thanks ladies. Trust me we've actually been fighting him with the bottle for several months now. My first was off it by 14 months. This little monkey is too smart for his own good. We would put a drop of juice in his water and he'd refuse to drink it. He eats everything and anything so he probably is getting enough. He's been on cows milk for a while now. As for soothing he's never been one that wanted or needed it... no thumb, no pacifier, teddy or blanket.
We've been going cold turkey since the post. Been trying to get my oldest to give him the cups. He's been pretending to put it in his mouth and plays with it before he throws it. So that's a little start.
It's a lot easier switching from the bottle when they are younger. With my first DD we didn't start trying until she was almost 2 because I thought taking her off around age 1 was too fast. She stopped drinking milk without the bottle so we gave it back to her. A few months later we tried again and once again stopped drinking milk because she only wanted to drink it from the bottle even though she drank water from a cup. Basically with her we made sure she got calcium from food. We did try giving her different milks (banana, chocolate, strawberry) but she didn't drink milk for maybe 8 months or so. She is now 4 1/2 and asks for and drinks milk daily.
With my second daughter (who had just turned 1 at the time) I lost her last bottle and all we had on hand was a sippy cup. She took it to right away that I decided not to give her a bottle anymore. My in-laws were horrified because in their family kids drink from the bottle until they are 5, no joke. Her milk intake hasn't been affected at all, in fact, I need to decrease it because she drinks too much.
So my advice would be to take him off the bottle cold turkey and feed him foods that are high in calcium. He will start drinking milk again, it just may take a while.
Like fcy says below, he can get all the calcium he needs from another source so perhaps start by checking (increasing?) these foods.
Do you use the bottle as part of a soothing or getting ready for sleep routine? If you do, you might want to consider stopping that first and using other soothing methods to calm him before bed. Once he's into a new soothing routine, it won't be so stressful to just put the bottles away. I always find things associated with sleep settling are the hardest to stop! :)
Not ready ..personally you have probably left it too late so he associates only milk with a bottle and his cleverer now.....
Is it cows milk his on? He can have enough milk with cereals and calcium in yoghurts chesse etc.....Just go cold turkey and break the bottle if he loves milk he will eventually drink it in a beaker or normal cup....as long as his eating healthy he ll be fine....my middle child who's 2 yrs old hates milk she we only have it on cereals.
My motto is the longer you leave it with kids the harder it becomes like with pacifiers and weaning etc
We've been trying to get our 21 month old off the bottle but its been a fight. He refuses to touch any other type of cup that has milk in it. He's about to make himself go 'cold turkey' as a few of the bottles have broken lately. I'm just worried that once the bottle stops he will stop taking milk altogether.