Bottle Weaning | Imamother

amother

Papaya

Sun, Jun 14 2015, 7:06 am

I need your tips and ideas, ladies!

4 yo DS is very attached to his bottle and cannot fall asleep without it. We've discussed getting rid of it on several occasions however he always dissolved into bitter heartfelt tears. How can I wean him off the bottle?

Ruchel

Sun, Jun 14 2015, 8:02 am

You can explain to him how it hurts his teeth, or maybe the bottle will find it too dirty or too decaying to be saved lol. Then he may throw it away himself.

amother

Papaya

Tue, Jun 16 2015, 8:54 am

Thanks Ruchel. Unfortunately that won't work for him as he's too 'addicted'.

Any other ideas?

Whenever I tell him that big boys don't have bottles, he says he wants to stay little forever. The reason I'm trying to push for it though is because he wakes numerous times in the night and always needs a bottle again, I'm hoping that if he's weaned he'll stop waking in the night.

shabbatiscoming

Tue, Jun 16 2015, 9:10 am

My daughter also drank a bottle at bed time forever and ever Wink

What we did was, I just did not give her a choice. I gave her about 4 months warning. Every few days I told her that we were going to stop the bottle in a while. And I also started to water down the formula. Im sure it did not taste all that good at the end. I know, it wasnt the formula that she was wanting, but I made the bottle as least entising as possible.
Just make it something that is going to happen, no real choice. But give him a looot of warning. And tell him that he can pick something out in the toy shop the day that he gives up the bottle.

amother

Papaya

Wed, Jun 17 2015, 4:16 pm

Thanks Shabbatiscoming! The thing is, the bottle is really not all that enticing, it's basically a cm of milk (for the color) and the rest is water... but he's so addicted to it, it's like his 'security blanket'.
I'd love him to stop with it as we'll all start sleeping better, but I don't want it to have any repercussions. He seems traumatised whenever I mention weaning off it.

shabbatiscoming

Wed, Jun 17 2015, 4:21 pm

amother wrote:

It was the same with my daughter. First I diluted a lot of formula. I kept on diluting more and more and then putting less and less liquid in at all.
I would just mention it. It might be a little bit traumatizing, but it will work in the end. Also, did you think about the thing I mentioned about telling him that he can get a prize when you finally do get rid of it. Make him part of the whole thing. My daughter got to throw her bottle into the garbage. It became a big deal for her.

amother

Papaya

Thu, Jun 18 2015, 9:36 am

Thanks again shabbatiscoming. I guess I'll have to tread really carefully. I've promised him prizes before but the urge for the bottle was too great.