How to Wean a Two Year Old Off the Bottle

If your 2-year-old still drinks milk from a bottle, she could be starting down the road to a lifetime of weight problems. A 2009 study in "Maternal & Child Nutrition" found that toddlers between 12 and 36 months who still drank milk from bottles faced a significantly higher risk of being obese or overweight than those who did not. However, many toddlers resist giving up their daily "ba-bas" despite their parents' best efforts. Convincing your 2-year-old to drink from a cup requires patience and commitment, but the result is well worth the effort.

Instructions

    • 1

      Do away with one bottle at a time to ease your toddler's transition. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, you should drop your toddler's afternoon bottle first, and the morning and evening bottles next. Wait to drop the bedtime bottle, which your toddler may be most attached to.

    • 2

      Replace bottles with sippy cups. Take your toddler to the store and let him pick out some sippy cups in colors he likes or featuring his favorite characters. When you drop one of his his daily bottles, give him one of his new sippy cups to drink from instead. If he is excited enough about the cups he selected, it may help him lose interest in bottle drinking.

    • 3

      Dilute the milk or juice you give your toddler to make it less appealing. Fill bottles with water or a type of juice he doesn't enjoy. Save undiluted drinks and your toddler's favorites for cups to make the cups more attractive.

    • 4

      Choose a date to toss out the bottles. Select an important day, such as a birthday or the start of a vacation, or you can arbitrarily pick a date. A week or so before the big day, start talking to your toddler about how he will be giving up his bottles on that day. Make it sound like a positive thing; now he will be a "big boy" and won't need bottles any more. Remind him every day about the upcoming deadline for giving up bottles. Once the day arrives, throw away all the bottles, preferably with your toddler's help.

    • 5

      Go cold turkey if all else fails. Simply taking away the bottle and refusing to give in to the tears and whining may be the gentlest method for your toddler in the long run, suggests child psychologist, Penelope Leach. Daily conflicts over your toddler's requests for a bottle leave him unhappy if they end with him crying and you getting angry -- even if he ultimately gets his bottle. Throw out the bottles and tell him the stores don't have any more. Your toddler may feel sad at first, but he may adjust more quickly than if you gradually withdraw his bottles.

    2. Previous:

    Next:

    • Feeding Jobs for Parents and Toddlers
          Feeding a toddler comes with its own share of challenges. But as with other parts of baby care and parenting, getting off to a good start can make a real difference. One approach that many parents have found helpful is acknowledging
    • Normal Weight for a Toddler
      Toddlers grow and change quickly. Parents often worry about the development of their child. In some cases they may wonder if their child eats enough and is the right way for his age. Toddler Years Toddlers are children between the a
    • Day Care Cuisine
      Ensure that your childs diet is healthyDay Care Cuisine With more mothers working full or part time, childcare is a fact of life for most families. Nearly 13 million American preschoolers are enrolled in childcare programs, according to the National