Bye bye bottles

Reading the many blog and articles that I do, I know there is a bit of debate on when the best time is to ditch the bottles. My boys were predominantly bottle fed so I was worried that there would be a significant attachment to them.

A lot of people say on the first birthday, all the bottles go in the bin, or to 'the bottle fairy'. However, some say that their kids are near 4 and still have one for comfort. Now the boys have never been attached in a sense to their bottles as they have always had their donkey and cloth for that, nor have they ever been put to bed with one and left to it. So when my boys were the other side of 2 years and I was sick of making 6 bottles a night in case they woke up hungry, I thought I really needed to make some changes.

So this is what I did; One afternoon I sat them down and said that we are not going to be having bottles any more at bed time because they are big boys. We put their bottles in a carrier bag ready to give to the 'rubbish truck' (a latest obsession) which actually just went into the cupboard in case we need them in the future and that was it. No crying, no asking for bottles – nothing. Every night since they have had either a sippy cup or beaker, which does have its own battles but im so pleased not to be making any more bottles.

I think doing this has also automatically weaned them off bottles during the night as a sippy cup requires more of an effort so they don't bother asking for it. Win!

The next stage will be weaning Sammy off his dummy. He can keep his cloth and Fin can keep his Donkey but the dummy really has to go. I think it will be a gradual thing. He has it for sleeps but never if we are at a club or out and about so I think the key will be distraction initially and then bribery once he can understand. Oh and there is the potty training and the switch from cots to a bed to contend with this year but one thing  at a time thanks.