I'm at my Wits End...

Hi,

Ok, so Ava is a year old. Everyone is telling me to get her off the bottle and binkie. Well, I am having the hardest time.

She wants nothing to do with the sippy cup. She will only nap with milk in the bottle. Everyone is telling me not to do that becuase of bottle rot.

She throws her sippy cup at me.. Should I just continue with the bottle. I am afraid she is not drinking enough.

Please tell me how you all handled this. Did your children need milk in a bottle with them in the crib in order to go to sleep?

I have no clue what to do.

Thanks,
Signed,
Helpless in Babylon :((

Re: I'm at my Wits End...

Ryan is a year too and he won't drink out of the sippy cuo either. I don't give him a bottle at bedtime though because he doesn't need it. He takes the pacifier instead

Honestly I'm not too concerned with it right now. I feel when he is ready he is ready.

Re: I'm at my Wits End...

I am not at this stage yet, but from experience with other people's kids I can give you some suggestions they have done.

I wouldn't take both away at the same time.

The first thing I would tackle is the bottle of milk to sleep. Bottle rot is soo nasty, and can do soo much damage to kids teeth, it's really horrible and sad to see pics and know what kids have to go through when they fall asleep with sugar on their teeth.

I asked a dentist how to get a kid off a milk bottle to sleep he told me to start slow, water down the milk little by little, so sooner or later all she has in there, is milk flavored water, then just water. to kinda wean her off the milk. She just may want to **** and drink for comfort. She just may not like the contents of the bottle, she weans herself off of it to fall asleep.

I was told by my friends, who have been through this, that kids won't make themselves soo thirsty, and they will drink sooner or later. What they did was just to be consistent, and constantly offer the cup, and not the bottle. She is testing you, and winning.

Good luck! The binky is next

Re: I'm at my Wits End...

Jenna took a bottle longer than a year but I never put her to bed or a nap with a bottle of milk-I didn't want the milk to pool in her mouth and cause bottle rot.

Message edited 7/13/2006 11:13:43 AM.

Re: I'm at my Wits End...

Bryan doesnt really like the sippy cup as much as he does the straw cup from playtex. He still takes his milk from the bottle though and he just turned one. He will drink water from the straw cup throughout the day and then one bottle in the morning and one bottle at night. I think everybaby is different, Im not realy to give up the bottle just yet but we have been cutting down. The binky is another story, he is going to be attched to that for awhile. We still use it for naps. bedtime and for when he is out and gets out of control. We are taking the gradual aproach with him. It seems to work better. I would just try weaning slowly rather that going cold turkey.

Re: I'm at my Wits End...

I agree with not taking away both at the same time and also don't stress yourself out about it. Kids do things on their own timeline. I really don't have any advice on giving up the bottle.. for some very odd reason the week before my son turned one he started refusing his bottle and never turned back. But he also HATED sippy cups.. He hardly used them at all. We went right from the bottle to the baby cups with straws.

Re: I'm at my Wits End...

Thanks.

Well, I started watering down your nighttime milk bottle. It is so hard becuase if I don't give it to her, she screams her head off. I know DH and I are taking the easy way out by giving in, but I just don't know what else to do.

I have been trying to give her the Nuby cup throughout the day, but she just throws it and now she has found out how to get the handles off and she thinks its hilarious. She tries to put the handles on her head like a pair of sunglasses! :)

Anyway, so I took the handles away from her becuase I figured it she had them to play with, she will really pay no mind to the cup.

I am so scared of bottle rot. She will not fall asleep it seems without a bottle. Sometimes se does but she must be really, really tired.

Do you think maybe she just doesn't want to sleep and I am forcing her to sleep. I try to give her two naps a day. *(about 1 to 1 1/2 hours each).

I am just so confused and lost. This is the second hardest part of motherhood so far, The first was clipping her nails!

ETA: When should I take Ava to the dentist?

Any more advice, I would really, really appreicate it! :)
Thanks,
Denise

Message edited 7/15/2006 2:58:04 PM.

Re: I'm at my Wits End...

I think this challenge is very comparable to getting your kids to sleep on their own in that it will be a rough couple of days, but in the end she will adapt to the change. Do you know what I mean? I would be persistant about giving her the cup with some watered down juice or something that would entice her to drink from it. And limit the times you offer the bottle. She will eventually give in and start drinking from the cup as long as you do not give in and let her have the bottle back. Kind of like letting them cry it out at bedtime, this would be like letting her throw some tantrums for a few days and then she'll be over it and the bottle will be long gone.

