Tags: Bottle Feeding, Weaning, Parenting Advice, Parenting

I gradually started weaning my daughter off the bottle and it was fairly easy but she does not want to give up her night time bottle.

I want to just pick a date and say no more but I know it will be a battle and neither one of us will get any sleep.

What can I do to make it easier on both of us?

You can talk about it and tell her on such and such date you will be too big a girl to have a bottle anymore. Try to have a positive spin on it.

I also made sure my child had a glass of milk and a snack before bed when I was weaning him so that he wasn't thirsty or hungry when the time came for bed. That seemed to help us, he would just gradually take a few sucks and then he was done with his bottle. One day I said bottle gone and he cried for a few minutes and that was it.

When I decided the time was right to do away with the night time bottle I took my daughter to the store and we bought some fun sippy cups. I told her they were big girl cups and as soon as she gave up her bottle she could use them.

We even got a special one to put water in for when she went to bed and needed a drink.

She gave up her night-time bottle that night.

The bedtime bottle is sometimes hard to break a child from. Maybe it is because it is such a habit for them it becomes ingrained mentally. Even at that some children may use the bedtime bottle as a crux or a security measure adding to the strength of the habit. But whatever you do you should start early. Start introducing healthy alternatives early. Sometimes just a choice will get them to break the habit on their own.

Stella gave a simple explanation with a positive spin to where a child would be willing to trade the habit for "being bigger." This was the same route I took with one of my kids. For him though, it took a bit more of a push by giving him a choice and a time frame. We simply picked a date on the calender with him. This date was his "big" date. Indicating that on that specific day he was "too big" for the bedtime bottle. On the day he was "too big" he could take all of his little boy bottles out of the drawer and put them in a box to be put away. We made this a fun thing for him to do. Praising him to no end as if it were a celebration. As a reward we took him to the store and let him pick out his very own big boy cups and he put them in the drawer to replace the bottles. We simply made it fun for him to choose to grow.

Keep in mind that you have to be careful to when you do give them a choice in that you do not want to FORCE their choice as this may have a negative effect and make things worse. You want to positively guide them to the proper choice and help them discover why and how to make it. If a child does not respond very well do not get frustrated. You don't want to make giving up the bedtime bottle a negative experience. Sometimes you just need to change your approach. Above all, do whatever you can to make it a positive experience.