, I find it rude sometimes. So I'm just going to say that when the time comes, your 2 year old won't want the bottle anymore. I wouldn't push it too much, instead maybe offer something to take his/her mind off of it. See if that helps.

[caydensmomma]

Thank-you all for the great advice!!! We are slowly making some progress, he is warming up to the idea of no bottle at nap time, although sometimes he just forgos the nap all together, but hey - its no bottle! If he's in the right mood, he doesn't use one at night - and you are right - he won't be going to college with it!! I guess for now, I won't worry to much about it - he will give it up when he is ready - like all other things!! Thanks again!!

[ljepica]

I would not stress out too much about him wanting his bottle. When the time is right, he'll stop. My son is almost two now and is just starting to refuse bottle, on his own! I think you are on the right track. I was 4 years old when I finally stopped drinking milk out of the baby bottle and I turned out just fine. Good luck and take care.

[JewelsMom]

Help!!! Yesterday I tool the bottle away from my 18 month old. She drinks water out of sippy cups daily but refuses to drink help milk out of a cup. I tried three different styles of cups and she won't drink from any of them.

She just asks for water. How do I get her to drink milk. Never mind the crying spells because she needs her Bottle!!! I know she should still be drinking milk but she is also addicted to the pacifier so I have to start somewhere.

Any suggestions!!

[ourlittlepeanut]

I was very lucky I did not have to give my son a bottle, I was a stay at home mom that nursed. When it came to the pacifier, he used it occasionally, but not too much. My son is the opposite. He will drink out of a sippy cup but he prefers my cup...He feels like a big boy...I am assuming. He is only 18 months old. Each child and family is different. I personally feel that you need to do what is best for your child and you. The rest will fall into place.

[Katie_0608]

My daughter is 16 months and still has her bottle. I had tried to take it away from her after her first birthday, and all attempts failed. Just recently, I was talking to my sister-in-law who is a nurse and she is the mother of 2 boys (5 and 7). She told me that her kids had bottles until they were 18 months. After that they took sippy cups to bed with them, and even to this day, her boys take a glass of water up to bed with them. She told me not to worry, and after reading all the other posts on this subject, I am convinced that my daughter will give it up when she is ready to.

[HaPpYMoMmY]

Hey, My son just turned 2. I took him off the bottle a month ago. Its funny because I did it the same way I took him off the pacifier. I just let him forget. It might take some work on your part to. But try to keep him side tracked. When hes really into something tv, playing with toys, or anything just give him a sippy cup and walk away. It might not work right away, so in that case give it to him, stay right there and start talking and joking with him about what hes playing with or watching. They love that interaction. so that helps help to somewhat forget. At night I did the same thing I layed with him and sang and talked until he got sleepy. Now he doesnt even drink the sippy cup to go to sleep. In one day I took it away and he hasnt cared for it since. There wasnt really a transitional period. Just alot of help from mommy. Oh and one more thing I taught him how to say "NO MORE" and put his arms in the air. So when I didnt want to give him something I just said No More and he immitated and said "oh man" but he understood the concept. Hope this will help.

[HaPpYMoMmY]

If she doesnt want to drink regular milk how about added small portions of chocolate or strawberry falvoring to it. And let her see you doing it. Dont drown the milk for it to be extremly sugary just a bit sweet. Or even let her help you make the "Special MILK"