There comes a time in almost every family when parents begin to wonder how to wean their child off the bottle. But before starting the difficult process of weaning a child off the bottle, mothers and fathers should understand that for many children this attribute becomes not only an object with which they can eat and drink deliciously, but also a friend who will calm them down and is always nearby. Children who are bottle-fed are especially attached to bottles, and when starting the weaning process, you need to make sure that the child is ready to part with the bottle without unnecessary emotional stress.
How to wean
We drink tea after lunch like adults
Children want to become adults as quickly as possible, so they copy the behavior of people they consider authorities. At lunchtime, place your child in a high chair with the family. Give him the same equipment as his father and mother and older children. Even a baby at eight months can eat liquid porridge with a spoon, naturally with your help. He should drink the same way as adults - from a cup or sippy cup. This tradition will become the foundation for the gradual abandonment of the bottle.
Lifehack! Some manufacturers of children's dishes produce a series of bottles with accessories for different ages. Look among them for a model on which you can screw not only a pacifier, according to age, but also the spout of a sippy cup. Buy accessories for growth. Then the baby will not feel significant changes. He will hold the same container in his hands. Only the process of getting food will change a little.
Buy your child some interesting sippy cups. Choose colorful models to interest your little one. Show how to drink from them in the form of a game. Use your favorite soft toys.
Tell him that the baby will grow up faster if he uses the new attributes of adulthood. Don't be afraid to give your older baby the cup he's drawn to. If a baby breaks a dish, it will be an experience for him. Gradually he will begin to behave more carefully and coordination of movements will improve.
The more opportunities a child has to independently use adult utensils, the faster the bottle will fade into the background and gradually disappear completely from life. Constantly emphasize the fact that the baby is already big, because he drinks like mom or dad. Show that you are proud of your child.
Ritual of giving up pacifiers and bottles
If your child is already 2 years old and you don’t know how to wean him off the bottle, then come up with a story about how baby squirrels were born in the forest and need dishes. After all, they have nothing to eat porridge from. Focus on the fact that the baby has matured and learned to drink from a cup. Tell us how small and helpless the animals are and how much they need a bottle with a pacifier. If you have enough imagination, then come up with an interesting plot in which in the end you will give the kids all the attributes of infancy.
If there is a newborn in the family, play on the fact that he needs pacifiers. If you don’t have a younger brother or sister, then go visit friends, acquaintances, and relatives for such a charitable purpose. You can come up with a story about the “Land of Bottles”, where old containers go for a well-deserved rest.
Take a closer look at the child and choose the moment when the baby is ready to say goodbye. You have to prepare him - remove night feedings, lunch tea from the bottle. Stop giving your baby a container with a pacifier when he cries.
If a child is hysterical from the fact that he has to give away his favorite dishes, then you should wait to part with him. This event should be held in a positive way. The intense stress of rejection can cause trouble. The child will begin to stutter or develop nocturnal enuresis.
Ways to wean children off the bottle
How to wean a child off the bottle is an individual question: not all children perceive the weaning process as a great tragedy, but parents should still be prepared for restless sleep and constant tears. We offer the following ways to wean your child off the bottle:
- When the baby is present, parents and loved ones should drink only from cups and show with all their appearance that it is delicious. Children, as you know, always imitate adults.
- A cup or special drinking bowl should attract the child's attention, so try to take into account the baby's choice when purchasing this item.
- At first, you need to pour not just water into the cup, but try to make this liquid tasty. These can be compotes, teas, sweetened milk.
- When abruptly weaning a child off a bottle, parents who say that it was lost or someone took it should in no case give back their favorite pacifier after a while. Next time the baby's hysterics will be stronger.
- As you gradually wean your baby off the bottle during meals, offer to drink from a cup more and more often. You need to hide the bottle for several hours and try to distract the baby with games, reading, or watching cartoons. You can even try inviting your child to look for it together.
- A good weaning option is for the child to give his own bottle to one of the younger children. At the same time, it is worth persuading him that he is already an adult, and the baby needs a bottle more.
- Every time the baby drinks using a cup or a special sippy cup, the baby should be praised and encouraged.
- Since for children a bottle is, first of all, guaranteed peace of mind, then at night instead of a favorite bottle, you can offer a soft favorite toy, saying that now it will protect his sleep.
If parents are still wondering whether it is worth weaning their child off the bottle, there are good reasons why it is worth it. Firstly, the constant consumption of liquid interrupts the appetite, which is why the baby does not eat well in the future, and secondly, with prolonged sucking of the pacifier, the baby’s bite may become deformed.
Advice from pediatricians
Important! If the baby is breastfed, then make every effort so that the child does not know what a bottle and pacifier are. Then the weaning stage will pass you by.
When offering your child to drink from a cup at 5–6 months of age, remember that the child can only take one sip at once. He will learn to take several sips in a row and drink quickly only by the age of one year.
Doctor Komarovsky
Dr. Komarovsky recommends gradually accustoming your child to a cup at 5 months in order to avoid problems in this matter later. At this age, the baby is not yet aware of the substitution. He simply sees an attribute that is new to him and tries to perform previously unfamiliar actions. If the cup comes into the baby’s life as a familiar object before six months, then later it will be easier for parents to make a painless change.
