A toddler getting attached to their bottle is not an uncommon thing. Besides providing nourishment to your little one, bottles often become a source of comfort for the baby and this ultimately turns into a habit. So as a parent, it’s our responsibility to make sure to start weaning babies from bottles at the right time and make them comfortable enough to start drinking from glasses.
From boosting tooth decay, deshaping the smile to increased chances of obesity - bottle feeding has certain disadvantages as well. Hence it becomes important to transition your toddler to using a glass, rather than a bottle. The longer time you wait for this transition to happen, the more the baby gets attached to his/her bottle. So it’s better to have baby get rid of it.
So here I am penning down some simple yet effective tips that will make the process of switching from bottle to glass, quite easy.
Choosing the right time when to stop bottle feeding your baby.
The first step of this process should start when the baby is six months old. Make sure that the baby is fit and healthy. Try to give him a toy cup/glass to make him familiar with it. Then try serving the milk to him in the glass, don’t cut out the bottles all at once. It might happen that baby will not coordinate properly in the beginning but gradually he/she will be easily able to use glass.
Preparing your child mentally for drinking from glass
Kids have a tendency to do what adults around them do. So, you can regularly tell your kid that now he/she is growing big and just like other grown up kids he/she too should drink from glass.
Instead of cutting bottles all at once, wean it off slowly.
Going with the technique of cutting bottles all at once can make your child throw tantrums or the kid can go on a hunger strike, and you will find it difficult to deal with him/her. If baby denies sleeping without bottle, then it can result in sleep disturbances as well.
Try choosing different objects.
Take your kid to the nearby store and let him select the glass of his/her choice. Buy a few different types and experiment. Straw is a good option to help in this transition from bottle to glass for feeding. To cut back on spills, you can serve vanilla yogurt or some puréed fruit (thinned with water) for initial days.
Do not give in half way.
Last but not the least, once you start the process do not get tired half way as it will make the whole process more difficult when you start it all over again; as kid now knows what will make you give him his/her bottle back.
As I already said, the sooner the better. You kid will take a lot of time to get comfortable with this change, but this will happen for sure with your efforts.
