weaning from a bottle

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Permalink Reply by Lisa Beels on July 16, 2009 at 7:53am

My son had a bottle to go to sleep at night until he was 2 1/2. I felt a little embarrassed when anyone saw the bottles in my cupboard! I finally told him that bottles were for babies and that we should send his baby cousin all his bottles. At 2 1/2 he was totally able to understand and wanted to be a big boy...he said "okay" and never wanted a bottle again. My only regret was trying that technique earlier!!!

Lisa
petitepalaterecipe.blogspot.com

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Permalink Reply by Angela Moore on July 16, 2009 at 8:43am

I know that my brother and sister-in-law weened their daughter off of a pacifier (which she used to fall asleep) by throwing a "bye bye beebee (her nickname for her pacifier) party." She loved it and never asked for it again. Marking the occasion as a celebration may help. Good luck!

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Permalink Reply by Stephanie on July 17, 2009 at 5:11am

I know it's hard but if you really feel the need to wean him then just take it away. Do something else like hold him and rock him, be soothing... but honestly since he's been doing this for so long it might better to wait until he's older and can communicate better. Like Lisa said you can tell the child the bottles are for someone else now, let him help pack them up, and "mail" them to another baby.

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Permalink Reply by Miranda Bailey Lebovich on July 27, 2009 at 12:43pm

Thanks Everyone!

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Permalink Reply by Wendy R. Haldeman on July 28, 2009 at 10:34am

Dear Miranda,
My first reaction to your questions is this: asuming that milk is in the bottle and your toddler drinks all the milk prior to falling asleep, you should not need to worry about his teeth (milk bottle syndrome). If weened from the bottle, will he get enough milk during the day through a cup? If so, at his age, you must expect him to cry and protest. The bottle helps him settle and fall asleep. He will need to find other self-soothing measures to make him happy. Some of our moms have substituted water for the milk. Sometimes the toddler will loose interest this way. My question back to you is this: assuming that his teeth are not an issue, why take away something from your child that is comforting and makes him happy?

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