My daughter was 3 years old when i got her off her night time bottle. I knew she was getting a bit old for a bottle so i got the last remaining bottles and put them in a bag next to the bin. I told her she was a big girl now and that she didn't need a bottle anymore and if she wanted warm milk before bed it would be from a cup. She had warm milk in a cup for two nights after that, didn't like it and now goes to bed without it!

What I did with my older son is slowly decrease the amount of milk in his bottle and give him more during the day. He never noticed the bottle getting smaller & eventually disappearing. Hope this helps!

Teshia

Hi,

My 3 y.o daughter is STILL having a bottle when we read  bedtime stories- I have cut the amount down and added a little water to the mix. ( So she is only having 100 - 120ml.I have tried EVERYTHING, but if she does not have the bottle, she will go and get her water bottle from the fridge or my water bottle from my bedside table and drink that AFTER we have put her to bed! ( heaps more water in those ones!) Once she has finished and we have read our stories, we brush her teeth and she goes to the toilet. Then she goes to sleep. I get her up at 11.00 p.m when I go to bed and sit her on the toilet. She will always wee then. She often then stays dry- however after a bad run of 8 mornings straight of soaking wet bedding, I have popped a nappy on after she has been to the loo at 11.00 p.m for a break from  the washing!! She gets cranky when she finds it on in the morning, but I have explained that when she wakes up, she needs to remember to go to the toilet instead of doing it in her bed! If she shows me a dry nappy two mornings in a row, then I will leave the nappy off! I am working on ditching the bottle ( I have plans in motion for when we go away in a couple of weeks to "forget "the one remaining bottle...when we get back, I will make sure the dog has found it and chewed it up!) After the bottle fairy came last time, the little cherub dug to the back of the tupperware cupboard and found the container of bottles that even I forgot was there and said, " She didn't take these ones Mum! She left them just for me!"

What I did with my son, as far as stopping him from bringing milk to his bed was to offer him milk along with his dinner. Sometimes he doesn't drink it all during the dinner, but he has all the time until he goes to bed to drink it. This way he is already full and didn't want anymore when he went to bed. Perhaps you can try that? At least there will be an hour or two to finish the milk before going to bed.

Also, a lot of kids still wear pull ups at night at this age, and that's alright.

Hey there :) I think 3 is too old for a bottle. She is also at a good age for understanding things. I would probably do what I did with my 3 year old to get rid of the dummy. We gave it to the dummy fairy. You could do a bottle fairy. Leave the bottle out one night and in the morning there could be a little present for her from the bottle fairy. Tell her the bottle needs to go to the new babies in the hospital. I did this and he thought it was special that he was helping a new baby hehe.

With the bottles mine were little, only 1, and I just gave them water instead and they weren't interested. This however did cause a couple of nights of fussiness so I would probably try the first one because when she asks you can just remind her that a 'new baby' has it.

To get my eldest off her night bottle I started letting her have a small drink from her cup instead. At first she'd make a fuss but I told her if she wanted a drink, have it from the cup or not at all. She soon took the cup. Then I phased that out. If you do not want her having a drink at all, just tell her it's time to throw the bottle away because she's a big girl now. Make a special day of it - give her a small present in return for ditching the bottle; tell her it is "bottle throwing day". Once the bottle is gone, if she gets upset again, remind her of the present she got and that she is a big girl and big girls don't need bottles.

my son thought his bottle was for milk and milk alone. So to break him of the bottle we started putting water in it. if he wanted the bottle we gave it to him , with water only , he soon realized he only got milk when it was in a big boy cup and threw the bottle in the garbage himself

could try very slowly decreasing the amount in the bottle and then explain to her that big girls can have a yummy drink in the morning. worked for my son at about 2 and a bit. though he went back to having water to bed when he started school. ::) welcome to minti by the way ::)'s from becca!