Ok. I need some help. I don't really have any experience with fighting the "bottle battle", but I definitely need to learn some defensive and offensive moves if I am going to win this war with Ciara!
I was fortunate enough to be able to nurse my older two children until they were both over one year old. So they never got too attached to the bottle. With Ciara some complications arose and I had to surrender to the bottle when she was about 6 months old.
And I am here to tell you that weaning a baby from the breast is so much different than weaning them from a bottle. Not that weaning from nursing is easy by any means, but I at least know how to do it. Or maybe it is the same techniques and Ciara is just being more stubborn than my other two were! Yeah! That's probably it!
Ciara has become extremely dependant on her bottle. Not just to sleep, but to have, hold, and cherish! She wants to carry it around with her like a security blanket. And she is very demanding for it!
I have tried to replace it with a sippy cup and that is pretty much a no go. I have tried to only allow the bottle when she is sleeping, but that isn't working either. She throws a huge fit, screaming and crying and someone, I won't name names (DAD!), always gives in!
So here's my dilemma. How do I wean Ciara off the bottle and train the other members of the family (because she has trained her brother and sister to jump up onto the counter to get her a bottle out of the cupboard) not to give in?
Is my only option to go completely cold turkey and put away all of the bottles??
I guess this is another thing I can add to my ever-growing "Things I Need To Do In 2009" list.
7 comments:
I should really have some good advice... but even though I should be ready to get Natalie off the bottle, I don't really care, yet. She does only get two a day, just to go to bed.(which is really a no no to begin with!)
Nattie really loves her bottle but she doesn't throw the fit CC does, I guess. It's just easier to let her go to bed with it. When she asks for milk, I offer the sippy and she screams at me and says no. I know exactly what she wants, so sorry! She goes to bed real good with it. Sometimes, she'll call me when it's "all gone" and hand it to me and lay back down with out it, sometimes she asks for more. She's close. In nursery they give her cups and she just spills all over herself. One day I carried her all the way into Sac Mtg before I realized she was wet. When I put her down the front of my dress was all wet. NICE!! LOL
I've just been trying to get her better with a cup. My other kids were pros with a cup by now. Again, I guess I'm just lazy and haven't been working with her like my other kids.
As far as the hubby & kids, I'm at a loss for that as well. They pretty much do what they want to. You really have to win them over to the pros or it will be a lost battle on all counts!!
Well, I guess I should have made this a post, it's long enough. Sorry to have taken up so much room to not even offer any help what so ever!!!
Good luck with that, honey!!
Love ya!!
So yesterday I didn't let her have her bottle at all during the day (when I was home, anyway). She threw a couple of good fits, but eventually I would be able to distract her and she'd forget about her tantrum. When it was time for bed I made her a bottle. You should have seen the tears of joy! She was almost in hysterics by the time I gave it to her! And what do you know...she went right to bed. I laid her down in her crib and she was as happy as can be. If only she'd stay there all night...
I actually put Nattie to bed with only a 4oz bottle instead of the usual 8oz plus. She didn't seem to mind a bit, and didn't ask for more!
Kiera woke us all up this morning at 8:40! Bummer, I am getting so spoiled this break! It's going to be awful come Monday!!
Who is Kiera??
Kiera is Nana's nurse's aide.
I would go with the 4 oz bottle to begin with.
Obviously CC is going to make this a slow process.
Is there a reason you want her off the bottle right now?
How about always offering the sippy cup first, forcfully!
Tell the other family members that they are under strict orders. If they give in and give her a bottle, they also have to drink out of a bottle that day!
Limit her to two 4oz a day, only at sleep time.
All you can do honey is to be forceful and not give up. Its like potty training!
Love you,
Mom
I like the idea of making the giving-iner's (I know..not a word) drink out of a bottle for the day! That's funny. The only downfall...I'm sure my kids would enjoy that!
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