She is obsessed with her bottle!

@lilybug (21107)
United States
March 20, 2008 4:28pm CST
My daughter is almost 14 months old and she is still drinking a bottle at nap time and at bedtime. She is really attached to it. I cannot seem to get her to sleep without it. She drinks a sippy cup during the day, but when she is tired nothing but a bottle will do. My son gave his bottle up just fine at 11 months, but she is proving to be more difficult. Any proven methods for breaking a child of a bottle?
3 responses
• United States
22 Mar 08
I'm sure there's advice on the internet on how to break a baby from a bottle. But, I wouldn't be so terribly worried about it. If I remember correctly, your child doesn't much like pacifiers, which are a bigger worry for teeth development. A bottle runs the possibility of cavities on the teeth, so that's your only issue, I think, at this age. But if you are determined to break her of the bottle, I would suggest very slowly and gradually changing (that is thinning) the bottle contents down to water. If the contents change gradually, no single night will set off a fussy baby. Once the bottle only contains water, the child should lose interest in it. Another option is to offer a pacifier at night to see if that soothes the child.
@lilybug (21107)
• United States
22 Mar 08
That sound like a good idea with thinning down what she gets in it. I will have to try that. You are right, she hates pacifiers. She gave it up when she was 7 months old. I tried giving her one a few weeks ago, but she wanted nothing to do with it.
@lilybug (21107)
• United States
24 Mar 08
My son loved his pacifier. He had his until he was almost 2. That may be why it was easier to break him of the bottle.
• Singapore
21 Mar 08
try trading the bottle for a pacifier. or maybe tell her a story about a kid having no teeth cuz he/she didn't want to give up the bottle... if all else fails, simply throw out the bottles. she'll cry for a bit. but she'll get over it and accept the fact that the bottle's gone probably in 2 or 3 days.
@lilybug (21107)
• United States
24 Mar 08
She hates pacifiers and she is too young to understand a story like that.
20 Mar 08
Unfortunately I can't help you there, sorry. Apparantly I drank ONLY MILK for a very long time... and then went on to chocolate spread sandwiches! For about a year or two I ate not much else... Although my parents may be exaggerating there, hehe ^^ However, here are some answers I found online ^^ http://www.minti.com/questions-and-answers/discussion/303634/getting-baby-off-the-bottle/
@lilybug (21107)
• United States
24 Mar 08
Well, she eats constantly and she is not too picky. I hope your parents are exaggerating on the 2 years of eating chocolate spread sandwiches. Thanks for the link.