What's so bad about a bottle?

At Boston's 1 year check up, her pediatrician recommended that I start the process of weaning her from the bottle and making the transition to a cup. Ideally being bottle free by 15 months. In my head I thought, "Ya, maybe more like 18 months". Well 18 months came and went, and her love for her bottle was still as strong as ever. Remember this my baby who weaned herself from nursing at 9 months because she preferred her bottle. With a bottle she went down for her nap and bedtime without a peep.  I do admit I was putting her down with her bottle. Far worse than just letting her drink it before bed time, I know. I kept telling myself I would take it away during a week that we didn't have much going on, so that I could deal with whatever drama she threw at me.

Thursday, half way through spring break week, I thought, "Ah! I should have taken away her bottle this week!" So right then I grabbed some scissors cut off the nipple of one of her bottles and said, "Oh no Bossy! Your baba is broken!" Shock came across her face as she said, "Oh no! Baba! Broken!" I told her she needed to throw it away, and told her she could have a cup now that her baba was gone.  She went down for a nap perfectly without her bottle that afternoon.  That night she whined a little, but again went down pretty easily. I thought, "Awesome! Not bad at all!"

Friday, she was more fussy at nap time, but let me rock her to sleep. Bedtime she was a bit more whiny.

Same thing Saturday.

Sunday she whined and was in the worst mood all-day-long. I nearly lost my mind. Seriously. That night she cried for about an hour before falling asleep. She didn't want me to hold her, so I just let her work it out in her crib.

Monday, again because she wouldn't let me hold or rock her, I let her work it out in her crib. Which means she screamed and cried until she passed out. I went in a few times, but that just seemed to make her more mad.

Tuesday, my mother in law came over to babysit.  I told her what was going on, but hoped that since it was someone new putting her to bed, that she would go down more easily. Not. So. Much. I got home around 9. My MIL had let her cry off and on, and eventually gave up once she started banging on the wall. Boston was obsessed with getting her diaper off and going potty on the toilet (which is just total pretend) but she was so upset that I started thinking that maybe she had a UTI. I then fussed with her until midnight until she finally passed out from screaming, kicking and crying so hard.

Wednesday day she was generally happy, but again at night was absolutely crazy. Kicking, screaming, crying for hours.

So better to be safe than sorry, on Thursday I took her to the doctor to have her checked out.  We ended up going to urgent care because her ped didn't have any openings.  The urgent care doctor was so concerned about her that she referred us to see a pediatric urologist the next morning.

We saw the urologist Friday, and of course nothing was wrong with her. The urgent care doctor was a little paranoid. So 2 appointments and $40 later, I now know for sure she is a stubborn, feisty red head.

Boston obviously thought I still didn't get how stubborn she could really be and she proved it to me further that same day.

After our doctor appointments we packed up and went to the beach. She fell asleep for a whopping 10 minutes before we arrived around 2:30. The girls played hard...well you already saw my post... and we left around 7:30.  Brighton was asleep before we got on the freeway. Boston...oh Boston. She stayed awake the hour plus ride home, crying the last 30 minutes with her eyes closed, but refusing to fall asleep.

We got in the house about 9pm, where she then screamed and cried until almost 11. Seriously, girlfriend?

Saturday and Sunday we skipped napping because a. I didn't want to deal with the screaming. b. she didn't really seem that tired somehow. and c. we had a lot going on. But she still managed to stay up until 10pm or so screaming and flailing about. 

So on Monday, 12 days of screaming later, I started thinking, "What is so bad about a bottle?" After some research, opinions from others (thanks mom) and to keep my sanity, I decided to give her her bottle back. Yes, I gave in. BUT! no milk. Only sugar free, non teeth rotting beverages. Only at bedtime. I'm sure drinking a bottle for 10 minutes a day is worse than not, but really how horrible can it be?

So, judge away. But really don't. To each their own, and this is ours.  She is so much happier and we are all grateful to have our happy orange baby back.