weaning my child off of the "bed time" bottle

shabbatiscoming

Wed, Oct 21 2009, 5:53 pm

how do I do it? cold turkey? one night just dont give it to her? she is a year and a half and only has a bottle before bedtime. I think that the bottle is more for comfort of habit, meaning she knows that it is bedtime when I ask her if she wants a bottle. but I know that she really does not need it and I would like to stop giving it to her soon.

any suggestions?

Twizzlers

Wed, Oct 21 2009, 7:14 pm

I waited till my son was able to understand what I was saying (about 2). first I sat down in his room, right next to the crib, held him in my lap and allowed him to drink his bottle there, then put him in the crib. when/if he asked for a bottle, I told him "but you just had one; now we have a special cup to keep in your crib" I put a small sippy cup with water in with my kids in case they get thirsty in the middle of the nite. I did this for a few days. then I gave him the bottle outside his room a few minutes before bedtime, and slowly inched it earlier and earlier until it was no longer associated with bedtime, at which point we cut it out completely.
hatzlacha!

Tova

Wed, Oct 21 2009, 10:18 pm

My nearly 2.5 year old son still takes a bottle (of water; milk only if he refused to eat a decent supper) to bed. And has one when he gets up and when he goes down for a nap after playgroup. About 3 a day. He of course drinks nicely from a cup, etc. I am wary to wean him away from it (haven't thought of it, really) as he has a younger sister and I really would like to minimize jealousy w/ the baby. Same with his pacifier and "blanky." It doesn't bother me so much that he is still attached to some babyish things. He is b"H otherwise at the maturity level for his age and is fine while at preschool. I really feel he will self-wean. I also feel he is still a baby. If he didn't have a younger sibling I'd DEFINATELY still think he was a baby, so why should I feel differently just because he is not the youngest? I also think I will maybe start to gear him up for thinking of himself as a big boy when we are right before his upsherin - tie it into the haircut, yarmulka, tzitzis if toilet training, etc. For another 1/2 year I am letting him be a baby.

[Just a different perspective.]

shabbatiscoming

Thu, Oct 22 2009, 4:49 am

flowerpower wrote:

What is in her bottle? Give only water and then go with sippy cups. They tend to drink less from the sippy cups.

at the moment it is formula (she only recently began eating enough to not be worried that she would not sleep through because of hunger) and she will not drink water alone, I have tried. I put a drop of juice into her bottle during the day, and that is just for thirsty purposes. I would rather it not be the same thing as during the day b/c I want her to know that she is going to sleep. we have tried a sippy cup and it has not worked as of yet.

and to the poster who mentioned about a sippy cup in the crib, I am not going to be doing that, so that would not be a good transfer thing either.

ABC

Thu, Oct 22 2009, 6:10 am

I've read that it's not good for a child to be drinking from bottles after about age 1. not good for their speech to suck on bottle and not good for them as they tend to drink much larger quantities of milk from a bottle when they should be getting all of their nourishment from real food. if they are also good eaters, this could lead to them becoming overweight.

I'm sure they don't have to stop having a bottle immediately on their 1st bday, but I think this is worth considering. with my kids I've always aimed to have them off the bottle completely by 1 and a half. from age 1 they only have a bottle before bed. this seems to have worked for me ba'h and none of them seemed bothered when the bedtime bottle suddenly disappeared. it's important to make sure they eat well during the day so they aren't hungry at night. leave plenty of time for the evening meal.

good luck and enjoy your little neshamale

Marion

Thu, Oct 22 2009, 6:13 am

ABC wrote:

What's the difference between the muscles/action used to drink from a bottle and those used for drinking from a straw? My son's speech therapist davka wanted him drinking from a straw to help develop his facial/jaw muscles.

