The Imperfect Choice

Because we still haven't been able to break the milk-bottle-to-bed habit, I've tried a new technique a few days ago.

Why now? For the last few weeks I've tried halphazarldy to break the habit, but I really had not will to push through with it but instead caved in every time he'd start crying.

But last week, I realized that there are cracks in his bottle nipples. I guess he chewes, nibbles on the nipple, creating a whole. I threw out two nipples last week. We're down to one. (But even that one has a little crack in it I realized last night.)

Three nights ago, I smarted up: I gave him a bed time choice. An imperfect choice, but still a choice.
The same two clear Avent bottle (which he associates with milk, since that's all he drinks from them).
One bottle had the nipple on top but it contained water.
The other bottle contained milk but the top was the sippy cup spout.
He quickly picked up on my rouse. And he wasn't happy. But he had no choice. I left him fussying/crying in his room and left.

Which one was he going to choose? The milk or the nipple? Which one was more important to him. Once he fell asleep, I snuck a peak. It seemed that he had drunk some milk, but that bottle was kind of next to him. He was hugging the water bottle, the one with the nipple.

So that's what it came down to -- comfort. He wanted to suckle on the bottle. The beverage selection seemed secondary.
(Although he is a little milk-oholic. When he start fussing during the day, the arrival of the milk bottle soothes everything. He's totally addicted to it.)

I thought, "fine, let him have his bottle."

I tried the same experiment the following night, but he wouldn't go for it. Finally, I caved in and gave him a milk bottle with a nipple.

Yesterday
Last night Andy put him to bed. He was seemed quiet and ready to fall asleep, but I screwed it up because I went to check on him. Of course, he wasn't asleep, so he saw me and that was the end of that. I did notice however that he had milk in a sippy cup. It seemed as if he would've been fine, had I not interfered. But instead he wanted to get up and played.

We played a bit, then I put him back into the crib and I went to change. And then I was held hostage in my closet. Well, it was more like a self-imposed hostage situation. He didn't want to settle down, but kept standing up in his crib, opening the door of his room wide open, waiting for me. So I hid in the closet, in hope that he'd give up, quiet down and fall asleep. But of course, I didn't wait long enough. (I waited about 1/2 hour. I was smart enough to grab Style magazine I bought on a whim a few days earlier, hungry for some style, glamour and other eye candy I can't afford, indulge, nor have the will to follow rignth now). As I was trying to sneak back down the hallway, he saw me and the whole whinening started again. So I picked him up and we played some more. In the end, I caved in and gave him a bottle with milk. I first tried bottle with water, but he wouldn't take it. Milk, however, quiteted him down.

But then I started freaking out about the cracked nipple. "What if he chews it off and swallows it?" So I kept checking on him. Even thought I tried to be quite stealth about it, I'm no ninja and our house is old and creaky, so I kept startling him and waking him up over and over again. This of course, just produced more crying and I assume more bottle suckling (i.e. increasing the odds that he'd bite off the nipple). But it didn't happen. Luckily he fell asleep.

Today:
I don't know how Andy handled the milk situation during the day, but going to bed was relatively easy. Once he was done playing (but that's a different story because the last few days, he's pushed up his bed time and now won't be put down before 7:45-8 p.m., which is rather late for him), I have him the milk in a sippy cup top. He protested a bit, whined a while, but within 20 minutes he was asleep.

I don't want to declare it a victory in the bottle war, but definitely a success!