Free What to Expect the Toddler Years by Heidi Murkoff Page B

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    Gradual withdrawal. For most children, this multistep approach works best. (Do be sure to involve your toddler’s baby-sitter or other caregiver in the weaning process as well.)
    1. Once your toddler is comfortable drinking from a cup, offer him beverages (milk, juice, or water) in a cup and solidfoods at meal and snack times before he starts asking for his bottle, not when he’s already whining for it. Sometimes a full tummy and a quenched thirst may satisfy him enough and he won’t press for the bottle.
    2. Make drinking from the bottle less appealing. Insist that your toddler take his bottle while sitting on your lap or in a particular chair instead of allowing him to drink from it as he plays or explores. When he wants to get up, tell him that’s the end of the bottle session. Do not allow him to wander off with a bottle in hand.
    3. Over the span of a couple of weeks, cut down on the number of bottles given. Drop the one your child shows the least interest in first, and the most beloved bottle last.
    4. Make changes in your toddler’s routine that help phase out the bottle. Have him spend as much time as possible away from home, in situations that are not likely to remind him of bottle-feeding and in locales that are entertaining enough to keep his mind off it (a children’s museum, a mall, the playground, an already-weaned friend’s house). At home, keep your youngster busier than usual. Offer him more one-on-one attention and more diverting activities (finger-painting and ring-stacking will give him something to do with his hands; taking a nature walk will engage his mind and his body; free play outdoors will help tire him out). Whenever possible, try changing the rituals that have become associated with bottle-feeding. At nap time, for example, relax your toddler with quiet music instead of with a bottle. If he’s always taken a bottle at bedtime, substitute a snack of milk and fruit-juice-sweetened cookies. If you’ve always comforted him with a bottle after a fall or when he’s otherwise upset, put him on your lap for a finger-game session instead.
    5. Gradually work down to one bottle a day. The most treasured bottle of the day should be the last to go. If your toddler is like most children, this will be the one he enjoys before going to sleep at night.
    Before eliminating this last bottle, be sure you have a comforting bedtime routine in place (see page 68 for more on bedtime routines). Include in this a cup of milk and a nonsugary snack (before brushing the teeth), a bath, and a few quiet stories. Don’t offer the bottle automatically. If your toddler asks for it, distract him with an offer of water in a cup (“You can’t have milk now because we’ve already brushed your teeth”). Take a firm stand on the no-milk-in-a-bottle issue. If your toddler pleads for a bottle, give him one filled only with water. There are two benefits to this measure. One, you eliminate the risk of tooth decay because he won’t be falling asleep with milk pooled in his mouth. And two, you increase the chances that he will abandon the bottle on his own—most children eventually do when the bottle is no longer filled with milk or juice. If your child is an exception and he seems to like his bottle of water, allow him to continue with it at night for a few weeks. Then change the nipple to one with very tiny holes, so that sucking on it for water will hardly be worth the effort. That should get him to voluntarily abandon the bottle.
    Expect your toddler to be cranky and out-of-sorts during the weaning process. He’s lost a dear friend and he’ll need lots of support as he tries to adjust to the loss and to the changes it brings. Offer him comfort, attention, and distraction in ample amounts, particularly during the times of day when he’s likely to miss his bottle the most. Encourage him to take a substitute comfort item to bed—a friendly old teddy bear or doll (or a brand-new one), a cuddly blanket or an old pajama