16 month old still takes a bottle?

Question

i have a 16 month old and having the hardest time getting him off the bottle. when my oldest who is almost 4 was 14months i just took his away it was easy. but i have a 4month old daughter and when my older one sees a bottle he absolutely will scream and have a fit. i have to give them both a bottle. if i dont make him one he will take hers and throw tantrums and throw things at me and scream at the gate in the kitchen. he wont even go to sleep without a bottle. its like he its life or death to him....does anyone have any suggestions. it would be easy if i could take it from him and he'd never see one again but i cant do that. please help cuz its getting ridiculous

Answer 1

when my neighbors wanted to get their daughter off the binkey, they started cutting a little piece of the nipple off every day or two, until there was nothing left for her to suck on.  your 16 month old may be a little jealous of his sister, since until a few months ago, he was the baby and received some more attention than he does now, because around 16-18 months, babies have had everything handed to them when they wanted but now they have to learn how to wait and that their needs are a priority, but not top.

as for getting your son to sleep, i would pick a few nights where you and your husband don't have anything going on the next day and put him to bed without a bottle.  he will scream for a while because it will be a change for him, but after a night or two he will get tired and learn to fall asleep without one.  i learned that from super nanny and nanny 911, the nannies on those shows have had to do it a few times but they always say to stick to your decision and no matter what, don't give in to him after he starts crying or else you wont make any progress. they also suggest getting them a special cup and to let them know that this is a big boy cup that you'll be drinking out of, so he'll have his mind off the bottle and on his special cup.

Answer 2

that is certainly a tough one.  have you tried any type of transitional cups.  my kids both took a sippy cup for the longest time after thier bottle days. then we finally have gone to a lidded cup with a straw.  they have to drink out of it sitting up so they are at least moving towards drinking out of a regular cup.  whatever you try i would say to not give in.  if you stop with the bottle stick with it.

Answer 3

That's nothing I am 42 and still I drink with bottle.

Answer 4

Have you tried explaining to him that he is a "big boy" and bottles are for babies? Take him out to buy new big boy cups & let him pick them out and give the cashier the money. When you get home have him throw away his baby bottle. It will not be easy, keep reminding him what a big boy he is and how proud you are of him. Let him call family like grandmom or grandpop and tell them what a big boy he is.Also try to keep your daughters bottles out of sight as much as possible. Good luck!

Answer 5

Well you need to get him a SPECIAL sippy cup just for him and tell him that only the baby can have bottles....just let him throw a fit and give him a sippy cup DONT give in!!! You could even give him special juice in his special sippy cup....if he wants a bottle give him something to drink in it that he wont drink and then he wont want that he will want the sippy with his favorite drink in it!! Good luck!!

Answer 6

oh wow amanda thats a tough one. My girls is 18 months and she takes a bottle but only at night time she can eat soiled foods fine.  My advice would be that you have to slowly try to get to eat soilds maybe try apple sauce or corn. You might just have to let him scream and try feeing your 4 month old away from him or stand up while your feeding her. You giving him a bottle everytime he throws tanturms and giving him to him that's exactly what he wants. He'll get hungry and i grantee try some food. Hope that works wish i had more advice for you.

Answer 7

Since WHEN does a parent have to do anything just because if they don't the child has a fit?

You can offer him plenty of attention and interaction until he melts down. When he starts to get agitated, tell him very simply..."Do you need to go to the playpen?" and then you may want to make a couple attempts to distract him. If that isn't going to work, he goes into time out...a safe place where he can be supervised but is allowed to have his tantrum (because kids do throw tantrums, not that it's great but sometimes that's all they know to do) and you can say..."when you get done there is a sippy cup here for you." and then IGNORE HIM until the tantrum is over!

He will get the hint soon enough but you have to be consistent and firm that throwing a fit doesn't get him anywhere. Kids don't like to do it, it's exhausting and on some level embarrassing, and it is hard to feel so out of hand.

I don't mean to sound like an ***...this all works within context of doting on him being such a big boy, and making his sippy cup such a big deal that he really wants to use it.

Answer 8

The bottle is a comfort item for him, it is also a regression item, as the baby probably gets more attention than him. All things being equal, my first impulse is to say, "just let him have it". There really isn't any major downsides if you brush his teeth. The biggest problem is the social stigma of a toddler with a bottle, which society just needs to get over. Why do we torture the kids to take away their comfort items because the items are "babyish"? Oy vey!

Anyway, the formula is a wholly different issue. While it may even be good for him, the cost must be taxing on the budget. Have you tried other powdered drinks besides formula? Perhaps something similar to Carnation Breakfasts or Quik Chocolate milk? I'm not advocating filling him up on sugar, just offering a couple of suggestions. There are other, less expensive options, and to him it will appear as though you're mixing "formula". You can also dilute his formula over the baby's, thus he would be using less; and over a week or two, you can make it more and more dilute until it is almost just water. Spread over a large enough time frame, he may not notice the difference.

Over time, you can wean him off the bottle, but cost for formula aside, there isn't really any harm in letting him have his comfort item. Personally, going "cold turkey" as some suggest to me sounds cruel.

Answer 9

my babies are about the same age apart. My son (the older one) was off his bottle for about 2-3 months when my daughter started using one. Then he did a complete 360 and wanted to have a bottle all the time. We tried buying him a "special" sippy cup and that only worked for so long. We told him that bottles are for babies and he was a big boy now, to which he said "I'm a baby"  with a new baby this should be expected. on her first birthday we threw all the bottles in the house away so they both used sippy cups. Now they know which colors are theirs and they stick to it. He was 2 when this was finally done. Pick your battles with him cause your going to have alot of them with the age difference between them. I find that if he has a moment of regression it will pass if I don't make big deal about it. my babies are now 2 and 3, you'll figure it out. Oh and don't let him have her formula without watering it down slowly eventually he may not care what's in it. all he cares about is that it comes out of the same container. Goodluck!!

Answer 10

My son is almost 19 months old and still has a bottle morning and night, I haven't even tried to wean him because its his comfort thing. Half of the time he doesn't even drink it, he just likes to cuddle it. My opinion is to wait until their ready.

Answer 11

he can't drink from the bottle if there are NONE in the home.  toss them in the garbage and give him a cup.  don't give him milk if he won't drink it -water's much better.

Answer 12

Just let the baby drink the bottle until shes over it. it takes time!

Answer 13

My daughters about to turn 1 and I've taken the bottle down to just one at night when she's getting ready for bed. After her birthday I'm going to just take it away for good. Try switching him to a sippy cup only and maybe take the baby to another room for bottles, make the bottles in the bathroom where he can't see it. I hope I helped some, Good luck!!

Answer 14

You know what?  I think you should just let the baby have his bottle and try again when he's a little older.  Sixteen months and taking a bottle is no big deal.  Try to limit it to just a bedtime bottle for comfort, or for higher stress times.  Limit to just a few bottles a day and the cup the rest of the time.  But at 16 months, I wouldn't worry.

What I would do is this.  Fill the bottle with water.  He can use the bottle for water.  Use the cup and the sippy for juice/milk...beverages he'll prefer.  But don't pull that bottle at 16 months because he's not ready yet.