– Hi, I’m Dana. This is a question I get asked a lot: How do I get my toddler off of a bottle? And the question and concern usually arises at bedtime.

Now, this is kind of a really big mindset shift that needs to occur for every parent because basically for the first year of this child’s life, liquid has been the primary calorie source, right? Whether it was breast milk or formula, that’s pretty much all they were living on, right? A food yeah sort of came into the picture, but it was more secondary. The primary source was this fluid.

But after the first birthday, that shifts. Now, liquid becomes a beverage and solids become the calorie source.

Now, what happens though is a lot of people linger with bottles because they think they need to fill their toddler’s tummy with lots of milk in order for them to sleep through the night. I’m here to tell you that is not the truth, okay?

Now, I’m assuming that they have really good sleep skills. If they do not have good independent sleep skills, then you’re gonna wanna pick up a copy of the Sleep Sense Program and get down the right road with that.

But as far as adding milk to your bedtime routine, it’s not necessary. It really isn’t. Often, if a child’s not eating well, the culprit is milk. Too much milk consumption really interferes with a child’s solid consumption. So, for a lot of you, it’s gonna solve those eating challenges that you’ve been having to end so much milk right before bed.

Another common concern is that she won’t take milk in anything but the bottle. Now, I do find that this is problematic if the bottle lingers much past the first birthday. This is a common occurrence because they get this weird association that milk only belongs in a bottle and they become very reluctant to give it up.

But I would say, switch to a sippy cup. You can get the little sippy cups that have a soft top. Those are a little bit easier to transition through, or just a plastic cup with a straw. A lot of toddlers really love straws and they’ll take the milk from the straw.

But here’s the truth: If they don’t drink it, it’s okay. It’s okay. She doesn’t really even need cow’s milk. It’s not a necessary requirement of her diet.

In fact, many a person would tell you that you shouldn’t be giving your child that. So it’s not the end of the world if she doesn’t drink an eight ounce glass of milk right before bed. Hopefully, she’s just had dinner an hour or two prior, so she won’t be all that hungry or in need of lots of calories right before bed.

So, I hope that takes the pressure off a little bit. If she doesn’t take it, it’s no big deal. I would offer some, maybe during story time in the routine. If she doesn’t want it, no big deal. Don’t force it.

She may come back to it. Some kids go on a little milk strike when you get rid of the bottle and after a few days of seeing that, well, it’s not coming back, I guess I’ll use this sippy cup now.

They can come back to it, so that might happen, but even if it doesn’t, I don’t want you to panic. There’s lots of other ways to get all that good stuff, calcium, and all that good fat that comes from whole milk into her diet in other ways.

You could also start just offering little bits of it spaced throughout the day to see if you can encourage her to drink some, if that’s important to you.

Alright, thanks so much for watching today. Sleep well.