- This is really her primary source of milk. All other milk from a sippy gets, well, sipped on, for 2.8 seconds and then thrown on the floor.
- It's been a part of her bedtime routine forever - as in, this was the first (and only bottle) we were able to introduce, and she associates the bottle with bed.
- When she wakes up in the middle of the night (oh yes, she still does this - awesome, non?), it's the ONLY thing she wants and will soothe her.
The reason I am actually contemplating this upheavel in our lives? Here's a snippet of my Saturday night (early Sunday morning):
MissM (over the monitor at an ear-crashing shout of volume): MOMMY! MILK! MADDIE WANT MILK! MOMMY! MOMMY! MILK. MADDIE. PLEASE!
Me: w.t.f? roll over and think perhaps I can just ignore this away
MissM: MOMMY? MILK. MADDIE MILK. MOMMMMMMMMMMMMMYYYYYYYY...
Me: blearily look at clock. 4:effing16 in the morning. Superawesome. Go into her room and attempt to reason (with a toddler - I know - demented...): Dude - it's still night night time. How are you so awake? Go back to sleep. Night night.
MissM: Milk mommy. Maddie milk NOW.
Me: No, you don't need milk right now. You can have some in the morning. Just go back to sleep. Night night bugaloo.
MissM: instant and v. loud meltdown
Me: What the hell... I go, warm up a bottle and bring it back up. And then I take her out of the crib and hold it for her.
It's those last 5 words that I want you to pay the most attention to. That's right. She won't hold her own bottle. Well, that's not true. She will. For 1.3 seconds. Then it will fall and she'll look at me like, WTH is your prob lady?
So yeah. The wakeups are annoying enough. The having to sit for 10 mins while she drinks her bottle and then force my insomniac ass back to sleep? So not cool anymore. Because as sweet and loving as it could be - it's just.not.anymore.
But aside from going cold turkey (which I expect y'all will tell me to do), how else do you get rid of the bedtime bottle?
xxoo.S
2 comments:
Austin was 21/2 when we got rid of the bedtime bottle (mind you, he didn't scream in the middle of the night for milk) And with him, we did do it cold turkey, but we prepared him for it. Talked to him for a few days before about how he's a big boy now and big boys don't use bottle, big boys drink from a cup. So then, when we decided to drop the bottle, it wasn't a surprise for him. We did our bedtime routine and then offered him a cup of milk to drink from (while we stood over him to take it away). He thought it was so cool to be a 'big boy' that he never questioned the lack of bottle.
You may have to do it in two stages -- as she may be difficult to rationalize with at 4 in the morning.
Just my two cents.
Ugh... good luck. Deb's got the right idea. Praise her big-girlness like crazy and hope she doesn't see through you!
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