Friday, 24 February 2012
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No More Bottle
My son is a year and four months old, and still prefers his bottle to go to sleep. The past few weeks he has had to stay with his paternal grandparents while we dealt with a bed bug fiasco. They are older, and love having my son there because his younger cousins are there to play with him, but they were constantly giving him a bottle. If he got any kind of fussy, that was their first resort - a bottle.
Now that he is back, I decided it's time to start weaning him off of his bottle habits. He only uses it twice a day - nap and bed time. However, I want to try and get him off completely. Everyone around me says I am already starting too late, and that I should have done it at a year old. Part of me agrees and I feel guilty, but as a first time parent, I am getting advice from all four corners of the world. The first few days, while my boyfriend is at work, I have tried to put him down for a nap without his bottle and just a sippy cup. He raises complete hell.
He fights his sleep, and when I try to give him sippy cups instead he just throws them down. He doesn't want me to pat him, or even touch him for that matter. He cries to the point where he almost gags. It hurts me to see him so upset and I want to give in and give him his bottle, but I know inconsistency isn't going to help. I tried to play classical music, let him scream it out, etc. I even tried to find a lullaby app on my phone since we don't have a radio. (Sidenote: They have an app called the Baby Shusher... I thought that was kind of weird.)
The other issue is, at night, I would prefer to just give him the bottle because my boyfriend works like, 10-12 hours a day welding, and I know he is exhausted, and dealing with a half hour to an hour of screaming baby will just make him exhausted the next morning. I understand it's part of parenting and comes with the territory, but I wonder if there is something I can do to help make the transition easier, so my boyfriend won't be tired on the job. Besides, me giving him a bottle at night is just adding inconsistency, and that's not right on my part. Right?
There are times I wonder if this is too early. I mean, I feel bad sort of forcing him to do something he isn't necessarily ready for, but is it more of a comfort/habit than unreadiness? And if I let him set the pace and rules of things, doesn't that teach him (even at such an early age) that I have no authority? Or am I wrong for trying to make him do something he obviously doesn't want to do? I hear people say they just waited until their child was ready and gave it up on their own. I remember working in a day care center and there was a girl who was 2 years old still on a bottle and formula. I thought to myself, "Isn't she kind of too old to still have a bottle?"
I know every family, situation, and child is different, which is what makes this so hard. I don't know if I should just let him keep his bottle twice a day or really push the weaning. If the latter, I don't know what, if anything, I can do to make this situation easier. He is only a year and four months, and as smart as he is, he doesn't quite understand "It's time to give up the bottle." ::SIGH:: I don't know what to do.
How did you transition your child from a bottle to a sippy cup? Any advice or techniques that I can try?
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- From: ThaPlatinumOne@xanga
- Name: Shannon
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Comments (11)
your little guy is the same age as my baby girl.. and I think its too early for my little one. She is off of formula, but she still takes a bottle to bed... the last three nights she has not wanted to cuddle to sleep, so she drinks most of her bottle with me in the rocker, then goes to sleep in her crib on her own. The only time she gets a bottle is nap and night time.
My son was 18 months when he kicked the bottle on his own. I hope baby girl is the same, but if not all bottles go byebye on her 2nd birthday.
(Thats when she will be a "Big Girl" and all the bottles will get put in a box and get given to the Bottle Fairy, who takes the bottles and gives them to new babies who need them. And she will get some new cups in return. We did this with my friend's kids and it works.)
The best thing you can do is follow your gut. Every child is different, and no one knows your babe like you. If you sense its too early, then its too early.
what kind of sippy cups are you using? maybe (if you're not already) try one of the soft top sippy cups so it more like a bottle. But honestly i would talk to his ped. if his gums and teeth (if he has them) are't showing any signs of issues then he's probably fine keeping the bottle.
I didn't wean my daughter completely off the bottle until she was almost 2 and she is just fine. The best thing I can tell you is he won't be going into kindergarten with a bottle so don't worry about when the "right" time is to wean him off. It will happen when it's meant to happen!
When my twins were 15 months old I just threw the bottles out. It was more of a clutch for me and they adjusted just fine. As for my youngest she's only 8 months and has no desire yet of using a sippy cup so we'll see when she weans but I'll most likely try around the same time
It is really hard for me to ween my daughter off the bottle as well. She's about to turn two and I've tried just about everything. I have so many different sippy cups, and she uses them, but only during the daytime. She absolutely refuses them for milk and refuses to go to sleep without a bottle. I tried not giving it to her a couple times and one day she refused to eat anything all day. I called her pediatrician who said that the bottle itself was not horrible as long as we brushed her teeth after EVERY bottle feed and she did not drink so much milk that she didn't eat during the day. We took her for her first pediatric dental visit who said that her teeth were fine but stressed that brushing your little ones teeth is so important especially if they are still drinking a bottle at that age. We tried so much different tactics but ultimately it is a way for her to soothe herself and calm down. Just keep trying and doing what you're doing until you ultimately get him to about one bottle a day then start diluting his milk with water, until ultimately all you're doing is giving him water from his bottle. This is the tactic I'm doing now and hopefully that will work.
