Help with giving up bottle

I think I need some help getting my 16M DS off the bottle.

We got rid of the binkie at 13M cold turkey. It was a rough few days but once it was gone he didn't want it back. He was sick maybe 2-3 weeks after and we decided to let him have it back since he was so miserable, but he had no interest. He threw it. Fine by us.

Now it's come time to bid farewell to the bottle. We may have let this go too long and we're having trouble. He gets 2 8oz. bottles a day, one first thing in the morning, one an hour before bed. We have the bottle warmer on the kitchen counter and he will stand by it and reach and make grunting noises until the bottle is done.

Just a side note... My mom watches DS during the week and she LOVES giving him the bottle. It's the only time he will sit in anyone's arms and cuddle, so that's been a factor in why we've kept it around so long.

We've tried his usual sippy cup with milk, both warm and cold, he just doesn't want it. We've tried other cups. He wants the bottle.

Our doctor said we could go cold turkey and just get rid of the bottles and milk all together since he eats lots of cheese and yogurt.

Any thoughts or advice is welcome. I worry if we don't get rid of it soon, it's just going to get harder to give up. TIA!!!

Re: Help with giving up bottle

IMHO - I think you should just do it cold turkey just like you did it for the pacifier.
We switched to a straw sippy cup from the bottle cold turkey at 12 months and had no problems.

Help with giving up bottle

I agree with going cold turkey. He might give you a hard time at first, but keep trying with the sippy and he may come around. My DD refused milk in her usual straw sippys at first, so I tried the soft spout cups at someone's suggestion and she took to those just fine. And then she stopped wanting those and went back to the straws, even for milk. Sometimes it just takes a little bit of time.

Help with giving up bottle

We did cold turkey too last month at 16 mos. she was sick for a couple days and didn't want her bottle at all. I went with that and stopped completely. I haven't put the bottles on the counter away yet, she still sees them, but doesn't even care about them. She won't drink milk, but has yogurt and cheese daily.

Re: Help with giving up bottle

we went cold turkey at 15 months - switched to the NUBY soft spout and he didn't even fuss.


the paci, thats another story at almost 27 months