Dropping the Bedtime Bottle

First of all, I guess I should formally introduce myself to the 1-4 board. I've been posting, but this is my first thread. I'm Rachael, married to Rick, and our twins are Jack and Anna.

So, we have successfully and painlessly eliminated all bottles but the bedtime one. They are still sucking down 8 ounces like they are starving. But, I want to get them off formula and bottles now that they are one. I just don't know how to go about it. Cold turkey? Weaning them slowly? Back up the bedtime bottle to put more time between it and bed? Switch to a formula sippy? I would appreciate any advice, success stories, or info that you all could provide. I am really flummoxed about how to drop this last bottle.

Thanks!!

 

I'm interested to see what everyone says too. So far we've weaned them down to four ounces of regular milk in the nighttime bottle. I'm scared to take the next step though because I've only seen them drink 4 oz out of a sippy once each and I like my sleep!!

What we've done so far... First we lowered the amount of formula by half an ounce every other day or so until we got to 6 oz. Then we tried a complete switch to whole milk (They were already drinking milk during the day). That worked for DS2 and we left him at 6 oz of milk for awhile while we dealt with his brother. For DS1 we had to mix it half and half and decrease the amount of formula gradually. When we got to 4 oz milk and 2 oz formula we just quit putting the formula in and he did fine. After that we lowered DS2 to 4 oz and now we are stuck. We were discussing switching to a sippy this weekend, but I'm chicken.

 

We just got rid of the bedtime bottle at 22 months.. I saw no reason to rush. We all enjoyed the quiet time and I liked the knowledge that they were full right before bed. I quite honestly don't understand the urgency.

Now they still get milk before bed but in a sippy cup, somedays they drink it all and other days they don't bother, I don't force them.

I would work on transistioning them slowly. Are they drinking milk out of a cup yet in the day?

I started by using the same cup for milk in the day every time. Water was given in a different cup. Once they were comfortable with that, then I swapped the bedtime bottle with that. A few screams but eventually gave in..

Good luck...

 

I too worried about the bedtime bottle, we just switched cold turkey one night to a sippy of milk and a snack. They didn't drink much at all (maybe 2 ounces vs. a usualy 6 ounce bottle) and I was so scared they would wake up that first night. Not only did they sleep all night but they slept in almost an extra hour I think b/c their diapers weren't as wet. It was the easiest of all the bottles to drop. Good luck!

p.s. We dropped it around 13ish months I think, we started the dropping bottles transition at 11.5 so it took 6 weeks to get completely off them.

 

That scared me too! I think my guys were close to 18mos before I took the plunge b/c I was too scared before.

I replaced it with a Sippy of milk and they never blinked an eye! Never even acted like they missed the bottle. I still give them a sippy to sip on before bedtime while we are watching tv or reading.

My fear now is Pacis! Our goal is Age 3 and we are quickly approaching that.

 

Thanks all! I'm glad to hear that some babies don't have any problem with it. Don't even get me started worrying about pacis. Jack goes to bed with about 8 in his crib in case he loses one.

 

didn't read other replies, but we just switched our night bottle to a sippy prior to bed (at almost 20 months, mind you). they now chug while snuggling with us & watching tv on my bed, then get medicine (we've been sick since december, one after the other), brush teeth, and off to bed. they still have pacifiers, and since they are used to sleeping without a bottle at naptime i think it wasn't such a hard transition for them.

good luck

 

I also did not read all of the other replies. We were in less of a hurry to drop it this time. The Main reason I believe that peds try to get rid of it is the teeth health issue. So, we were ready (not worried about wake-up due to hunger) we started giving the bottles with whole milk (they were quite a bit past one) in the tub at night and then letting them bring them into our bed for stories then brushing teeth and off to bed. Maybe a few months later we just offered them in the tub and brushed teeth then read the stories and off to bed. After many months of that we finally just had them bring up their pacis and a sippy cup of water to bath and brush teeth... etc etc. They take their sippy cups of water to bed with them. This last transition also went along with not allowing all day access to pacifiers. Telling them pacis were only for night night and nap time. This seemed to pull the attention away from not having a bottle of milk to ahhhh I get my paci!
Hope this helps. I think as long as you are doing a tooth brushing betweent he bottle and bedtime you can actually not worry too much about getting rid of the bottle. This does prevent them from falling asleep with sucking on a bottle. Having book reading time and rocking or singing time seemed to help my guys.
Mj

 

I don't see why you need to get rid of the bedtime bottle. You might want to change it to a sippy. My daughter still has a drink and quiet time before going upstairs for a bath and bed. The boys still get their bottle last thing. I will change this at around 15 months to a sippy and milk before bath and teeth. There's no need to get rid of it completely - its very comforting and sleep inducing imo!

 

I was so scared to change any bottles. Once we switched to whole milk I backed off the amount of bottles. We went from 4 at 11 months, 3 at 12 months then at 13 months just 2. We just now got them off of it. DD was so unhappy when I tried and I would give in because she truly would be grumpy all day. Then I decided to go cold turkey and just deal with the grump for a couple of days and now she is fine.

They didn't drink much at first but now are much better. They say they only need 2-3 cups so I try to just give it at every meal and the night time we do milk and a snack. Generally something dry like a muffin or fruit bar so they want to drink the milk. I also find myself reminding them to drink because sometimes they are distracted so I say "drink your milk please" and they do.

I agree, I would start with maybe another bottle replacing it with the sippy and then work your way down.

BTW, we aren't going cold turkey on the paci until 18 months...I am not looking forward to that nightmare!

 

I was worried too - but one night i just decided that we would just do it. I did the rest of the bedtime routine like normal and then just layed them down. They talked to each other and didnt worry about the bottle...it was like it was just something to do and once we didnt do it then they didnt remember. Try it one night, it may surprise you.

 

Same as mommy23miracles here. I expected revolt and got nothing. We went from a bottle to a sippy. One was on milk at that point (1 week before 13 months) and the other still on alimentum. One thing we also did was give the nighttime sippy with their dinner and let them finish it after bathtime.
We still get snuggle time in, it's just with a sippy now.