Good luck.Start diluting his milk with water. Thin it out more and more every few days or so. Or give him a bottle of just water if he'll take it. The bigger problem is the milk sugars sitting on his new teeth all night rather than the bottle itself. Likely if you can get him down to plain water he will get bored of it altogether.
Another tactic is reduce the amount of fluid every few days. Also, feed him in your arms instead letting him do it in the crib.
-mom of three
My brother's mother-in-law has this crazy idea in her head from when her daughter was a baby. She never took the bottle away, until the day the baby bit the tip of the nipple off the bottle. So now, she insists on doing the same thing for my niece. She is waiting for my niece to bite the nipple off her bottle before she takes it away for good.
It's seriously wtf.
I do have to say that, for one, you need to stop listening to other people. We as parents put WAY too much merit into what other people say we should do, and we don't realize that we can't do things that way - our parenting decisions should come from what's best for the child, what's best for us, and what actually fits the childs temperment. The only person whose opinion I will listen to with the most respect is my child's doctor. HOWEVER, I feel differently about some things. Some things they try and say are nessicary, I say are optional. I was told that no child should ever have anything other than formula before their first birthday. My son was eating baby food at 8 months. He was drinking out of a sippy at his first birthday. Formula was nonexistant by his first birthday. I was told not to put rice cereal in his bottle - if I hadn't put rice in his bottle, I would have gotten no sleep at night because he would have been waking up hungry so much. My child is still perfectly healthy, he's still alive, nothing bad happened to him because I disagreed with the doctor.
You also have to understand that when other people say "You need to do THIS" or "You can't give them THIS until THIS age"...it's less of a "fact" and more the thoughts of a opinionated person.
Like I said, parenting needs to be based on YOU and YOUR CHILD.
If there were tons of Dos and Don'ts...there would be a rulebook.
Now, as far as the sippy, I think I've made it clear what I think about saying "This should be gone by this age, and they should be using this." Yes, at some point that becomes true. If your child is still taking the bottle at their second birthday, I find something wrong with that.
But your child obviously isn't ready to change. it's like potty training - if they're not ready, they won't.
There are a lot of things you can do to try, though. You can go through your house and take every single bottle and bottle-related device, pack it in a bag...and throw it away. Then, if your child wants something, you're forced to use the sippy (and you can't get frustrated and give up and try again later) and he is forced to use it if he wants something. No child will intentionally starve themselves just because they don't like the way the food is presented. It could take a while. It helps if your child has been introduced to baby food, because if they refuse it, they're still getting the food and nutrients they need.
Sometimes kids skip the sippy altogether. Try a cup with a straw!
Sometimes kids just don't like the brand. My best friends' son refused to take any sippy other than Nuk brand.
Try different sippys, try different delivery methods. Do everything you can to make it a soothing experience when you present the cup, and not a stressful one. That could also be hindering it - he can tell that you're really wanting to push this.
@musicmom1492@xanga - Absolutely wonderful suggestions!
Both of my kids went from bottle to cup with straw at 12 months, I actually think my youngest switched a month or so before that. They both hated sippy cups, and the cups with straws were spill proof, cheap, and absolutely wonderful. I'd highly suggest them.
as parents put WAY too much merit into what other people say we should do, and we don't realize that we can't do things that way - our parenting decisions should come from what's best for the child, what's best for us, and what actually fits the childs temperment.
Jewelry cardsMetal labelsFabric labelsZip PullersBarcode labelsShoes hangersMetal buttonsJewelry tagsSize hangersshoes hooksOnly you as a parent will know when you child is ready. You can read or people can tell when you're suppose to do something which will not always work with you child. Yes, kids will throw tantrums when there is unknown change... but the real reason why kids should leave the bottle is based on the harm that it causes their teeth.
I think you're doing a great job at trying to get him out of the bottle. Yes, it will be hard at times but it's the struggle that will be worth it. And I understand your boyfriend works a lot but even a child is no piece of cake, let him see so he can cooperate and maybe the baby will listen to him as a different authority.
I started my son with a straw sippy cup and he loved it at about a year of age. My mom transitioned my bros 18 yrs to sippy cup the old hard core way with no transition really. She just gave them the cup and they learned to adapt. We got to give them the opportunity to adapt and adjust and they'll be fine.
Best of luck!!