https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Wed, 22 Apr 2026 13:16:21 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/weaning-stubborn-bottle-monster-toddler#post-2908526 Fri, 17 Jan 2020 11:58:22 +0000 muffinsmuffins 2908526@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@LCTBQE: ha! We really did write the same posts. I just read your thread and everyone’s ideas. I would be fine to leave the bedtime but the night wakings and nonsense has gotta go. I think watering it down more and more and the temperature is a good idea with less potential screaming (I hope) really hoping it doesn’t get to cold turkey everything. We did sleep training with him that did work, but we did the sleep lady shuffle where we stayed in the room with him over the course of an endless 2 week period...I think we are literally going to start watering down tonight. He will normally take a sippy of milk at mealtimes and drinks water easily from anything.</p> <p>@josina: This is a good idea too. His bottles and formula are visible on our counter. I’m hiding them tonight! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/weaning-stubborn-bottle-monster-toddler#post-2908523 Fri, 17 Jan 2020 10:39:07 +0000 josina 2908523@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We took away DD's bottles pretty late, probably over a year and a half. I was SO worried about it, but we just got rid of the bottles one day, said they were gone, and it was actually pretty easy! She still got a sippy of milk in place of the bottle.</p> <p>With my son, he was getting that bedtime milk far longer than he should and it was REALLY bad for his teeth (6 cavities bad), so I'd get rid of that as soon as you can! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/weaning-stubborn-bottle-monster-toddler#post-2908522 Fri, 17 Jan 2020 10:33:13 +0000 LCTBQE 2908522@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Oh! Also just remembered--in my efforts to dissuade the habit, I started slowly giving less milk, watering it down, and serving it less and less warm over the course of a few weeks. So instead of getting a nice warm 8oz bottle of whole milk, it became a kind of watery barely lukewarm thing with 3 oz. That really helped. This is, of course, the mom-as-slave-to-toddler method, not the cold turkey method :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/weaning-stubborn-bottle-monster-toddler#post-2908520 Fri, 17 Jan 2020 10:18:18 +0000 LCTBQE 2908520@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Here is my thread from my now-3.5 year old who did eventually get off the bottle. Really brought me back seeing your exact same thread title :wink:<br /> <a href="https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/sippycup-hating-bottle-monster-advice-needed" rel="nofollow">https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/sippycup-hating-bottle-monster-advice-needed</a></p> <p>ETA--so, I forget what I pledged to do in that thread, but in real life what we ended up doing was getting the ThinkBaby sippy cups which have a rubbery spout that's just shaped differently than a bottle but is kinda the same thing--he accepted it with basically no problem that I recall. He got a bedtime bottle until he turned two, at which point we phased it out. For naps and stuff, we just put him down. We're on the same course with my 16-month old daughter right now, except we're still giving her 4 oz before her one daily nap, so she's getting about 10 oz total per day which the ped and I are fine with.<br /> For your situation, with the kicking and screaming and night wakings, I think I'd try to do a bottle before bedtime only, and cold turkey everything else--and if the bedtime bottle is just feeding the madness and making everything worse, I'd do hard-core cold turkey and sleep training, and I am bearing in mind that it's going to be fucking terrible, so :heart: </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/weaning-stubborn-bottle-monster-toddler#post-2908515 Fri, 17 Jan 2020 08:44:24 +0000 muffinsmuffins 2908515@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>DS2 is almost 17 months and has become a bottle monster since being sick over Christmas. Before that he would get a bedtime formula bottle of 6-8oz and very occasional at night or early morning. He would typically sleep 7-5 ish. This was acceptable to us.</p> <p>However, since being sick for over a week and near dehydration over Christmas, we got lax with bottles and gave them whenever simply to get liquids into him. This has evolved to multiple night wakes over the past 3 weeks and he is demanding baba whenever he wakes at night, in the mornings, he’s desperate for it before bed and really all the time. It’s time to do something as it’s driving me nuts.</p> <p>He is very demanding and stubborn, is a giant 90th percentile kid. He doesn’t need it and he eats very well. From 3 am onwards today he had 14 oz of formula, a bagel, strawberries, and two snack containers of various dry cereal before we got to daycare. I do think he’s having a growth spurt.</p> <p>We tried just doing a sippy of milk this morning and he lost his mind, threw it across the room and bellowed for baba (we gave him the bottle and he was happy as can be)</p> <p>For my older son, we gradually decreased his bedtime amount and it was no issue. I don’t think this will work with him as he will scream if we put less in and he wants more. The night wakings he is demanding too. We have halfheartedly tried just cuddling, cup of milk but that’s a firm NO and he will scream bloody murder and kick the walls until he gets the bottle.</p> <p>I feel like suffering and going cold turkey is the way but does anyone else have any brilliant and less painful ideas with a kid like this?</p> <p>Also relevant is he started new daycare this week but so far is doing very well with no tears 🤷🏻‍♀️ </p>