Toddler, Bottle, and Bedtime- Please do not remove

How did you get your older toddler off the night time bottle? DS will ONLY drink milk out of a bottle.. And because he has a Sensory Processing Disorder and feeding difficulties, I have had NO problem giving it to him that way. But he is turning 3 in a few months and I want to start to get him off of it.. He use to drink milk out of a sippy but that was from 15-18 months old. When his SPD went into full swing, that ended. He started to get milk in a bottle around 12 months old before bed. Now he won't go to sleep unless he has the bottle. I have tried giving him less and I have tried water, but those were long nights...
He is also transitioning into his own bed so I have 2 things going on with him.

Re: Toddler, Bottle, and Bedtime- Please do not remove

I had some problems with the night time bottle also. Eventually I just got rid of all the bottles so I could not cheat on the hard nights. I have tried water the bottles down more and more each night till they dont want it anymore. I found a sippy cup that he takes at night time. But it takes more to drink so he drinks it then puts it down brushes his teeth and goes to sleep. it took a few nights but once I could not cheat he did much better. I never looked back. Good Luck!

Re: Toddler, Bottle, and Bedtime- Please do not remove

I'm having the same problem with my DD who just turned 3. She does not know how to drink from a sippy, and just this summer learned how to drink from a straw, so the bottle was the only way we were able to get fluids into her. Now that she drinks from the straw, we're trying to cut out the bottle. We've been watering down the milk, a bit at a time...first replace 1oz of milk with water for a few days, then 2oz for a few days, etc. We finally got to a point where she wasn't drinking the whole bottle anymore so we were going to start cutting the amount we gave her, but then she started svcking it dry again! I'm not real sure what our next strategy will be because even though she is 3, cognitively she is only around 1, so she won't really understand if we try to just tell her "no more bottles" at bedtime.

Re: Toddler, Bottle, and Bedtime- Please do not remove

I used to drink my milk in a bottle before bedtime until 5 or 6 years old. and I turned out OK. At school, I used to drink out of the little carton like everyone else; it was just at home that I used the bottle.

Maybe try the sippy cup or straw during one of the daytime feedings, and slowly get rid of the night bottle. Personally, I wouldnt stress too much about it - I would prefer that my DD drink milk in a bottle rather than not drink any milk.

Re: Toddler, Bottle, and Bedtime- Please do not remove

Thank you every one... I am not overly concerned about it, but his speech/feeding therapist has been bugging me about it.. I worry about his teeth a bit because he doesn't like to have them brushed (SPD issues) I have tried ALL types of cups and he sippys and he won't do it.. And because he doesn't eat a lot of food, he needs the milk.. It makes me feel better that I am not alone in this... Last night he drank the bottle and then I managed to brush his teeth and he fell asleep after 30 minutes.. I can handle that... He will usually drink the bottle to the point he is almost asleep and then he hands it to me and is fast asleep in 5 minutes..