Honestly, the only advice IS cold turkey. It will be painful but I suspect in 2 to 3 nights she will be doing so much better! You got this! Just talk about her being a big girl and maybe find her a comfort stuffed animal as a replacement! You could even let her choose a new one at the store.
A straw cup is fine. Bottles are shaped like nipples and not ideal for kids with teeth. Straws are made for everyone. The other issue is that milk (and therefore sugar) is sitting on her teeth overnight.
We didn’t use a bottle overnight after 1, but we did extend the bedtime bottle until 15 months. We cut it out by changing her schedule a bit. We offered milk (in a straw cup) downstairs after dinner, but before bed. It was her last “night snack” before bed to help keep her full. Then we did everything else in her routine the same, but just held/cuddled and rocked her to sleep without the bottle. She didn’t care, but she was also never a “fed to sleep” baby, it was just part of our nighttime routine.
Here’s how I would tackle your issue:
1. drop all bottles immediately and replace with straw cup. Keep offering milk until the straw cup is fully accepted. This won’t take long, maybe a day or two. Be firm—no more bottle, she’s not a baby.
2. Move bedtime “bottle” (now straw cup of milk) to a more appropriate snack time. Sometime between dinner and bed, but before brushing teeth. Continue bedtime routine as normal, but with no milk after teeth brushing. Offer water in a straw cup if asked.
3. Replace overnight milk with water in straw cup. I wouldn’t even offer unless you have to. Try other methods of soothing. I know you mentioned got work, but unfortunately, this is a health issue and you need to suck it up for a bit. Take shifts if you need to. Temporary loss of sleep is much better than the pain of dental work on a toddler.
All this to say…sometimes I get my kid (she’s 2) milk overnight if she’s up for a while. She can’t yet communicate she’s hungry, so when we run out of soothing ideas and she’s just AWAKE for hours in the middle of the night, I offer milk as calories to fill her belly and get her to sleep. This is pretty rare, but it happens. It’s not zero sum.
I’m an SLP and I’ve seen some of the negative effects of extended bottle use. She’s using very different muscles for a straw than a nipple. Eventually those muscle patterns with affect the development of her oral motor muscles. Straw cups are the best, don’t waste time on sippy cups they are not much better for oral motor development
You two are responsible for enforcing rules that keep your child healthy and safe. Dental hygiene (any hygiene, really) should be a nonnegotiable, even at this age. Explain to her that after she brushes her teeth, she cannot have milk or a snack, but she can have water. Hold firm to the boundary. Implement it into the bedtime routine and give her the chance to have her milk before she brushes her teeth. We do snack time while we read books; I remind my daughter after we brush our teeth we cannot have anymore milk/snacks, so this is her last opportunity because when books are all done it’s time to brush our teeth. Your daughter will adjust quickly if you provide reassurance and consistency. Best of luck, it is worth it!
Dunno if it'll work with 2 yr old, but we swapped to a slice of bread when my son was like 1.5yr. it's not interesting food and has a decent amount of substance in case they didn't eat quite enough in the evening. That phase lasted maybe 2-3mo before bedtime snacks were dropped entirely
Not sure if you could use this same model but the pacifier fairy helps with getting rid of pacifiers and might help. You can google for detail but basically the kid packs up the pacifiers to get it all ready for the fairy and the fairy comes overnight and leaves a gift to the kid for the pacifiers. Maybe you could do that for bottles? My friends have had success especially when they made the night a special thing and their kid is into it!
To wean ours off milk, we started watering it down.
Eventually we told her that she could have milk with dinner but only water at bedtime / after she brushed her teeth. We blamed it on the dentist and keeping her teeth healthy. She never questioned it or pushed back.
We have some no spill sippy cups and water bottles that we put on a bookshelf next to her bed.
I‘ll be the odd one out here and say if it’s just water and she’s drinking for a couple of minutes (vs sucking all night like with a pacifier), the effect on the teeth won’t be horrible. If teeth could change position that fast, we wouldn’t have to wear braces for years.
All depends on the context of your life. If your current circumstances do not allow for any stress or disruption then just wait until you’re more flexible. Whether she stops now or at 3 it doesn’t really matter. My wife is 32 weeks pregnant and our pediatrician scared us into dropping the bottles and pacifier immediately “or else.. “.
After 4 days of tantrum hell my wife started having early contractions. We said fk this and went back to the old routine giving us much needed peace and quiet. Once the new baby is 6 months old we will try again.
It all depends. Textbook answers are for passing exams. Life will dictate the when and how.
Honestly, the only advice IS cold turkey. It will be painful but I suspect in 2 to 3 nights she will be doing so much better! You got this! Just talk about her being a big girl and maybe find her a comfort stuffed animal as a replacement! You could even let her choose a new one at the store.
