Weaning a kid sucks! {#MomDiaries}

On Friday the 13th of October, I took the decision to wean Adam off his bottle. A very ‘carpe deim’ sort of decision I made in the moment. He had turned 2 in August, and is around the same age (maybe a smidgen older) than his siblings were when I weaned them.

With him being my 3rd child, I was thinking….I don’t care when he quits. He can choose when to give up the bottle, but I realised this child is borderline obsessed with his bottle. He could function perfectly fine without it when we are out, but at home I saw that there was a problem. Not eating at all, in lieu of demanding bottle after bottle. Literally 6 to 8 bottles a day. Refusing breakfast, lunch and supper.

Day 1

I’m lucky in that, during the week, when tired, Adam likes to fall asleep on his nanny’s back. So seeing as it was a week day, our nanny was in and once he got tired, I handed him over to her. When he woke up he looked for his bottle, but I kept him distracted and even managed to feed him some lunch.

I thought it was going pretty well until bed time. ‘Where bottie???’ is what I heard a few times. Dad sissed him to sleep and we thought…piece of cake. Hmmm…not so much. He woke up for 2 x 20 minute stints crying, looking for his beloved ‘bottie’. I was ready to cave and hubby was like..HELL NO! Not after only one day! So he stayed strong…

Day 2

Feeling really tired the next morning, but I realised…we’d survived the first 24hrs!! Adam was up at 6am looking for his bottie, but dad patted him back to sleep. I got up and made sure to make some oats early so there was something for him to eat once he woke up. He saw big sister having her oats and he asked for his own dish and ate a bit.

We had a party away from home in the afternoon, so that kept him pretty busy and we didn’t have any bottie issues…..until night time. He asked again, dad put him to sleep. He woke up a bit more aggressively than the previous night, but after sissing and patting, he went back to sleep and stayed asleep.

Day 3

I woke up feeling really fragile this morning from the night before, but I was feeling stronger. Also feeling determined that we’d push through. We realised maybe we weren’t doing a good thing with just skirting the issue. Next time Adam asked where his bottle was, we told him that it was gone. He pulled either dad or I many times to where he’d usually find his bottle and with it being MIA, I think it started dawning on him, that his bottie really was gone 🙁

Before bed, again he asked for it…in fact a bit more than the previous 2 nights, but he got to sleep and STAYED ASLEEP. ALL NIGHT.

Day 4

No asking for bottie this morning, but he did take a chance when he saw his nanny for the first time…like maybe she wasn’t in on this…and maybe she knew where bottie had disappeared to. Unfortunately….everybody is in on this my child, so no bottie my baby 🙁

Sleep wise that night, he had a 10 minute thrashing and moaning session in bed, and for the rest of the night he was sound asleep.

Day 5

My nephew comes over every other day and they have the same types of bottle. My sister was told not to send the smaller bottles over that was the same size as Adam’s ones, but there was a bit of a slip up. He spotted his beloved bottie’s twin and tried to go and snuggle up with it. Luckily my mom got there before he could get comfy.

Night time he fell asleep so easily and slept through all night!

Day 6

I was feeling rested this morning…and grateful that Adam had a good night. The end is in sight with this bottie thing, we just need to push through. My boy is such a trooper and I’m really proud of him for not kicking up more of a fuss. The update from my mom today is that he is eating well, but there was one very quiet mumble for bottie. Urgh…this stuff hurts my heart…for real 🙁

We’re currently on Day 13 and it’s gone well. There were still some rogue mumblings for a ‘bottie’ last week, but for the most part, ‘bottie’ is not part of our lives anymore. He has been really sick the last few days and I think at night been tossing and turning, hoping bottie will appear, but I’ve woken him up and given him a sip of water and that calms him down. I am hopeful once he’s over the tonsilitis, I won’t need to give him sips of water at night….. 

Many moms (THOSE moms) will see this post and perhaps read it thinking:

– Oh my word…he is 2 already? Why didn’t you stop sooner???

– Oh my word…he is only 2! How can you do this to your baby??

Hopefully there’ll be a 3rd type of mom:

– Your kid, hope it goes well for you! All the best. xxx

To those in the 3rd category….well thank you very much 🙂

My top tips for the bottie weaning (or frankly any other weaning):

• You need to mentally prepare yourself to go through with this, because it’s bloody hard!
• Go cold turkey, don’t confuse them with allowing it at bedtime, but not during the day.
• If they are around age 2, they understand very well. Explain that bottie/dummy/blankie, etc is gone and won’t be back. (Not like Arnie who will always be back…)
• If your baby was dependent on the bottle for their ‘eating’, make sure to have snacks handy, so they don’t go hungry.
• Be patient and be prepared to possibly spend more time cuddling them, sissing them to sleep, as they transition. (Though going to sleep has been MUCH easier without the bottle for us. )

This too shall pass….and after this….we have potty training! YAY!! This #MomLife stuff is tough! What are your top weaning tips and also potty training tips? One would think with my 3rd kid I’d be a pro by now, but I feel like a first time mom every time….. 

PS All images taken off Pexels 🙂