This is my son and his daddy. He has a big boy outfit, but a baby bottle. He LOVES his bottles and asks for them by name all throughout the day. It's his comfort. He has already been weaned off of cosleeping, breast feeding, and pacifiers, all things that he was once just as addicted to, so I know that we can do this. My question is how? How do I take away his beloved bottle and still get him to go to sleep at night, or to get all the nutrition he needs at this age? He is a VERY picky 18 month old and he doesn't eat very good and he will drink everything else out of a sippy cup, but NOT milk. If I give him milk in a sippy (even what I think is practically a bottle), he will gladly accept and say "water" then when he realizes it's not, he throws it down and refuses to drink it. Any ideas? I want to get him off the bottle, but I really don't think we are ready for a cold turkey approach. I appreciate any ideas or suggestions!
6 comments:
I'm not really going to be much help. We had the same problem with our daughter. We even tried cold turkey but she still wouldn't drink milk. She just didn't care. I'm embarrassed to say thins, but I continued giving her one bottle of milk in the morning (just so she'd get some) and offered her other things in a sippy cup the ret of the day. If she asked for milk or a bottle I'd just offer a sippy cup with some milk which she always refused. The ped just told me to make sure she was getting lots of calcium rich foods (like broccoli) and other forms of dairy. At 2 1/2 she finally will take milk in a sippy cup, but only if she can see it in there first. If I just put milk in a sippy cup she refuses it, but if I put it in there and show her without the top on and then put the top on, then she'll drink it..lol.
When David was small he was so skinny and wouldn't eat very well. I asked the doctor and he suggested pediasure if I was really worried. As for the bottle, I have been blessed to have both my boys off by 12 months with no problem, just cold turkey. I've heard to have a really colorful sippy and only put water in the bottle, so that they want the sippy instead. Or maybe a little flavoring in the milk in the sippy. But then this could backfire because then they may not want the milk plain. It sounds like you have a really smart little boy that knows what he wants and won't settle for anything else. LOL. I hope you find the answer that works for you. Good luck!
I had to send my 2 year old to her grandma's house 4 hours away with NO bottles. Her grandma just told her she didn't have any bottles and that was that. AWESOME!
If you don't have any family members to help you then I have no idea!
I suggest eliminating all but one bottle to start with. Let him have that one bottle at the most critical point (like bedtime) but only put water in it. His appetite will improve when he is drinking less, many kids fill up on liquids & then are not hungry for their food. To insure he is getting enough calcium feed him cheese, yogurt and other high calcium foods. Don't even offer him milk in a cup until it has been at least a couple days since he had it in the bottle & he will likely drink it just fine.
My almost 11 yr old son doesn't drink any milk & never has (he weaned from breastfeeding at 23 mos & refused to drink any type other type of milk)he is perfectly healthy & gets his calcium from food sources.
Do you heat the bottle? I used to warm up the sippy cup milk a little (the child was used to warm milk from mommy before!).
Keep trying, it took a while for my youngest to drink milk from a sippy. I would pick a sippy cup that is closest to your bottle type (lots of companies have come out with the "step" programs to progress from bottle to sippy).
I agree with the commenter above, let the child have the most important ONE bottle per day (but I would give milk that way). Cut out the rest of the bottles. Then try to come up with an alternative routine - special book time with daddy so the (bedtime if that's what you picked) bedtime routine doesn't revolve around the bottle anymore. HTH!
My Mother in law is having this same issue with my neice (whom she lives with and watches during the day). She's just repeatedly offered milk to her in a cup and only milk in the cup (no juice or water), eventually my neice got thirsty enough to drink it.
I've wondered if maybe getting a special cup, with a favorite character or something that is used ONLY for milk, might make the difference?
You might also try a regular cup instead of a sippy cup start with just a little in it. Maybe for a few meals EVERYONE starts with a glass of milk and you can talk about what a big boy he is drinking milk from a glass like Mommy and Daddy.
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