Suggestions needed for getting my 17month old off the bottle

I was trying to limit his bottles from 4 a day to 2, one in the morning and one before bed. He will not take sippy cups at all in place of those bottles. He will however drink out of his siblings cups when they are lying around so I know he CAN drink from them. Suggestions?

Re: Suggestions needed for getting my 17month old off the bottle

Nope, but I'm going to need help eventually too. My 14.5 month old is addicted to his bottle. He hates the sippy. I tried putting milk in it once and he wouldn't take it and threw it on the floor

Re: Suggestions needed for getting my 17month old off the bottle

I pretty much did it cold turkey except for the night bottle. It took about a month before she really "took" to the sippy with milk in it. I felt like I would follow her around all day and try to get her to drink. Eventually she would drink a little bit more each day/week. As she drank more milk from the sippy I would decrease the amount in the night bottle. As soon as she drank enough during the day I took away the night one.

Re: Suggestions needed for getting my 17month old off the bottle

Wish I could help. Daycare solved that one for me. When she was moved to a room with other toddlers who were not using a bottle she slowly stopped asking for it. She wanted to drink from the sippy. They didn't provide any other options for her .. either drink from the sippy or go dry. About a week later she was all about her sippy (at daycare).

She still drank bottles at home. I finally had enough and stopped cold turkey.

A few fits, tantrums, messes and scary refusal to drink (i worried about dehydration) but she got the point. She would drink from a cup though so if I got super worried well I'd sit with her and let her sip from a cup until she was full, but she wasn't allowed to walk around. I used Munchkin sippies and she liked those. Soft tip, required sucking to get the liquid out. She quickly moved to those since they gave her freedom to walk and drink.

She's going to be 2 and she still gets her evening bottle.

Good Luck

Re: Suggestions needed for getting my 17month old off the bottle

Someone at the old daycare used this - not sure how old DD was at the time:

She put the bottles in the dishwasher at night - DD saw her do it.

When DD and mom woke up, they were all gone - she looked in every cabinit and there were no more bottles.

DD took the sippy and never looked back.

Re: Suggestions needed for getting my 17month old off the bottle

I went completely cold turkey at 16 months. Because my DD hated cold milk and when it was in a sippy I added a little Hershey's Light Chocolate Syrup and she LOVED it and ditched her bottles with no problem. After about 3-4 days I stopped using the chocolate syrup and she was totally fine with it.

EDIT - Just be aware that when they switch over their milk consumption goes waaaaay down. They don't chug a sippy they way they chug a bottle. That's okay though because they should be getting enough calories from their food. If you're concerned about them drinking enough I would leave a water sippy out all day, that's what I've always done, and my DD drinks a lot throughout the day.

Message edited 8/17/2010 1:27:57 PM.

Re: Suggestions needed for getting my 17month old off the bottle

DD is 13 months and I have been slowily replacing one bottle a day with a sippycup. She refuses them for a day or two but then takes them. I just upped her cheese and yogurt and water intake for the few days she refused the sippy. Last night, I went cold turkey on the nighttime baba and gave her a sippy of milk which she only had a few sips from before refusing it. I put all the bottles away today so no turning back!
Good luck..I am sure he will get it soon!

Re: Suggestions needed for getting my 17month old off the bottle

ok i had to do this with my son. offer the same sippy cup whenever he wants his bottle and if he refuses do not give in. it took a week but he now drinks his milk from a sippy cup. Its hard not to give in but you cant.. Believe me it works

Re: Suggestions needed for getting my 17month old off the bottle

I did one bottle at a time, for 2 weeks, take one away then 2 days later the next etc, until we went from 4 bottles to 2.

Consumption went way down, Dr said to just supplement with yogurt, cheese, etc. At that age they dont NEED 30oz of milk (as an example) I think my ped was okay with 8oz as long as I was doing vitamins and supplementing.

Maybe try giving your DC a sippy similar to the older siblings.