To get rid of the bottle or not?? But... DD is 2.5 yo..

[snowchickie79]

hi all,
I'm a little torn on this one so i thought i'd ask all the very informed mummy's for opinions and ideas.

DD is 2.5 this month and still has her milk in a bottle. I've tried numerous times to give it to her in sippy cups, straw cups, normal cups etc and she refuses it and cries till i put the milk into a bottle.

I'd love her to get rid of the bottle so i can take that cleaning task off my list but we've been trying again this weekend and this morning to give her the milk in a cup and she just cries and won't drink it and keeps asking me for "milka".

DD has a 260ml+ milk bottle when she wakes up whilst laying down watching TV, and will usually ask for a refill. She asks me for "milka" usually a couple of times during the day but i do not give her any during the day, only her water. She then has another 260ml+ milk bottle after her bath and before bed. Again she will often ask for a refill - so it's safe to say she LOVES milk. If she is getting sick I can always tell as she'll be asking for her "milka" all day long and will only drink milk, no water, so I know when she is getting sick.

So.. do I need to get rid of the bottle or should i just leave her alone? My mum thinks I should just leave her and that it's not doing her any harm.. I figure it probably isn't doing her any harm as such but I also hate that most other kids her age do not have a bottle and she does, but on the flip side I know how much comfort it gives her and how much she obviously loves it and don't want to be the nasty mummy to take it away from her and watch her cry for it.. So suggestions please..

[~clover~]

After leaving my DD2 alone & not forcing her to give up the bottle, I'd encourage you to try.
At about 2ish I got DD off the bottle, but she still had a pop top to go to sleep with. It was when it started to change the shape of her teeth I stopped it completely.
Her two top teeth are rounded to the shape of a bottle/pop top. Thankfully she'll lose them soon!
It will be hard. For us any weaning was hardest for the first 3 or 4 days, then got easier. She is old enough now that you can talk to her about it. Explain that bottles are for little babies & that she is a big girl now.
Maybe take her shopping for a special big girl cup.

As long as there is other dairy in her diet, I wouldn't worry too much about her drinking milk. Yoghurt, cheese & other dairy products will be enough to replace it. its not needed at her age

[Trillian]

Can you compromise with her and not give her so much milk? She probably doesn't really need that much milk at her age, but it has probably become more of a comfort item to her as opposed to a real need for the milk. Or you can try to get her to only have 1 at night and not during the morning. Use distraction if she asks for it? She seems to be content with water during the day so it might be easier to convince her to not have the morning one. I'm guessing too that if she is drinking that much milk in the morning she isn't having breakfast? Or at least having it later?

[snowchickie79]

I checked her teeth and they do not seem affected at all by the bottle so that is at least a bonus.

Trillian - She has never really eaten breakfast but you are correct, most morning's she won't eat breakfast. I did think the milk was affecting her eating breakfast but i've tried only giving her a small bottle and then some breakfast and she still won't eat the food. I don't usually eat breakfast either and neither does my Mum so I have just assumed she is like me in the breakfast department. That sounds like a good idea, just start with getting rid of the breakfast bottle. We are going up the shops now so I'm going to let her pick a new cup and buy one of those crazy straws and hopefully that might get her to use that for her milk in the morning. Get rid of the morning one with the "you can have one before you go to bed" and then once the morning one is gone i can try to get rid of the night time one..

More suggestions are still welcome as i think i'm going to need as much "amo" as I can get.

[~clover~]

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day (for everyone) so you really need to try to get her to have something. Even if its just some fruit &/or toast. I don't allow my kids to leave the house without breaky.
Maybe not allow milk til after breakfast. Then it might be ok if she uses a regular cup with no lid?

[Tilda]

Take this with a grain of salt because I don't have the references to give you on this but I have read that bottles can affect the development of teeth (adult as well) and jaws if given throughout the toddler years. Maybe you could ask a dentist about it. And if you decide to try and get rid of the bottle you could try why my mum did with me when I was about 3 - a MAJOR bribe. Basically I was told that getting a puppy meant I had to give my bottle up. I still remember ceremoniously handing over my bottle to the breeder! And apparently there was never another word on the topic. I know you're not supposed to bribe kids but maybe on the really big things it doesn't hurt to have a bit of a reward for giving up a much loved comfort.

[rustygirl]

Cohen used to be the same when he was sick he would only have milk. Not even any food. He is 3 next mth and only just stopped having a bottle about the beginning of December last yr. The only reason he stopped was we lost the only bottle that he had (I eventually found it under the coffee table) I told him that we didn't know where it was and I asked him if he knew where it was to which he said No. He said "awwww my bottle" but I didn't hear anything else about it after that. So we progressed to a sippy cup. when we moved interstate a few wks later we stayed at my DH's parent's house for a few nights and when we moved into our new house we accidentally left the sippy cup at Poppy's place. I explaned that we had left it there and that we couldn't go back for a little while to get it so I just gave him some milk in a cup. for the last wk he hasn't even touched his milk and I have stopped giving it to him all together. I think when the time is right for your little girl she will stop with the bottle and it won't be a big issue one day she will just drop it. Why go to all the hassle of having her crying and upset. it's just a bottle of milk after all.