3yr old addicted to a nightly/middle of the night bottle! HELP!

[missymoo]

Hi! My 3yr old is addicted to her bottle of a night. She wants at least 2 before she will go to sleep and wakes between 1 and 2 times in the night asking of it!
How is the best way to ween her off this routine?
She is constantly leaking though her nappy in the night because of the milk and I long for an unbroken nights sleep!

Would be greatfull for any tips/advice anyone can give me!
Thanks

[missymoo]

Can anyone out there help???

[Arcadia]

Does she have cows milk or formula? Have you tried just offering water in the bottle? I think you need to train her tummy to not expect it, so either slowly water down the milk or offer a drink but no milk.

Hope this helps!

[black_rose]

We have had the same problem we now give her milk before bed and water to take with her in bed, I am also trying to get her to eat more during the day as I think she was hungry. What has also helped recently she dropped her day nap and isn't waking at night so maybe it was boredom??? On the odd ocassion she calls out for one but not as much.

It's a seems to be a matter of breaking the cycle/habit.

[Kazbah]

With us we used a sippy cup which required a more strenuous sucking motion than a bottle. We also moved it onto water, and we just left it in the cot with him, without actually putting it in his hands?

[missymoo]

I think it's more habit to break than the actual milk. I bought her a special cup today (got it gift wrapped to make a big deal of it for her) and then got her to throw out her bottle (I have 2 so I've got one spare just in case). So we sat on the couch tonight with a story and cup of milk. She asked for a bottle in bed but was ok when I told her that she threw it out. She is taking longer to go to sleep though! Wonder how we will go in the night!

[RhiChiChi]

I think it's more habit to break than the actual milk. I bought her a special cup today (got it gift wrapped to make a big deal of it for her) and then got her to throw out her bottle (I have 2 so I've got one spare just in case). So we sat on the couch tonight with a story and cup of milk. She asked for a bottle in bed but was ok when I told her that she threw it out. She is taking longer to go to sleep though! Wonder how we will go in the night!

Don't give in if she asks back for the bottle, otherwise you will never get rid of it. We did this with bottles & dummies & DD kept asking on & off for them but now she is completely weaned. I would also make sure you offer food prior to milk/water. I think this was a major problem with our DD, so we keep asking her even after dinner if she wants something to eat then offer her milk - which she always takes :S

[missymoo]

I nearly did give in during the night but I persisted! I think it helped that she put her bottle in the rubbish herself as I just kept remining her about that when she asked for a bot and she was fine. I gave her some water instead when she asked for it.
She woke up this morning with a gastro type bug so it turned out to be a good thing that she didn't have a bottle of milk in the night!
Hopefully it doesn't take too long to break the habit - I was up about 6 times in the night as she kept asking for it!