Re: I'm at my Wits End...

My husbands Mom put him to bed with a bottle of Kool Aid when he was a baby...yes that's right Kool Aid His teeth have NEVER been good and we have spent thousands on dental bills and still more to go. I really think you should try to get her out of this ASAP.

Re: I'm at my Wits End...

Kool AID?? Oh man.... I have no words.

Re: I'm at my Wits End...

Patrick had bottle rot. He had 4 front teeth removed just before his second birthday. Attempt to give her water for bed time if you have to give her anything. If she screams or whatever let her. (sounds cruel I know) But, you can't give in right away. If you do this every night by night # 5 she will realize milk is no longer her night cap! I do realize you don't want to upset our children but, sometimes we have to for their own benefit!!

Re: I'm at my Wits End...

Posted by melijane

My husbands Mom put him to bed with a bottle of Kool Aid when he was a baby...yes that's right Kool Aid His teeth have NEVER been good and we have spent thousands on dental bills and still more to go. I really think you should try to get her out of this ASAP.

Re: I'm at my Wits End...

Welll, I have two options, right.

I can either give the bottle before bed with me feeding her and then brush her teeth.

Or, but her in bed with a bottle of WATERED down milk... Really watered down.

But I do want her off the bottle, so my best bet would be put her to bed cold turkey right, with nothing??

I feel bad though.

Re: I'm at my Wits End...

Posted by Denisemang

Thanks.

Well, I started watering down your nighttime milk bottle. It is so hard becuase if I don't give it to her, she screams her head off. I know DH and I are taking the easy way out by giving in, but I just don't know what else to do.

I have been trying to give her the Nuby cup throughout the day, but she just throws it and now she has found out how to get the handles off and she thinks its hilarious. She tries to put the handles on her head like a pair of sunglasses! :)

Anyway, so I took the handles away from her becuase I figured it she had them to play with, she will really pay no mind to the cup.

I am so scared of bottle rot. She will not fall asleep it seems without a bottle. Sometimes se does but she must be really, really tired.

Do you think maybe she just doesn't want to sleep and I am forcing her to sleep. I try to give her two naps a day. *(about 1 to 1 1/2 hours each).

I am just so confused and lost. This is the second hardest part of motherhood so far, The first was clipping her nails!

ETA: When should I take Ava to the dentist?

Any more advice, I would really, really appreicate it! :)
Thanks,
Denise

Re: I'm at my Wits End...

I think youll probably just have to tough it out when it comes to giving her the milk to go to sleep. Itll be harder before it gets easier but you can eventually get her use to not taking a bottle of milk to get to sleep. Bottle rot is definitely an issue and of the things you listed, the one I would personally agree needs more immediate attention. Maybe try water in it instead..of course she wont be happy but if she wants to have the comfort of sucking, it may help for her to still have the bottle there. As far as the bottle and binky...sorry but after having 3 kids, I dont get whats the big deal about getting them off both by 1 year. Both my older kids were basically off the bottle by 1 but even so, I dont see why its such a issue these days. If shes walking around at 4 years old with it, thats another story but 1 year is still small. As far as the binky, my older son took it till he was 2 and gave it up so easily, it was like he never missed it. Again, I wouldnt want to see him walking around with it at 4 yrs old or damage his bite but I think its far less common than we think for their teeth to go crooked from a binky. Its like, as parents we are forced into fearing about every decision when it comes to our kids and the longer I have kids, the more I notice that in general we are being fed that fear from most articles, books, TV shows, etc geared towards parenting, KWIM? I think trying to force changes can be very stressful for them so whatever you do, try one change at a time and try not to stress yourself over it - it only makes it harder for them. Good luck with it.

Re: I'm at my Wits End...

Thanks, Liz. :) You made a lot of sense and made me feel a lot better. Thanks for the help. I really appreciate it.

Denise

Re: I'm at my Wits End...

The No Cry Sleep solution has tips for this. It's the exact same thing a nursing mom goes through, the sucking to sleep association is so hard to get rid of. However, I agree that the teeth rotting is an issue. A friend of mine did it cold turkey and her daughter went on a milk strike for a couple of weeks, so of course she was worried about her milk intake. No matter what method you try there will be crying involved
Good luck!