Help! bottle weaning

My daughter is 16 months old and I have her down to bottles only when she goes to sleep. I know... they say you shouldn't put your baby to sleep with a bottle, but I did. But now it is time to wean. She loves sippy cups, but still wants a bottle when she goes to bed. Its like her comfort thing. she wakes up in the middle of the night, then she ***** on her bottle and goes back to sleep. I fear that she wont go back to sleep if I take the bottle away! How do I go about trying to get rid of her bottle?? Please Help!

[babygirl6152]

She is close to the age you can explain to her- not totally, not rationally, but  just let her know the bottles are for babies. You know the first night/first week will be hard which you are dreading I know. I have a little one (2 1/2) in preschool that still has a sippy cup at nap time and it has milk in it. You could make a big deal out of it and say

the bottles went bye bye- oh no- they're all gone/ I think an elephant ate them all last night!-
Silly but use your imagination. I wouldn't blame it on the dog though or she might start being tacky to him. The thing is to talk about it way before bedtime instead of just telling her right when you put her nite nite. Go round the house and let her collect a little bag of goodies/ loveys that will soothe her in the night or a blankie she is fond of.

The other thing to do is set a date a little later on- 24 months, if she just can't learn to soothe herself after a week. There will be anxiety. Maybe even a full blown meltdown.  Quietly go in for 7 nights and hand her one of her new loveys and "say nite nite sweets. I know it's hard" I think it's important to acknowledge how hard it is for her...

God luck momma