Yes, we’re suckers for this sweet little one named Meera Grace. At the end of this month she’ll officially be two and a half. And yes, for better or for worse, we’re still letting her drink bottles. She loves bottles of milk more than anything else (except her bunny; Bunny is her #1). We all know that we’re going to have to cut her off at some point (we’re trying to get the guts up to do it sometime soon), but all four of us are such push-over’s when it comes to our girl, that we dread the day that we eventually go cold turkey even more than she does. In the meantime, she has us wrapped around her little finger… and she knows it.
You are having so much fun with her clothes HBJ!! So cute!
My cousins used the “binky fairy” to cold turkey their daughter from pacifiers – basically, they started to talk about how it was so sad that new babies didn’t have pacifiers (guilt trip) then talked about the “binky fairy” and how she brings pacifiers to new babies when they are born, but she needs to get them from big girls who have grown out of them. So my baby cousin gathered all of her binkies (she even had some hidden) and they put them outside for the BF one evening. The next day, the BF had left her a present (a doll she really wanted and some candy) in the basket. Super cute. And it worked. I dunno how attached Meera is to her bottle (or if you could just start switching to a sippy cup) but a “bottle fairy” might help her transition a little better.
Anyway, she is adorable. I hope that when the day comes that its time to get rid of the bottle, it all goes smoothly and that there are very few tears in your house.
My oldest drank a bottle until he was 5. We started setting guidelines to how much and where he could have it. He finally gave it up on his own.
I do remember walking into the kitchen when was 7ish. He had made a bottle and was drinking it. He told me he just wanted to remember it. Awwww. He’s 21 now and partaking in other bottles. Ugh.
We’re probably in the minority here (or at least the minority that talks about it) but our girls STILL have a sippy of warm milk when they wake up. They’ve given up the afternoon and evening ones, but it just isn’t morning until they’ve had some warm milk.
Our eldest gave up his binky at age 3 (it was distorting his teeth), but he kept his bottle (morning and evening) until he was 5… He loved it so much that I didn’t have the heart to take it away (and his dentist said that as long as he brushed before bedtime, we were ok). We figured that he wouldn’t go to college with it, so we just let me do it on his own
Baby girl is now 13 months and loving her bottle just as much as her brother used to!
We have a three year-old here who still has her binky (only at night)…we just have to get up the guts to take it away-part of it is me not wanting her to not be a “baby” anymore!
Meera is precious…I can see why she has all of you wrapped around her finger!
I stopped checking your blog several months back, I’m glad to see it is here. Wow, your kiddos are all growing up! When I have a chance, I enjoy reading your posts!
With my first two kids, I was so determined to get rid of the bottle early on (i.e. around age one). Looking back I think to myself, what was the big panic and rush? I had this notion that it would become this impossible-to-break habit, but really, do you ever see a 10 year old running around with a bottle or soother? Enjoy the babyhood (or sense of babyhood) as long as you can… it’s so fleeting!
Malia was well past three when she decided she no longer wanted a bottle, at all. She’s no worse off, I’d say. You go, Meera- enjoy!!
At our pediatrician’s urging we tried to take our son’s bottle away cold turkey when he was about 2 1/2. This usually good natured, laid back child spent the entire day hanging from the refrigerator screaming for his “botter”. I spent the day in my robe trying to soothe him, but to no avail. When my husband arrived home and listening to this for 5 minutes, he could take it no longer and gave our son his “botter”. I decided then that since I had never seen a child drinking from a bottle in kindergarten that we should just let him give up that “botter” when he was ready. Best decision ever. He gave it up shortly after his third birthday without a look back. I say let Meera keep that bottle until she decides she doesn’t want it any more.