Monday, January 14, 2013

Operation: Kick The Bottle


Someone needs to come up with a 12 step program for toddlers who are addicted to their bottles.
Avery is 18 months now and she is super attached to her bottle.

Have I mentioned this before?  Because I feel like I'm constantly complaining about this little problem.  I know it's technically not the end of the world for her to still have a bottle at 18 months but what worries me most is that she is so desperately in love with it.  
She goes to bed with a bottle 
(I know, I know, I'm going to hell for that one, just ask the pediatricians... and dentists)  
She gets her feelings hurt?  "Baba"
She falls down?  "Baba"  
She gets mad?  "Baba"
Bored in the car?  "Baba"

I mean really, the kid will snuggle her empty bottle all night if we let her.
It's happened before.

So I had a bit of a heart to heart with one of Avery's dietitians today and hung up the phone determined to get this kid off the bottle.  After all, it's not going to get any easier as time goes on.  

My first step?  I'm not putting her to bed with a bottle.
The result?  She cried, screamed and kicked the wall for 75 MINUTES.  Over an hour.  I'm telling you, I feel like I'm having deja vu of about a year ago when we first let her cry it out for sleep training.  A miserable, however necessary, experience to be sure.  

Tip for moms who have yet to sleep train:  Don't sleep train your baby by letting him/her go to bed with their bottle.  In the end, you will have to sleep train all over again and life sucks hardcore twice in your life instead of just once.


5 comments:

Rich and Brianne said...

Good luck! Devin had to do "cry it out" again at about 2.5 years just because. He cried for so much longer because he was more aware and knew we could come in. In the end, the parents won :)

Anonymous said...

The biggest thing that saved my life with bottles is the Nuk sippy cup - there's a kind with two handles that has a rubber/latex like nipple on it...I transitioned my son into a cup and then off the bottle. He only had it for a few weeks and then he was over it. Maybe she might like something like that...I would also send him to bed with warm water instead of formula/milk?

Kate [City Girl Mountain View] said...

Ah the crying is so tough! Hang in there! Olivia transitioned ok from bottles to sippys but is now a mean pacifier addict. She always has a pacifier and I am not looking forward to weaning her off that!!

Kellie said...

It's so hard! Hang in there. Both of my girls love/loved their bottles/sippies. To get them off the bottle I would just offer them the sippy with the same milk in it when they went down for a nap/bed. They usually reject it for the first few times and then I gave them their bottle instead. But one day they decided that they would take the sippy and it was all about the sippy from then on. Gwen was 2.5 when I took her off the sippy at night. I bought her a new stuffed animal and told her she was a big girl now and didnt need her milk in bed and offered her water. No tears at ALL. I'm not there with the younger yet, so idk if it works for every kid (prob not!). Anyway, whatever you decide to do- good luck! Stick to it.

Anonymous said...

Maybe try giving her a special blanket, bear to cuddle etc? When she is sad you could offer that cuddley as well instead of a bottle. Hang in there, I don't know any kindergartners who still need a bottle :)