Our little bottle addict hasn't had a bottle since Sunday's naptime.
Sunday night was her first time going to sleep without bottle assistance.
I was so worried.
Carly has been on a bottle for not quite a year.
It is obviously was calms her down at night.
What soothes her and makes her tired.
What tells her "its time for sleep now".
Would she be ok without it?
I've been wanting to break the bottle habit for a few months now.
But I have been way too chicken.
I like my sleep.
I like that I can give her a bottle and put her down and she sleeps all night.
I didn't want to give that up for who knew how long to remove the bottle.
At her 18 month appointment the doctor encouraged me to try to get rid of it in the coming months. She also mentioned something called "milk bottle decay", where the milk before bed was not good for her teeth (anyone ever heard of this? I thought it sounded kind of made up). Anyway, I knew it was time.
But how?
My first move was to replace the milk in her bottles with water.
I gave her a sippy cup of milk before her bath.
Then we did bath and bedtime routine.
Then I gave her a bottle of water.
She would drank an ounce or so, then pushed it away and reached for her crib.
A few more times with the water bottle.
Then I replaced the water bottle with a water sippy.
At night she still reaches toward her door and whines "ba ba! ba ba!" and its so heartbreaking to take away something she loves. But I keep telling myself: there is no going back, there is no going back.
As soon as I put her down and tuck her blanket around her, she forgets all about it.
Now the last few sleeptimes, we've done stories, she'll take a drink of water, then I put her down in her crib. She waves and says "BYE!".
I leave the sippy on the edge of the crib in case she wants it.
Then I'm out.
Guess what?
I have not lost one minute of sleep over this.
I don't know why I was worried.
This is Carly we're talking about.
She handles transitions like a champ.
And she likes her sleep as much as her mama does.
Crossing my fingers potty training and big girl bed will go as well when the time comes.
And because I like pictureless posts as much as chocolateless cookies:
Carly and daddy in September.
Hurry, sunshine. Hurry.
6 comments:
ha! Erin I love it! I am coming to you for mommy advice when the time comes!!
The tooth decay thing is legit. The milk from the bottle washes over their little teeth over and over while they sleep, and the sugars in the milk make the teeth rot. :) I knew a little girl in Florida with it. Not pretty.
So glad the transition went well! Hooray!
Yea! SO glad it went well. I meant to ask you about that yest.
But the milk tooth decay is real- I have seen pictures, but it usually takes years, so good for you!
Way to kick the habit! Yes, there is such thing as baby bottle tooth decay...as a dietitian and dentist we know all about it at our house :) But that usually only happens with kids who are taking teh bottle to bed with them and sipping on it all night long. The milk pools in their mouth and the sugars cause the bacteria to go crazy and cause decay. There are some sick pictures out there if you want to have a little fun with google :) Anyways...I am sure Carly wouldn't have an issue with it how you were doing things, but it is nice to be done with the bottle either way. Yay for big girls!!!
Glad the transition went well! It is hard to take things away that might disrupt your sleep! I feel the same way! I have a neighbor whos little girl just had the bottle decay thing. She had to have all four of her top, middle teeth pulled out! She is 2 and it is so sad! Like Taryn said I think it is only those extreme cases with bottles that it this happens with!
Ah! This is the story of my life. I am so much more afraid of change than Amelia is. I was worried sick about getting her to take a bottle and formula. But what do you know, she did what she had to do to eat and she hardly cared.
I haven't even begun to wean Amelia off the bottle yet. She is uninterested in a sippy cup, will not raise it to her mouth or suck through a straw. How did Carly do with that transition?
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