ABC

Thu, Oct 22 2009, 6:15 am

drinking from the bottle uses the tongue not the lips
drinking through a straw uses the lips, which is why speech therapists recommend this for strengthening the muscles around the mouth. sucking on bottles is not the same at all

shabbatiscoming

Thu, Oct 22 2009, 6:16 am

ABC wrote:

I've read that it's not good for a child to be drinking from bottles after about age 1. not good for their speech to suck on bottle and not good for them as they tend to drink much larger quantities of milk from a bottle when they should be getting all of their nourishment from real food. if they are also good eaters, this could lead to them becoming overweight.
I'm sure they don't have to stop having a bottle immediately on their 1st bday, but I think this is worth considering. with my kids I've always aimed to have them off the bottle completely by 1 and a half. from age 1 they only have a bottle before bed. this seems to have worked for me ba'h and none of them seemed bothered when the bedtime bottle suddenly disappeared. it's important to make sure they eat well during the day so they aren't hungry at night. leave plenty of time for the evening meal.

good luck and enjoy your little neshamale

I am giving her the bottle as a supplement to her food as I am not sure if she has eaten enough (she just recently started eating like she should) and I have no worry of her being overweight because of one formula bottle a day.

as for a bottle being no good for their speech, we have not gotten to cup drinking yet, so that is how my daughter drinks, so that is not my worry.

faigyl

Thu, Oct 22 2009, 2:37 pm

my 17 month old also goes to bed with a bottle and picks it up and starts drinking it at various points at night. I'm not stopping it just yet. I think he's too little to understand and like one of the commentors- I'm going to wait until he's 2- or old enough to understand that he's too big for a bottle.

shabbatiscoming

Thu, Oct 22 2009, 3:29 pm

just to clarify, my daughter is not getting this bottle in her crib. we sit in the living room, with the lights mostly off, one on that she knws if only that light is on it means bedtime, and she sits on ema's lap and has the bottle before going into her crib. that is what I was asking about weaning, not a bottle in the crib.

mummiedearest

Thu, Oct 22 2009, 3:45 pm

take her shopping to pick out a special bedtime sippy cup. let her get the one that she's most excited about. talk to her about getting rid of the bottle, and how she's a big girl now.

my kids still get milk before bed, but they drink from a cup, usually with a straw. it really wasn't a problem for us.

since it is a comfort thing, the best thing to do is probably to get rid of bottles during the day first. get rid of the comfort bottle once she's used to something else during the day.

mue2

Thu, Oct 22 2009, 5:20 pm

my almost 2 year old still has 2 bottles a day 1 before lunch time nap and one at at bedtime he will not go to sleep without it. and soon as he knows hes going to bed he starts asking for the bottle. I would like to wean him of it at some point (its milk in the bottle) im sure its not good for his teeth, dont know what to do tho. he needs it to go to sleep. cant let him scream his head of hours either he shares a room with the baby.....

mummiedearest

Thu, Oct 22 2009, 5:24 pm

I found a book called "bye-bye bottle" and read it to my son. he loved the pictures, and it rhymed nicely. I hadn't seriously thought of weaning him, but he loved the book and pretty much weaned himself. get a good book to start with. it'll introduce the idea with no pressure. after you know he's got the concept, start talking to him about it and take it from there. always get rid of the non-comfort bottles first, otherwise they'll get confused and upset.

shabbatiscoming

Thu, Oct 22 2009, 5:34 pm

mummiedearest wrote:

as I mentioned, she does not get a formula bottle during the day. we have tried sippy cups and she does not grasp the idea so to drink during the day its still a bottle, but she still knws that it is different before sleep and during the day.

mummiedearest

Thu, Oct 22 2009, 5:37 pm

shabbatiscoming wrote:

mummiedearest wrote:

have you tried different sippy cups? if you get the spill proof ones, you have to remove the spill proof membrane in order to teach them how to drink from the cup. once they figure it out somewhat, put the membrane back in. I don't know any kid who got it right away. different models are easier to use than others. can she drink from a straw? some kids prefer straw cups to sippies. you can also just give her a regular cup with a small amount of liquid. she may prefer to skip the sippy stage.

Twizzlers

Thu, Oct 22 2009, 8:24 pm

shabbatiscoming wrote:

so then all you have to do is move the "bottle time" further and further away from bedtime until its not associated with it anymore.
for example: turn off the lights have her drink the bottle in your lap. when she's done, put her down and say I just have to take care of something, I'll put you in your crib in a minute. slowly, slowly increase that amount of time until she doesnt associate bottles with bedtime.
of course if she's too young to understand, I guess cold turkey would be the only option, but seems pretty cruel to me.