• Family and Individual Education and Coaching

Mary Kay Keller

About
Books
Classes
Coaching
Podcasts
Testimonials

weaning from the bottle

Posted on August 31, 2011 by rachel.stenta@gmail.com

Question: My 14 month old daughter is attached to her bottle. We have gotten her to the point of drinking water or juice out of a sippy cup during the day. But, at naptime and bedtime she will scream for her bottle. She refuses to drink milk out of the sippy cup, no matter what time of day. We have tried putting water in the bottle at bedtime, thinking she would lose interest because it is not milk. However, she drinks all the water and then wants more and wakes up more often during the night than when she was drinking milk.

The doctors recommend that children her age drink 16 oz of milk per day to meet nutrition standards. The only way we can do that is with the bottle at bedtime. I know this is bad for her teeth, but don’t know what to do.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Brandy


Dear Brandy:

Giving a child a bottle at night is not only dangerous for their teeth it can also be a way for them to choke in their sleep. Not a good idea. The rules for drinking milk are not hardfast.

I would suggest starting healthy bedtime routines. Check out my previous answers on bedtime suggestions. Routines and schedules are not the same thing. Routines are about the process and what comes next. You need to determine what your routing is and stick to it.

I suggest starting 30 minutes or more before bedtime. Turn off the noisemakers, (tv, radios, computer, etc) and turn down the lights. Make the environment conducive to relaxing. Then decide if you will have a bath or story first (stick to the routine) next comes the baby massage. Who doesn’t sleep well after a full body massage. (She may not let you do her entire body at first just go with the flow until she gets use to it.) Put on some soothing sounds, my daughter puts on some nature toons with a heartbeat pounding in the background and even I fall asleep quickly!

If you pick a routine and she gets use to it she will begin to relax and fall asleep quicker and deeper.

Best Wishes!

Dr. Mary Kay Keller

Hassle Free Bedtime? Click here!

http://astore.amazon.com/lifsjouagrass-20/detail/B005ELMC0Q

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recent Posts

  • Why is Breastfeeding Awareness So Important?
  • Babies are not empty heads that we need to fill up!
  • Learn the Baby Code Here!
  • What happens when optimal caregiving is not addressed.
  • Connecting to your infant through empathy.

Recent Comments

    Archives

    • August 2022
    • December 2020
    • February 2020
    • December 2019
    • November 2019
    • October 2019
    • September 2018
    • July 2018
    • June 2018
    • May 2018
    • April 2018
    • February 2017
    • June 2016
    • March 2016
    • February 2016
    • January 2016
    • December 2015
    • May 2015
    • April 2015
    • March 2015
    • February 2015
    • January 2015
    • November 2014
    • October 2014
    • September 2014
    • August 2014
    • July 2014
    • June 2014
    • May 2014
    • April 2014
    • March 2014
    • February 2014
    • January 2014
    • December 2013
    • November 2013
    • October 2013
    • September 2013
    • August 2013
    • July 2013
    • June 2013
    • May 2013
    • April 2013
    • March 2013
    • February 2013
    • January 2013
    • December 2012
    • November 2012
    • October 2012
    • September 2012
    • August 2012
    • July 2012
    • June 2012
    • May 2012
    • April 2012
    • March 2012
    • February 2012
    • January 2012
    • December 2011
    • November 2011
    • October 2011
    • September 2011
    • August 2011
    • July 2011
    • June 2011
    • May 2011
    • April 2011
    • March 2011
    • February 2011
    • January 2011
    • December 2010
    • November 2010
    • October 2010
    • September 2010
    • August 2010
    • July 2010
    • June 2010

    Categories

    • ACES
    • Adult Children
    • Adverse Childhood Experiences
    • alcohol
    • All Families
    • animal abuse
    • attachment
    • Babies
    • baby
    • Bedtime
    • bethchange
    • bonding
    • breastfeeding
    • caregiving
    • Child abuse
    • Children
    • communication
    • Dads
    • dating
    • discipline
    • emotional abuse
    • emotional development
    • empathy
    • family
    • father
    • fathering
    • grand parent
    • grandparenting
    • grandparents
    • health
    • infant
    • infant communication
    • infant empathy
    • infant massage
    • infants
    • massage
    • mother
    • mothering
    • mothers
    • Occam's razor
    • parenting
    • pet
    • prevention
    • protective factors
    • Q and A 13-17 yr old
    • Q and A 2 yr old
    • relationships
    • research
    • Resiliency
    • Romance
    • sibling
    • siblings
    • single dad
    • sleep
    • stepparenting
    • teens
    • Toddlers
    • Trauma
    • Trauma informed care
    • Uncategorized
    • videoblog
    • violence

    Meta

    • Log in
    • Entries feed
    • Comments feed
    • WordPress.org

    © 2000, MaryKayKeller.com. All Rights Reserved.