I have tried to wean her off many times, without much success. Maybe it's because I didn't try hard enough. Why? How could you say "No" when she looked up at you with such pleading eyes, and a promise that it'll be the last time ever? I was quite successful with lemon once, a tips from a breastfeeding mother. However, I washed it away after a few times because I felt guilty - seeing how pitifully she cried after tasting it.
Since then, I tried to reason with her. That she's now a big girl, and so she has to drink milk from the bottle (she used to drink from the cup at school and at home sometimes, but always declined the bottle). I couldn't remember when she started to accept the bottle, and from then, she has been drinking formula at least once or twice a day at home. Then, I have successfully got her to drink milk from the bottle before bedtime, with the promise that she could drink from mine after that. It was not easy to convince her at first, that's why I introduced the pacifier to her. Yes, you might wonder, at such age? She looked at it as a toy, really. So I told her if she wanted the pacifier, then she had to drink milk from the bottle, and stopped taking from Mommy's. Surprisingly, it's not successful, a paci could never replace Mommy's - for her case.
Well, the closest I've nearly weaned her off was when I cooked up a story about the Tooth Fairy. She joined in the excitement of waiting for the Tooth Fairy to get her a pressie in exchange of her pacifier, and keeping her promise to only drink milk from the bottle. Well, she's very close to succeed, she never once requested milk from me, even though she had difficulty sleeping. Not until towards very late at night, and she asked me, "Just a little bit, Mommy?" And true enough, she stopped after taking a few suckles.
Last week, I finally succeeded in making her drink milk from the bottle in the morning, before she went to school. That's a great milestone, because it not only improved her temperament while preparing her for school, but it also eased the coming transition that I had in mind for her - when she finally turned 3. Of course, it came with a hefty price to pay, because I always ended up late for work while trying to coax her to drink from the bottle, but the end results was very rewarding.
It's been 2 days after she turned 3, and I can say it's very successful so far. How? Yes, the lemon. At first I thought she started to like the taste afterall, but luckily, it's still working now. She took a taste, made her face and said, "I'll wait for Mommy's nen nen to become not so spicy, ya". I felt guilty every time she said that. I tried to cajole her to try again, maybe it's not so spicy now? She would push me away and prefer me to hug her or pat her to sleep. Sigh... should I wash it away?
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