Getting rid of the bottle

Mummyboo

My little boy is 3 and still has a bottle of milk at night time. I really want to get rid of this now I don't ind him having a drink of milk at night but would like to put it in a cup (but he refuses :mad: ). He has a cup in the day without any problems.

He hasn't had a dummy since he was 1 so this is his only comfort.

My idea was to take him out to buy him a special "night time cup" I thought if he chose it he might accept it better but went to look at them yesterday in Tesco and there was so many different kinds I was confused. Which is better for his teeth? And how is the best way to get him to agree to have it.

Any suggestions??

lynnexxxo

My four year old still likes a bottle of milk at bedtime. The way I see it, whats the harm? I'm sure one day he'll decide himself he is too old (his friend stayed last saturday and he told me he didn't want a bottle, which suggests to me that he knows its pretty 'uncool')

Jo_R_2

I wonder could you take him round to a friend's house, cousin of similar age, that sort of thing, and show him that Tom/Emily/Ben use a beaker for their milk? Maybe if he sees friends using a beaker he might be more inclined to?

The idea about him picking out one is good, when we're looking at various kid-related stuff, DD1 is always interested in the age range (snacks, beakers, toys etc having the recommended ages on the corner of the packaging usually) so maybe you could do something using that as well, saying this is a beaker for big boys and girls. Makes me chuckle but DD1 (aged 4) HATES being referred to as a 'little girl', she is a 'big girl' even though that's what she calls the older kids at her primary school.

Good luck!

mrcow

My 3 year old also has a bottle at night. She likes it and I'm in no hurry to take it off her. They grow up so fast as it is. She stopped using a dummy at about 18 months and so uses the bottle as a comfort thing.

We did switch to a mug of milk a few weeks ago, but then she was quite poorly so went back as she was feeling really sorry for herself. I'm happy for her to continue for now and she's happy too and that's all that counts.

If you're looking to switch to a cup, then just let him chose the type he wants. I don't think there is any particular brand or shape that is better, a simple glass will do if it's what he likes. It's more a question of making the move over to it the way he'd like to. With my eldest, we switched to water in a tall non spill beaker type cup. He still has a drink of water by his bed now he's 7.

foreign_correspondent

I would let him stop in his own good time - he will grow out of it, but it is comfort to him, as you have noted.

He is still little - in many parts of the world he would still be breastfed, so I would not worry.

arthur_dent_2

My eldest was 3 and my youngest a little over 1 whne i mafe them both go cold turkey. They both had sippy cups and adjusted fine after a couple of days.

shelley24

I got very good advice from this site a year back which worked perfectly, my LO was 28months at the time and we told him that Santa needed his dummies and bottles to give to the babies which didn't have them, in return santa would leave him giftsc:o
We told him in early december and we kept re-iterating why and after a few weeks our LO was telling other people that he was going to leave them for father xmas. He moaned a bit on Xmas night and even less on Boxing day but he never asked again, we just told him Santa had already given them to the babies who need them more than him :j
So thankyou to whoever originally posted this idea :T

bunny999

Mummyboo wrote: »

My little boy is 3 and still has a bottle of milk at night time. I really want to get rid of this now I don't ind him having a drink of milk at night but would like to put it in a cup (but he refuses :mad: ). He has a cup in the day without any problems.

He hasn't had a dummy since he was 1 so this is his only comfort.

My idea was to take him out to buy him a special "night time cup" I thought if he chose it he might accept it better but went to look at them yesterday in Tesco and there was so many different kinds I was confused. Which is better for his teeth? And how is the best way to get him to agree to have it.

Any suggestions??

his only comfort - so why take it away from him ?

TotallyBroke

What do you think about giving hot chocolate?
Maybe consider putting some cocoa powder into his milk into a beaker cup. Leave the lid off so that he can see it is different then put the lid on so he can drink it.

Tell him that no way ever can hot chocolate go into a bottle it's just not right. It'll be his choice then to either keep the bottle or change to the chocolate.
It's upto you then if you continue with the chocolate or slowly reduce the amount until it's back to milk.

My Ds also drinks downstairs about half hour before we go to bed. I'm hoping this will help to be dry in the night. Although he is still in nappies (not 2 yet) he does understand that when we go to bed we have to do a wee. lol

davetrousers

Who's the grown up here?

vickyjayne

I have only recently taken my little girls bottle from her, she was still having it in the day as well as the night plus she was still drinking powered babys milk. I tried loads of ways to get it off her off, the only thimg that worked was telling her that bottles were for babys and she is a big girl now. She did ask once or twice for them but now if she finds an old bottle she says yuck they are for babies, so cold turkey was best for us. She is 31 months and i took them from her 3 weeks ago