I have two kids. My daughter is 5 and I didn't have any bottle issues with her. My son is 2 and boy did we have issues! I took him to see his pediatrician at 18 months of age for a checkup and simply asked him how I could get him to start drinking from a sippy cup at night instead of the bottle because he was already using a sippy cup all day long anyway, but was adamant about drinking from a bottle at bed time and during the night. He said "Give him a choice."

Here's how you do it. You fill the bottle up with something she does NOT like to drink, for my son it is plain water. Then you fill the sippy cup up with something she DOES like, for my son it was milk. You give her both the sippy cup and the bottle at bed time and let her decide which she wants. Is she desperate enough to drink what she does not like just so she can suck on the bottle or will she choose to drink what she does like out of the sippy cup and ignore the bottle? You also apply this technique in the middle of the night if she demands something to drink.

Night number one. My son took a few sips from his bottle, threw a temper tantrum for several minutes, then tossed it out of the crib and decided he'd rather have his sippy cup.

Night number two. Same thing.

Night number three. Same thing.

By night number 4. He chose the sippy cup immediately and did this for a few more nights.

After that, he was bottle broken by the end of the week.

Good Luck!

Brandy Derrickson
Harpers Ferry, WV



--- Edited by grafxgirl at 2008-08-14 20:59:27 ---