Binkies and Bottles

My LOs are approaching a year.

When did you give up binkies? how did you do it? how did it go?
(right now they only have them in their cribs)

How old were your kids when you switched to sippy cups?
My LOs drink water from their sippies and 1 milk servings daily from their sippy cups. They do okay with them but still seem to drink more with a bottle. Should i start switching them over completely? is there a reason it would be better? I think i should make any bottle/cup changes now before we transition form formula to milk.?

TIA for any info. / suggestions.

 

I just transitioned slowly, moving one meal time to a sippy at a time. And letting that be it for a week, then the next week another bottle time.

With binkies, I failed. LOL DD was my binkie user and at first I said a year I'd just take them. (She had hers all day, not just in bed.) Then I said 18mths because I chickened out at 1yr. Then I said 2. Hahaha. Well, just after 2 we decided only in bed. Right around 3 (and by this time she didn't even use them at night, it was just a comfort thing going to sleep) we were down to just 2 because we refused to buy more. Well, one got left at Nana's house during a visit. And about a week later I was making her bed and found the sole binkie under her pillow. I hid it in my sock drawer (where it is to this day because I can't stand to get rid of it) and at bed time she looked for it. At first she cried but then we talked about it a little and her brother snuggled with her to make her feel better. After 10 minutes or so she was ready to go to bed. The next night the binkie fairy left her a new movie under her pillow as a reward for giving up her binkie. She still talks about it but we never had the first problem after the first night.
It was much later than I wanted to give them up, but in the end it worked out.


Biggest advice I learned is don't stress it. Chances are very favorable that they won't go to college with a binkie and bottle. Follow their cues and take it day by day. But when you do it, don't waffle. Stick to your guns.

 

With my ODD, we took away the paci just after she turned two. She had only been using it for bed time and naps since about a year. One night I just didn't give it to her. The next couple of nights she nasked for it and I just stated very matterof-factly that big girls don't use pacis and that was it. I doubt it would be that easy with 1 year olds but maybe just start with naps and once they adjust some you can try nights?

 

Bottles.....my oldest started on sippy cups around 11 months, and loved the straw cups so much he refused to take his nighttime bottle! I finally put his milk into a straw cup and he drained it!

My second child was about 13 months when we got off of bottles. The twins were closer to 15 months. I started taking away the middle of the day bottle first and switching to sippy cup and a snack. After a few days/week we did the morning bottle. It took us closer to another month before taking away the night time bottle, I think partially because we didn't want to stop babying them :wub: My last babies!

As for paci's. My oldest was right at 2 yrs old. By 18 months he was down to just nights and naps with it. We went cold turkey. He cried for several hours the first night but after a few nights he was fine.

My oldest was 3 yrs old, as were the twins. My oldest had real trouble dealing with new situations. Her paci was her security, and when we tried to take it away at age 2 it destroyed her sleep for months. She went from being able to go to bed in a dark room with the door closed, to needing the door wide open and a lamp on in her room. Took us months to transition her to the light in the hallway being on, and then eventually the door partially closed. We finally got her back to having it dark and the door closed but it took awhile.

We tried to take the twins away at age 2 and it was a nightmare. After about 4 hrs of constant crying from 2 babies we gave up and gave them back. Tried again at age 3 and went WAY better.

I just don't see the huge rush in taking it away. Especially if it's their main comfort item As you can see i was fine with my kids waiting until 3 yrs old since that's what they needed at the time