A great question from Jessica.
Q: I just realized that since my daughter will be 2 in September, she should probably be weaned from her bottle She only drinks milk from it, but seems really upset if I put her milk in her favorite sippy cup instead. The hardest thing is my son (who will be 1 in October) is obviously still drinking from a bottle. I use different bottles for my daughter, but still--what's the best way to wean her while she still sees little brother getting a bottle?
A: We can totally relate. For many children a bottle is like a security blanket, and all of our kids (now 6 and almost 5) still have those. They say toddler should be weaned from a bottle around 18 months. Linda's doctor actually changed the age on her during one of the visits. Obviously the guidelines change based on the latest AAP recommendations. So take it with a grain of salt, we say.
This can be hard when big baby sees little baby getting his favorite treat. News flash...this is only the beginning of the "life is unfair" lesson. Do they need to learn this lesson when new baby is born and toddler is still adjusting to new sibling in house? Probably not. But if your oldest is 2 and the yougest is already one, we suggest the idea of weaning them both at the same time. (Benefit to Baby Bunching....some things can be tackled like a giant band aid...rip it off all at once!) Even if little baby still needs the bottle at night, which we're so down with, your son is actually old enough for drinking (at least at the table) from a sippy. If your daughter isn't into this, try a regular cup. Break them both of this habit together.
Linda is a firm believe in comfort. So if your older child still feels the need for a bottle at night (only) with watered down milk--and we mean VERY watered down--fine. Sometimes they need this extra loving as they are still little. We often forget that the oldest child really is still a baby.
My big baby was just drinking milk from a bottle and using a sippy for water or the occasional juice but would NOT take milk from a sippy. So what I did was take him to the store and let him pick out a set of 2 special sippies that we only use for milk. And it worked! Now he's attached to the sippies instead of the bottle, but I don't mind for now.
Posted by: Alisha | Jun 02, 2010 at 08:52 PM