21 Month old still having bottles..how to wean off

My 21 month old daughter is still having bottles, approx 2 per day, generally in relation to her sleeps. Having a bottle relaxes her and she associates it with sleep. Even though she CAN go to sleep without a bottle, she will not sleep for as long if she doesn't have it or sometimes will miss her sleep without one.
I know that she will eventually grow out of it, but I am just wondering if anyone else has this same issue and if anyone has any ideas on how to wean a bottle off a toddler who is VERY attached to the bottle!

When DD1 turned 2 we put her bottles in a plastic bag and she put them in the bin (I retrieved it and hid them). We replaced them with a "big girl" Dora straw cup.

Planned to do the same for DD2. We went away for a week when she was 23mths and accidently forgot to pack them, so it solved the problem for us. She uses a straw cup now too.

She doesnt drink as much milk on the way to bed now but she sleeps well.

We also got rid of the dummy a week earlier by cutting a small hole in the tip of the teat so it didnt suck - she didnt like it and threw it out no problems.

Both girls take a teddy to bed so still had a comforter with them which may have helped.

When you are ready I would suggest you just go 'cold turkey'. Let her know they are gone (perhaps have her throw them away), and replace it with a 'big girl' cup to use for milk at bedtime. Then you can gradually lessen amount given or replace with water if/when you want to.

Good luck

My son was still having milk in a bottle a few months after he turned 2. As he was our first child, the fact that he did associate that with sleep and having no comforters (apart from me having to lay next to him and I still have to and he is 3yrs old) such as a teddy, a dummy or blanket we continued with this bottle as I thought he would not cope going to sleep without a bottle. But one day I was checking his teeth and I noticed decay along the gumlines on his front 4 teeth. We took him to the dentist the following day and was told he had 'milk teeth' which came down to the bottles and not brushing his teeth regularly. So that night he had no bottle, he did ask for it when he saw the bottles but I told him he wasnt having them anymore and he was ok with it. My son is a demanding little being and has tantrums at the answer to no but he surprised me by being ok with no bottle. I guess he still had me as his comforter to get to sleep so he was ok. I think we as parents THINK that our kids wont do well doing what we expect BEFORE WE ACTUALLY TRY so give it a go having no bottle and its also better for their teeth. My son has bad decay from the milk and we have to watch it, hoping it will be ok til he starts to lose his baby teeth. If your daughter has no comforter try placing a teddy with her for her sleep times til she starts to associate that with sleep time - this worked for my son at 1yr we started placing a teddy with him to sleep so he would not need me to lay next to him but he got attached to the teddy and STILL needs me as well lol. When our daughter turned 1 we stopped bottles with her overnight and she was ok as she had a dummy and blanket to comfort her, then we thought she would struggle without a dummy and stopped the dummy overnight and she was fine. We found the bottle gave my son bad decay, the dummy gave my daughter uneven teeth and they both were OK without them and it is so much better for their teeth without these after 1yrs.

Firstly don't feel bad about giving your child a bottle of milk. Some children are breastfed for much longer! However it may be hard to break the habit of bedtime = bottle of milk. Maybe you could start with getting her to drop the morning bottle & progress from there? At some point though if she is showing no signs of giving up the bottle you have to make the decision for her bcus it is in her best interest & she will eventually learn to go without it.

We have only just weaned my son off his night time bottle of milk. What a nightmare! We tried every type of sippy cup & transition bottle we could find but he would just throw it on the floor. He drinks water & juice from a drinking bottle/cup but he would not accept milk in anything but a baby bottle. We gave him some leeway bcus he was a preemie & suffers from chronic ear infections so is always sick & when he is sick he would only drink milk & water & no food.

It felt like he would never give up his bottle! About 2 months ago I found a transition bottle for sale at Coles & it has a plastic spout (I think Nuby or NUK) but no teat. They just rest the plastic bit on their lips & suck. We figured we would give it a go & told him it was his big boy bottle - no more baby bottles but we were expecting him to throw it on the floor as with all the others. For some reason he accepted this bottle! He would drink his night time bottle at first but for about a month now he just doesn't want it. We are having trouble getting him to drink milk from a sippy cup but he has plenty of calcium in his diet milk with cereal, plenty of cheese, yoghurt, custard, salmon & veges like broccoli & spinach so he will be ok. I think he was just ready. I also think in some ways I didn't give him the benefit of the doubt & just kept giving him his bottles of milk.

I was really worried about the effects of tooth decay from the sugar sitting on his teeth bcus it can & does affect their teeth. DS brushes his teeth (quite well actually) twice a day, drinks lots of fluridated water after meals, didn't play, suck or carry his bottle around in his mouth. His teeth appear fine - no signs of decay that I can tell. Phew!

We forgot to pack bottles when we went away for 4 days when DS was 2. I had been wanting to get him off them so a while so it was a perfect opportunity. It was so much easier then I thought and he was very attached to his bottles. He asked for them for a week or 2 but never had a tantrum and was fine without them. I felt such a relief when they were gone! Good luck smile

We are having the same issues with our little girl who has just turned 2. She is happy to have a slipper cup/cup/bottled water etc etc but bed time she wants her baby bottle, she has about 2 or 3 and now has got to the stage where she wont eat her dinner, lunch or b/fast i guess she is filled up on milk. any ideas i would love to hear, although i am liking her putting her bottles in the bin maybe then we could go to the shops and her pick out a big girl cup?????

We are having the same issues with our little girl who has just turned 2. She is happy to have a slipper cup/cup/bottled water etc etc but bed time she wants her baby bottle, she has about 2 or 3 and now has got to the stage where she wont eat her dinner, lunch or b/fast i guess she is filled up on milk. any ideas i would love to hear, although i am liking her putting her bottles in the bin maybe then we could go to the shops and her pick out a big girl cup?????

I say go for it, tell her she is a big girl now chuck the bottles out and go to the shops and let he pick a big girl cup. Good luck smile

Like someone has stated previously, cut out the morning bottle first.

My 20 month old daughter still has a bottle before bed. Im not worried about it she likes her milk. She doesnt have any milk during the day (and i offer her milk but she doesnt want it).


See how you go with dropping the during the day bottle for atleast a month. Dont drop off the 2 at the same time..

Good luck!!

My DD 21months still has a bottle for her nap and a bed time bottle. We weaned her dummy off her about 4 weeks ago. It was a rough three days. I am thinking about weaning her off her day nap bottle and only give her a bed time bottle. I have been given advice from a friend and she has had sucess with her two daughters that gradually watering down the milk until its mostly water will put them off wanting it. I have set a day to start doing this I will keep you posted on how it goes.

Earlier this month we decided to stop DS's bottles. So 1 day I said "Big Boys don't use bottles, so we put them in the rubbish?" He agreed and he put them in a bag and then into the big rubbish bin. (DF took them out later). He went to bed great that night and we have never had a problem since, he has never asked for them.

BUT one thing I did do was give him a sippy cup with Milk first thing in the morning. He loves it! And usually has another half a cup while eating his cerel and toast. In some ways I think this helped with understanding.

Hi,
I swapped my DD to sippy cups when she was about 2, luckily she wasn't too attached to her bottle but was to the milk so she drank it out of the sippy cup!
It was not long after that had to stop giving her milk before bed as we were/are still toilet training her & all she wanted to do was get up & go to the toilet so then it became a game for her because she knew if she got up & said toilet that i couldn't get cross with her! I think she asked for it a few times but it was more me, i felt so guilty but she adjusted fine. i give her a milk drink throughout the day now.