Nina's comforter is her sippy cup. It's a MagMag, so one that has a soft teat. In the first 12 months, she had a dummy, and at 12 months gave it to me one day, and never wanted it back. Easy. About 6 months later, she started getting attached to the sippy cup. I know now that I should have nicked it in the butt back then, but at the time I didn't think it would be a probelm. It was only about 2 months ago that DH & I realised how much of an attachment she had to it. There was no way she could get to sleep without it, and it got to one stage that she was drinking way too much milk.
So in the last 2 months, I've been slowly weaning her off it. I started by only offering it to her at bedtime. That way she wasn't having milk all day long. This went well.
So now it's time to get rid of the bottle completely. We first tried by telling her that she's a big girl now, and doesn't need the bottle, and asked her to put it in the bin. That was a BIG mistake. She got very distressed by this, and everytime I would go to the bin, she would insist on searching the bin bag to see if her bottle was in there.
So I have now decided that the best way is to just get rid of it. Today, I threw it in the bin myself, without her seeing. I've told her that she is now a big girl, and doesn't need a bottle. I can see that she understands this, and twice today she's had a little bit of milk out of her new sippy cup (one with a hard teat). And I'm not offering it to her when she goes to bed.
She woke up quite early this morning, earlier than normal, so needed a morning nap. It took about 20 minutes of her screaming the house down, until she finally calmed down and went to sleep. And she slept for 1.5 hours.
This afternoon, again it took about 20 minutes of screaming to finally settle and go to sleep. She's only just fallen asleep, so I'm not sure how long she'll sleep for.
I did try and comfort her both times, but this seemed to make things worse. So I left her for a while.
So my question is, how long do you think it will take before she can go to sleep without becoming so distressed? Do you think it's unreasonable to think it will only take a few days? Even though she was very attached to the bottle, she's a very switched on little girl, and seems to understand DH & I when we say she's too old to have a bottle now.
I just hope I'm doing the right thing, and going about it the right way. At least I know not what to do with Emily.
We had to do this with our eldest.. he was just around 2 and was very addicted to his bottle and dummy. i put water only in the bottle to begin with but after i left the room i got a bottle thrown at my head so we just said ;no Ethan you are a big boy now.. bottles are for little babies.. and he took about a week before he stopped asking for it...
He still asked after it from time to time when he was tired but we just changed his routine and added smething new instead of the bottle..
Your story sounds similar to how my daughter reacted when I took the dummy off her at 18 months. Sara screamed at each sleep for around 3 days and then it all just went back to normal.
All I can say is that it does take time to change a habit and eachday will get better. Be consistent and don't give in and let her have it back. Be positive when you are telling her why she can't have it and maybe buy her a new cup that she can look forward to using at meal times.
I am not being rude or cheeky but am just curious. And I don't mean to offend any of you but this is my question- what is wrong with bubs having a comforter? If it provides comfort and security what are the reasons for taking it away?
Teeth is a big reason, sucking on a dummy or bottle/sippy cup causes problems with their teeth. My exP used to suck his thumb as a kid and now he has a big gap between his top and bottom teeth.
No offence at all Deirder. My main reasons are this:
~ She was using the bottle as a dummy. If it was up to her, she'd work around with it in her mouth all day long. And at 2, I didn't think it wasn't necessary/appropriate.
~ She wasn't able to sleep without it. She's a fantastic sleeper, but only because the bottle was there with her.
~ And most importantly, teeth. It's not recommended they go to bed with a bottle due to teeth decay.
I have waited until she was 2 as I think she is old enough to understand that she doesn't need it. And she doesn't. She proved that last night. She whinged for about 5 minutes last night before going to bed. And by whinging, I mean exactly that, not crying, screaming, trying to bash down the door etc. Just a little whinge, then she slept all night. When she woke this morning, she was happy. She asked for some milk, which I gave her on the lounge in her new sippy cup, and she happily drank it.
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Getting rid of the comforter
so we just said ;no Ethan you are a big boy now.. bottles are for little babies.. and he took about a week before he stopped asking for it...
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