Carson was 4 months old when he slept through the night, and could hold his bottle on his own. I was so proud of this new skill and I credited his long night sleeps to that bed bottle. When he would wake, I could hear him whimper and as I made my way to his room, in a zombie state he would stop and I would hear the suckling of that bottle. It was his soothie, and mine. But my baby is no longer a baby. He has transitioned into a spunky, wild, rambunctious toddler. It was time to move on from the bottles and onto the sippy cups. After a couple days with the sippy I decided it was time to face the bed bottle. I did our regular bed time routine and instead of handing him a bottle I handed him his sippy. He began to drink from it and realized that this was not his norm of the night. He threw it out of the crib while yelling at me. I persisted and persisted and had no luck. I caved and made the walk of shame to the kitchen to make him his bottle. He smiled a giant smile(the one that melts my heart) as I gave it to him and I left his room defeated. This minor experience had me feeling low. I know its not THAT big of a deal but it hit me that I created this. As a parent I just want to make him happy and love him and just have him in good spirits.. always. However as I was picking up toys I was having dark images of that mom who hands her 5 year old a bottle to hit the hay. I'm a little determined when it comes to getting what I want so my scheming plan began. My stubborn Turkey was going to go cold turkey. There would be no bottle. He would learn to love that sippy. And the ultimate challenge would be getting him down without anything but a kiss goodnight. What a rough couple nights we had. But tonight was a GLORIOUS night indeed. We went right into bed and asleep. I'm still an ear to ear smile about this. I am so proud of my little turkey! He really has done so good. And even though I have made the makers of Nubby sippy cups incredibly rich we have found the sippy of choice. And he seems to be transitioning well. I am just full of love for him and although it is bittersweet to see those bottles packed away I am over joyed by his progression.
4 comments:
What a sweet post! I'm glad you stuck to your guns, it really only takes a few days! I have had a hard time letting this baby grow up lately. We did give up the bottle--but by gosh he LOVES his binky...and you know what? He can keep it for awhile! He's my last baby--I want to baby him a little while longer! Enjoy every minute!
I know exactly what your going through and thank you for this post! Now you've given me the motivation to do this with Katelynn. Which sippy do you use? Does he still get a night time bottle?
YAY! It is definately a triumph when you transition... they grow up too fast don't they?
Great photo by the way... I am assuming you took it?
big step mommy! congrats!
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