Can anyone tell me how to wean my two year old from the bottle I have tried but she cries miserably for it and keeps me up all night worse than what she already does until I give it to her..
All children handle this differently. My oldest was like yours. We told her the bottles went to new babies and we hid everything! Try giving a cup instead. You said she cries until you give in. How many times have you tried weaning her from the bottle? She obviously knows that if she continues her tantrums you'll cave in. It's like getting them to sleep; you need to let them cry it out at some point. Give her a favorite blanket/toy and tell her the bottles are for new babies. Good luck on this.
Is your daughter using a cup at all? If so, you should only put her milk or juice in the cup. Put only water in the bottle. This is good for a couple of reasons. One, it's bad for her dental health to be drinking from a bottle and milk/juice can cause dental decay if drunk from a bottle. Two, she won't be as happy with the bottle if it only has water in it.
I would personally go cold turkey if my child was also using a cup. Thankfully my kids were introduced to sippy cups at 6 months and were happy to be rid of nursing or bottles at one years old. BUT, if this is too harsh for you then just start to cut down on the number of bottles she gets. Only let her have it in the morning and a night for about a week and then remove it for one of those times and do this for a week. Then just take it away all together and get rid of the bottles. Don't slip up and give her a bottle at any other time because she is fussing. It won't take long but it may be a bit miserable for you and her at first.
Maybe someone else has a better suggestion. Good luck.
Just remember that it's much harder for you than it is for them. They are not going to tell you when they are 15 that they are still angry that you took their bottle away. Like the PP said, go cold turkey. I can't imagine how hard it is to get a bottle away from a child at the age of 2 b/c all my kids gave it up around 11-12 months. It's going to be a couple sleepless night, but you have to be strong. Throw them away if you have to and get them out of the house. Good luck and let us know how you make out!
I agree, you just have to get rid of it and be done. I got rid of Alexa's regular bottles at 12-13 months and we switched to silicone straws at that time, it was great because she didn't care, she was too young to know. When it came time to get rid of the pacifier we also did that cold turkey. I found she cried a time or two but I was overall surprised how quickly she forgot about it. It can seem like it is going to be a huge deal, but possibly after a day or two it will be better. If I am not mistaken, I thinnk our daughters are the same age. Alexa drinks out of a regular cup with no lids. Try putting a little water, juice, or milk in the bottom of a regular cup, only enough for a swallow until she learns to drink that, add a couple of more swallows and before you know it she can drink like us and not spill. She will learn to gently control the cup as you add more liquid. Try switching to a silicone straw sippy when you do get rid of the bottle.
i took my girls out for a special trip to the store specifically to buy new milk cups to replace their bottles. i let them pick out their own new special cups for milk and kept telling them over and over that this would be their special cup and no more bottles. i did this with my oldest when she was two and a half and my youngest when she was barely two (because we'll have a new baby in the house shortly after she's 2 1/2). with my first, it was so easy. she chose a dora cup, and we had dora milk that night at bedtime and we never ever looked back. it was a little harder with my youngest. she cried and whined for the bottle that first night (for like five minutes maybe), but i just told her it was her new special froggy cup or no milk. she's a smart kid and she knew i meant it, so she chose froggy milk.... she just whined a bit the next night, but no tantrums and she was completely over the bottle within a few nights.
you just have to be consistent with it. if she senses you will cave, she'll keep up the tantrums until you do. if you can ignore the tantrums, she'll learn that you mean what you say and she'll give it up. it might take a night or two, but if you hang in there, she'll learn to love her cup!
When my daughter wouldn't give up her bottle without crying, I cut the end off of the nippple. Whenever she asked for her bottle I would show her it was busted and couldn't drink from it anymore. Within a day she was drinking from a cup.
Nadine
Last edited by music47; 05-12-2008 at 08:17 PM.
Reason: Correction
Thanks for all the advice Im going to try it Monday and see how it goes I know its not good for her teeth because I was on the bottle until I was almost 4 I was the last baby and I loved the bottle I can remember it but it did cause serious damage to my baby teeth which cost my parents alot of money to fix.. Thanks again.
Re: How to get rid of the bottle? 
