cold turkey

I would say instead of throwing out all of the bottles is to buy sippie cups. It's the best and it worked on my niece when my mom wanted to get her off bottles!

I found that including your child in any changes you make for them can make the transition eaisier on all involved.  They are not stupid.  Go shopping with your child for a special cup.  Let them choose it.  Say to them that you want them to have a special cup.  When they choose it, tell them you would like them to use this cup for all their drinks instead of the bottle.  If that doesn't work, try everything else people have told you, but no need to push it.  Something will work, but at the end of the day....it's their decision and I agree that lovingly is the best way.  You don't want them to say when they are older "oh mum, I remember when you gave the dog my bottle and it chewed it to bits and you wouldn't buy me a new one"  Fancy scarring them with a memory like that for something so trivial.  You might laugh, but that is a real memory from a client of mine.

I've been there done that i helped my children to go from bottle to cup by giving them pop top bottles. my younger children would see the older one take them to school so she would call it her " school girl bottle" it worked for me every time, try it for your self. sometimes my daughter also had difficulty going from a formula milk which has a sweetness to it ,to the cow or goat milk or what ever you choose so i "faked" putting honey or choc syrup in and she believed it to be flavoured so she drank it. it did have a afew hiccups but it did work.

why is half of this advice my requested advice ???

the top part is what i asked but the bottom isnt

When I broke my kids from the bottle, I just didn't give it to them any longer.  It worked for one, but not the other.  So, I only allowed one bottle a day, leaving the choice up to the child.  But, I didn't ask which bottle it would be, so every drink was in a cup.  If the child remembered, and asked for the bottle, then I would give it to them.... after about a week, he no longer asked.