Friday, January 27, 2012

How To Get My Toddler To Kick The Bottle

This is by no means a how to guide for getting your toddler to give up his bottle.  This is the exact opposite.  My son will be 17 months old next week.  Now, he does not use a bottle during the day for any reason.  From sun up to sun down he's your average toddler.  But once it's bedtime, he's anything but. 

First of all, my son will not go down for bedtime without his bottle.  Don't you dare try to give him a sippy cup or water, he'll throw it and scream bloody murder!  It has to be a bottle with milk.  By 17 months, most moms don't have to worry about getting up in the middle of the night.  But I'm not most moms!  My little man finds it is necessary to wake me up every hour for a bottle.  Before you start asking why I bother giving into him......know this: I have a 7 year old whose room is right next to his and has to get up for school in the morning.  My husband also wakes up early for his 12 hour work shifts.  Now, with that said, I have tried other options that don't work out.  I have tried letting him cry it out (which only turns into a temper tantrum that includes screaming and jumping violently in his bed).  I have tried rocking him, reading, trying to soothe him, water.....nothing works but a new bottle to fill his belly.  His doctor recommended feeding him something filling before bed....oatmeal and bananas were his suggestion.  That did not work either. 
17 months old.  He will be 2 this August, and I would like one full nights rest before then.  So my plea as a very exhausted mother......what do you suggest?  Is there a method I haven't tried? 

2 comments:

Gaigesmommy09 said...

Oh my dear! Mu son is 2being he does have to have a bottle at night and has stomach issues so he is up atleast once a night to get his bottle refilled because he can only have small portions of food and drinks. Im not sure unless have u tried adding some rice cereal to his bottle. Also they have this stuff called melatonin we gave to my niece with dr approval of course to help her sleep

Unknown said...

I don't think I'm really trying to push him to give up the bottle.....just for him to sleep the night through! I may have to ask my kid's dr about melatonin. Thank you!