Help for our major parenting FAIL

[Melaine]

No judgment here at all!

We went cold-turkey with the bottles, pacis, and lovies (three different times!). (Well, I say lovies, but what we really did is switch out two old, non-replaceable lovies with bigger new ones that I could get several back-ups for). For each transition, I had major anxiety and really dreaded it, but I think cold-turkey was the best way for us, and none of them were too stressful. Everything was fine after day 2 or so.

For getting rid of the pacis we had them pick out a special stuffed animal or something and we were very clear about what was going to happen. Good luck!

ETA: I have just read more of the thread and just thought of another idea. My girls have Klean Kanteen sippys with water at night just in case they get thirsty. The KKs accept an advent nipple too. Maybe you could got to a KK with milk for awhile then transition to a sippy with milk, then transition to a sippy with water? I would be concerned about the milk, but I don't see the problem with a sippy or even a bottle of water.

[LnzsOut]

DS nursed for a long time. To encourage night weaning, we gave him a sippy with warm milk. It worked amazingly well, but he ended up becoming attached to his 'warm drink'. We eventually started watering it down, and within a week or 2, The cup only had warm water in it. He never seemed to notice the change! He has since given it up completely. As for being worried about your ds in preschool, it's likely they'll keep him so busy he won't think about his bottle

[ashersmomoo]

I agree that this is not that big of a deal. Below is what I would do, but if it ended up being a crisis for him, I honestly don't think I'd push it with a new baby about to arrive.

I would tell him that you have to switch to water for night night time (maybe start off with one bottle of milk to go to sleep, then if he wants more it has to be water), then switch to water only all the time. Then when he's ready, he could just give it up, or if that took too long for you, eventually take it away.

My DS2 had feeding issues and became very attached to his bottle. I thought his world was going to end if we took it away but at 2 or 2.5 (sorry, I honestly can't remember ) I was worried about cavities. So I switched him to water for a week, then, together we gathered up allll of his bottles and put them in a box and took them to the goodwill to give to "a baby who needed them" and then we went to celebrate with lunch of his choice and a toy. He was thrilled!!! I seriously never heard about it again. And he had been super emotional about it before. He was really excited to be a big boy and get a special day with mommy. It only took a week or two. He also slept though the night better because he wasn't waking himself up for his bottle.

Whatever you decide to do, it will be fine! Good luck and try not to worry! It'll all be fine.

[crunchymom2b]

Great ideas mamas. I agree, it's the milk through the night that gets me. Fortunately DS LOVES to brush and floss his teeth so we make sure we do that a lot to try to counteract the milk. He's also been going to the dentist since he was 18months and has great teeth (knock on wood) so I hope we can keep that up. My brother had serious bottle rot as a baby but my mother seriously let him sleep with thebottle of juice and milk in his mouth all night long. We take the bottle out immediately.

Here's my other concern. I love the ideas of a "bottle fairy" "giving to needy kids" etc but I honestly don't think he would actually comprehend it. He's a super smart little boy and pretty much understands our words, but has only recently begun to really talk himself. He's just not putting two words together like "dirt off" for the car wash, "no daddy" if he wants daddy not me, etc. Would those concepts be too much for him?