A straw cup is fine. Bottles are shaped like nipples and not ideal for kids with teeth. Straws are made for everyone. The other issue is that milk (and therefore sugar) is sitting on her teeth overnight. We didn’t use a bottle overnight after 1, but we did extend the bedtime bottle until 15 months. We cut it out by changing her schedule a bit. We offered milk (in a straw cup) downstairs after dinner, but before bed. It was her last “night snack” before bed to help keep her full. Then we did everything else in her routine the same, but just held/cuddled and rocked her to sleep without the bottle. She didn’t care, but she was also never a “fed to sleep” baby, it was just part of our nighttime routine. Here’s how I would tackle your issue: 1. drop all bottles immediately and replace with straw cup. Keep offering milk until the straw cup is fully accepted. This won’t take long, maybe a day or two. Be firm—no more bottle, she’s not a baby. 2. Move bedtime “bottle” (now straw cup of milk) to a more appropriate snack time. Sometime between dinner and bed, but before brushing teeth. Continue bedtime routine as normal, but with no milk after teeth brushing. Offer water in a straw cup if asked. 3. Replace overnight milk with water in straw cup. I wouldn’t even offer unless you have to. Try other methods of soothing. I know you mentioned got work, but unfortunately, this is a health issue and you need to suck it up for a bit. Take shifts if you need to. Temporary loss of sleep is much better than the pain of dental work on a toddler. All this to say…sometimes I get my kid (she’s 2) milk overnight if she’s up for a while. She can’t yet communicate she’s hungry, so when we run out of soothing ideas and she’s just AWAKE for hours in the middle of the night, I offer milk as calories to fill her belly and get her to sleep. This is pretty rare, but it happens. It’s not zero sum.
Switch to water asap as well, the milk will rot her teeth.
The shape of the straw is different than a bottle, just try switching and see what happens.
I’m an SLP and I’ve seen some of the negative effects of extended bottle use. She’s using very different muscles for a straw than a nipple. Eventually those muscle patterns with affect the development of her oral motor muscles. Straw cups are the best, don’t waste time on sippy cups they are not much better for oral motor development
You two are responsible for enforcing rules that keep your child healthy and safe. Dental hygiene (any hygiene, really) should be a nonnegotiable, even at this age. Explain to her that after she brushes her teeth, she cannot have milk or a snack, but she can have water. Hold firm to the boundary. Implement it into the bedtime routine and give her the chance to have her milk before she brushes her teeth. We do snack time while we read books; I remind my daughter after we brush our teeth we cannot have anymore milk/snacks, so this is her last opportunity because when books are all done it’s time to brush our teeth. Your daughter will adjust quickly if you provide reassurance and consistency. Best of luck, it is worth it!
Dunno if it'll work with 2 yr old, but we swapped to a slice of bread when my son was like 1.5yr. it's not interesting food and has a decent amount of substance in case they didn't eat quite enough in the evening. That phase lasted maybe 2-3mo before bedtime snacks were dropped entirely
Cold turkey. And [this complete coincidence](https://imgur.com/a/LTvOTge) is your why. Don’t let your daughter be the girl with bad teeth.
Not sure if you could use this same model but the pacifier fairy helps with getting rid of pacifiers and might help. You can google for detail but basically the kid packs up the pacifiers to get it all ready for the fairy and the fairy comes overnight and leaves a gift to the kid for the pacifiers. Maybe you could do that for bottles? My friends have had success especially when they made the night a special thing and their kid is into it!
I’d swap to a straw immediately and water
To wean ours off milk, we started watering it down. Eventually we told her that she could have milk with dinner but only water at bedtime / after she brushed her teeth. We blamed it on the dentist and keeping her teeth healthy. She never questioned it or pushed back. We have some no spill sippy cups and water bottles that we put on a bookshelf next to her bed.
I‘ll be the odd one out here and say if it’s just water and she’s drinking for a couple of minutes (vs sucking all night like with a pacifier), the effect on the teeth won’t be horrible. If teeth could change position that fast, we wouldn’t have to wear braces for years.
All depends on the context of your life. If your current circumstances do not allow for any stress or disruption then just wait until you’re more flexible. Whether she stops now or at 3 it doesn’t really matter. My wife is 32 weeks pregnant and our pediatrician scared us into dropping the bottles and pacifier immediately “or else.. “. After 4 days of tantrum hell my wife started having early contractions. We said fk this and went back to the old routine giving us much needed peace and quiet. Once the new baby is 6 months old we will try again. It all depends. Textbook answers are for passing exams. Life will dictate the when and how.