If you offer your child a cup of milk or formula for the first time at 10 months, there is a high probability that the baby will become stubborn and demand the usual bottle. In this situation, you definitely need to be patient in order to get lasting results.
Pour more than just water or juice into your cup. The child should also see milk in it. Many children get used to drinking water from a cup and eating liquid porridge from a bottle. This becomes a sustainable habit that is difficult to give up.
How to help your child love a cup
On Dr. Komarovsky’s website, among the comments, you can find a lot of effective advice. Buy a bright, unbreakable small cup for your six-month-old baby. Let him just play with her first. It’s okay if at first he licks it. Gradually he will begin to pretend that he drinks from it, because adults will set an example for him.
When the baby learns to hold it tightly, you can easily pour a little kefir, juice, water or milk into it. Let the child try to drink for real. If the child categorically refuses, then do not insist. It means the time has not come yet, but you are doing everything right. Just try not to miss the moment when the baby begins to show interest in the cup. You can later offer him a sippy cup with a straw. The baby will later be able to drink from it even when waking up at night.
Observe your baby's habits and use it. You know that a child likes tea at a certain temperature. Pour this liquid into his cup. Or the baby loves chilled milk. Make sure that the liquid you pour into a new container has the usual consistency, temperature and taste.
When is the best time to start bottle weaning?
I would like to give the first piece of advice to mothers whose babies are completely breastfed without bottles and nipples: if the baby did not use a bottle while sucking the breast, then you should not start giving it during complementary feeding. You can use a spoon or a special drinking bowl.
For children who have finally learned what a bottle is, there are two ways to wean it: gradual and abrupt. Having used them, you need to make sure that the child did not experience stress during this period.
Before weaning your child off the bottle, you need to check how ready he is for the upcoming changes. To do this, you need to hide your favorite attribute for a while and try to replace it with a cup or a special drinking bowl. If the baby tries to drink from a cup with interest and does not throw strong tantrums, but is simply capricious, then the separation process can begin.
During the weaning process, the child cannot return the required item after some time. Not only parents, but also close people who often visit the baby should know about this.
Summary
In the modern world there are many opportunities for soft and painless adaptation. We shared with you tips on how to wean your baby off the bottle at 1 year old. This is an average figure when most children are ready for such changes in life.
Do everything step by step. Set a positive example. Tell your baby that he is growing up. Replace familiar rituals with new ones. Find a way to make your little one's sleep sounder with the help of pleasant innovations. Walk before bed, massage with lavender oil, read.
If there is such an opportunity, then agree with him on a mutually beneficial barter, for example, about buying a puppy. Tell him you will do this if he gives the bottle to the fairy. The sorceress will give it to the newborn. And your baby is already an adult and must take care of a new family member - a small dog.
Use tricks, but under no circumstances press on the child, do not blackmail him, do not shout or push your line harshly. Remember, you are the main example for your child! From you he learns to show emotions and tolerance. Be patient. To wean you off, you will need several months and a lot of patience. Don't expect to do this within a few days.
How to wean a child off the bottle?
The baby has already grown up, knows how to eat with a spoon and drink from a cup, but at the same time persistently demands a bottle before bed and at night. Dentists recommend gradually weaning your child off the bottle , explaining that long-term sucking on a pacifier and drinking formula, juice or sweet tea from a bottle at night can trigger the early formation of caries, and also creates an abnormal bite.
When should you wean your baby off the bottle?
By the age of 1.5-2 years, the child’s menu is already quite varied. As a rule, a baby at this age already drinks from a cup on his own and knows how to eat with a spoon. If this is indeed the case, then it’s time to wean your baby off the bottle at night. The sooner you do this, the easier it will be for your child to give up the old comfortable habit.
As a rule, it is easier to solve a bottle problem during the day than at night. A sippy cup or a bright, beautiful cup with pictures is received with a bang, and besides, the baby sees you drinking from a cup and imitates you with pleasure.
At night, everything is more difficult, because the process of sucking from a bottle before bed is an important ritual for the child, which helps him calm down and fall asleep. Psychologists emphasize the importance of rituals in the life of a young child. In this particular case, the baby associates sleep with a bottle . Therefore, there is only one way out - you need to gradually change the bedtime ritual and thus wean the child off the bottle.
How to wean a child off the bottle?
If the baby already knows how to drink from a cup, but before going to bed, already in the crib, still requires a bottle of sweet tea or milk, offer him warm boiled water. If there is something “wrong” in the bottle, then there is a high probability that next time the baby will refuse the bottle himself.
Does your child wake up at night and demand a bottle? Make it a rule to have a hearty dinner before bed, and at night give your baby only water. A child gets used to something new within 3 days, during which time the new ritual is accepted and becomes habitual. Therefore, if you give your child only water at night for several nights, then on the third night you will no longer hear any objections, and most likely the baby will sleep peacefully all night without waking up.
If you can’t put your baby to bed without a bottle, look for other methods and new rituals. A bedtime story and reading, a shadow play on the ceiling, a lullaby and a sweet dream in mother's arms... After the baby falls asleep, carefully transfer him to the crib. Tactile contact and hugs, together with parental attention, are more important to the baby than a bottle.
Leave a favorite object or toy next to your child at night. If the baby wakes up, finding something loved and familiar nearby, he will calm down faster and fall asleep again.
Have you gone without a bottle for several days? So you don't need it anymore! Your baby is already quite an adult.
