I've finally decided to get serious about weaning Sariah from her bottle. I've dragged my feet on this for so many months. I still feel a bit torn, but in my heart, I know it needs to be done, if nothing else for the sake of her teeth...and in my heart I feel like I can do it without it being too traumatic. I decided to wait until Dallin was in school so I could have the time and energy to deal with it, especially knowing that my little girl would need even more attention and cuddling than usual.
My first step has been to cut out all bottles except at nap and bed time--and one first thing in the morning. We have actually been fairly successful with this the past few days. My strategy is distraction! When she asks for baba, which is normally many times a day, I say, "Oh, we'll have baba when it's time for sleepies." And then I try to focus her attention onto something else. Reading stories has worked pretty well. We may be reading a lot of books the next few weeks! Rocking in the rocking chair with "bankie" (her favorite blankie) is another tactic. I've been trying to focus on replacing the bottle with lots and lots of physical affection from Mommy. If I can take her in my arms and give lots of hugs while I'm distracting her with a toy or book, or play a game or sing a song, then it helps. I noticed lately that she wants her bottle the second even the slightest thing goes wrong in her life, so I've been trying to find her other forms of comfort. Even before cutting out bottles, I was trying to make bottle time more of bonding time with Mom than it has been, so that when the bottle was gone, she would be happy with Mommy in exchange.
Advice to myself for the next baby (if they end up being bottlefed): DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT, give into the temptation to let him or her walk around with the bottle. INSIST that bottles are only used in Mom's or Dad's arms. I was so good about this when she was a baby, but once she got older and life got stressful, it was so easy to give in.
Anyway, back to weaning...
Things have gone so well the past few days. There has only been once or twice that she's been so distressed that I gave her a bottle. And that's OK, because I want this to be as stress-free as possible for her.
A few times I have offered her a sippy cup or even just a drink of water out of a regular cup instead of a bottle, and amazingly, she has occasionally accepted that substitute.
I'm hoping that in a few weeks after we've established this new routine, I can cut out the morning bottle. Some days she forgets about it since we are so busy getting ready for school, so hopefully this will be a pretty easy next transition.
At that point, I want to change our sleepy-time bottles just a bit and have her drink her bottle in the rocking chair or something rather than while laying in bed with Mom or Dad. I just want to gradually shift the "when" and "where" of these bottles to further reduce her association of bed and bottle.
I think that after this point, maybe it won't be so hard to cut out those bottles. We'll see! I'm envisioning this whole process taking several months, but maybe we'll get lucky and have it go faster than that.
My first step has been to cut out all bottles except at nap and bed time--and one first thing in the morning. We have actually been fairly successful with this the past few days. My strategy is distraction! When she asks for baba, which is normally many times a day, I say, "Oh, we'll have baba when it's time for sleepies." And then I try to focus her attention onto something else. Reading stories has worked pretty well. We may be reading a lot of books the next few weeks! Rocking in the rocking chair with "bankie" (her favorite blankie) is another tactic. I've been trying to focus on replacing the bottle with lots and lots of physical affection from Mommy. If I can take her in my arms and give lots of hugs while I'm distracting her with a toy or book, or play a game or sing a song, then it helps. I noticed lately that she wants her bottle the second even the slightest thing goes wrong in her life, so I've been trying to find her other forms of comfort. Even before cutting out bottles, I was trying to make bottle time more of bonding time with Mom than it has been, so that when the bottle was gone, she would be happy with Mommy in exchange.
Advice to myself for the next baby (if they end up being bottlefed): DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT, give into the temptation to let him or her walk around with the bottle. INSIST that bottles are only used in Mom's or Dad's arms. I was so good about this when she was a baby, but once she got older and life got stressful, it was so easy to give in.
Anyway, back to weaning...
Things have gone so well the past few days. There has only been once or twice that she's been so distressed that I gave her a bottle. And that's OK, because I want this to be as stress-free as possible for her.
A few times I have offered her a sippy cup or even just a drink of water out of a regular cup instead of a bottle, and amazingly, she has occasionally accepted that substitute.
I'm hoping that in a few weeks after we've established this new routine, I can cut out the morning bottle. Some days she forgets about it since we are so busy getting ready for school, so hopefully this will be a pretty easy next transition.
At that point, I want to change our sleepy-time bottles just a bit and have her drink her bottle in the rocking chair or something rather than while laying in bed with Mom or Dad. I just want to gradually shift the "when" and "where" of these bottles to further reduce her association of bed and bottle.
I think that after this point, maybe it won't be so hard to cut out those bottles. We'll see! I'm envisioning this whole process taking several months, but maybe we'll get lucky and have it go faster than that.
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