[vivismom]

Aaaah! I am DESPERATE. My dd Viviana is 15 months old and at her recent dr. appt. her doc mentioned that maybe I should wean her from her bottle. She told me to go cold turkey (because we already had gotten rid of the afternoon bottle) and so last Friday night was her last bottle. She has ben drinking water and watered down juice from a sippy since she was about 8 months old- but she REFUSES milk from a sippy cup.
The doc told me it might take some time, but that she would eventually drink it. Well, it's been a week and she still hasn't had any milk, and she is barely drinking anything from her cup so I feel like she is getting dehydrated. Normally she would sleep 11 hours through the night, but this week has been TERRIBLE, with Vivi waking up sometimes crying, and then every morning at 4:30 she cries until about 6am. I am so exhausted. She has been in a terrible mood the whole week. WHat should I do? How did you guys go from bottle to cup? I have tried so many different styles of cups, even without a lid, I've tried warming up the milk, I've tried mixing it with yogurt drinks, I've tried feeding her like a bottle but with a cup- the minute the milk touches her lips she throws down the cup. What a stubborn little girl I have! Please give me any tips you used, I am so frustrated.

Becky

[lisam951]

There have been many threads on this subject. Different people have different ways of doing this. I let my babies have their bottles for as long as they wanted. I don't think 15 months is too old to have a bottle. My 10 dd had hers until she turned 3. My now 3 yo dd decided she didn't want hers at about 2.5 years old. They did not have them constantly. After a year old, they only had them for sleep. Neither have suffered any damage from having her bottle past a year old.

[jlinberger]

My son wouldn't drink milk for a couple of months after I cut him cold turkey. The doctor said that this might happen- some kids refuse milk for years when they are cut from the bottle. Antonio does now drink milk again, somewhat. He seems to have forgotten that he banned it for a while. If it was just "not drinking milk" I would say not to worry about it. I started giving him juices with calcium to take care of that- as well as yogurt, etc (but you said she won't drink yogurt). Try the OJ with calcium? Or is she not drinking anything at all- no juice or water.

But the not sleeping, etc-wow- well, it would seem to me that you have gotten through the worst of it, but I guess who can tell with kids. I don't have pointers on this aspect- my son had sleeping issues, but not really related to his bottle. I can empathize though- children not sleeping- in my mind- is a very bad thing!

[Niclayson]

I too would try juice with calcium...and can you just cut out all bottles except the bedtime one? It sounds like it is more about comfort than milk. Many kids hold onto that bedtime bottle for awhile....

[brandydawn]

I wouldn't go cold turkey...we started with one bottle at a time.

The first week she had all her bottles except one which we substituted with the cupu.

Then second week it was two and then so on.

We kept her night bottle a bit longer and then eventually that was gone.

My daughter never refused milk in the cup...but it also depends on the cup. Get a transition cup that has a soft top...check out Nuby. This makes a different. My daughter didn't do well with the handled hard top cups.

By the time my daughter was 12 months old she only had a night bottle and by the time she 14 months old she had no more bottles

I do think at 15 months she is ready for the cup.

Regards,
Brandy

[csw]

My daughter is 33 months old and still takes 1 bottle at night and 1/2 around 3 am..she sucks the entire night long, even if the bottle is dry. She literally is in a panic if she can't find her bottle in the middle of the night. It is the only thing that calms her down and lets me get a few hours of sleep uninterrupted. She was on 5 bottles at night when she came home at 9.5 months old. She refused a pacifier.

Luckily, our daughters teeth are perfect and she has never had 1 ear infection. Kids frequently breastfeed until age 2-3 in other countries. I don't know why we have to take their only source of comfort away at such a young age. I know it can interfere with speech later on, unless its an orthodonic nipple..but sippy cups are no better for their speech than a bottle.

I know parents who put their babies to bed with a sippy cup...why is that any different than a bottle, really..

You are her mother and if you feel she still needs it then I would let her have it. I understand you want to follow your doc's advise..but 15 months is still pretty young.

My daughter had a lot of attachment issues, was not fed properly in her foster home, then had a vaccine reaction as a toddler that caused her to not sleep at night etc..she needs her medications crushed and put into a bottle, otherwise she wouldn't take it, so we are not in a hurry to get her off it..plus..she drinks her toddler formula and rice milk fine and gets alot of nourishment and calcium from those things..

Do what you feel is best..

[Amykk]

Have you tried the straw cup? My son was able to switch really quickly to the straw cup - I think the sucking action is soothing to him like the bottle. Every time of the day that he used to get a bottle, I just give him a straw cup full of milk and he walks around the house drinking it.

[steve in ca]

Oh these ridiculous pediatricians! Really it burns me up sometimes (Remember folks I am a pediatric Nurse Practitioner). Is the pediatrician there at 4:30 in the morning to help you? Come one, really, 15 months old is not that old for a bottle. Just let your little one have the bottle. You will all be happier!

When she is ready, try again.

We are soemtimes in too much of a hurry with kids. Let's get em off the bottle. Let's get em potty trained. Let's get em walking. Let's get em talking. Geesh!

[susanhuff]

It's so hard when you are tired from the rough nights!!

Our son also refused to drink milk from a sip cup for about two weeks when we weaned him from the bottle. Then one day he just started drinking the milk like it was the most normal thing in the world!

In the interim I added lots of milk to his food whenever possible.

All that said, I totally agree with Steve - sometimes we need to step back and let our kids do things on their own schedules!

Hang in there! You will get through it!!

Hugs,
Susan

[spaypets]

I'm with Steve. Ignore the doctor and let your daughter use the bottle.

Really, how is a sippy cup better than a bottle anyway?

My DD, who was drinking from a regular cup at 20 months (long before she used a sippy cup), didn't completely give up bottles until she was 3. And when she did it was painless. She's happy, never had anything more serious than a cold, well socialized. But for along time she liked to lie on the floor with a bottle a couple of times a day. And she liked having a bottle of water in bed with her. It didn't bother me. Our pediatrician never inquired and I probably would have ignored him anyway, because it's way more important for me to have a kid who sleeps than one who doesn't use a bottle.

Every time this topic comes up I ask for a reason and the best anyone could come up with is that kids should start reducing their milk intake so that they eat more solid food. So, my solution is to use smaller bottles or not fill them all the way or water down the milk. Not take away something that they find comfortable. Honestly, to what end?

Sorry, I just get so annoyed with this arbitrary weaning. So we torture our kids for something that is irrelevant.

[my2boops]

Try different types of sippy cups. Each of my boys had a different preference. My older son was able to use the sippy cups with the plastic valves to prevent leaking. My younger son, however, refused to drink out of any of them! He likes the disposable cups. Keep trying all different styles. When my son found one he was comfortable with, I went "cold turkey" with him. Now, I introduce some other styles and he is able to drink out of all of them. Good luck!