I've Got An Embarrassing Confession

I've got a confession to make, and its rather embarrassing. My 21 month old still gets a bottle at bedtime. I put him in his crib at exactly 1900 with his bottle of milk and he falls asleep quickly and quietly with the bottle still in his mouth. Occasionally I go into the room and remove the bottle from his mouth and he promptly wakes up crying, looking for his bottle.

Putting him to bed with a bottle isn't the worst of it; he also wakes up at night and requires another bottle to fall back asleep.On one particular occasion when I entered his room at night, he was sitting up in his crib, sweetly holding his bottle out to me to refill.

Kev is 21 months old, gets a bottle for falling asleep and gets 1-2 more bottles during the night. I'm aware of the increased risk of cavities and negative effects on his oral hygiene. It was my expectation that he would spontaneously begin sleeping through the night at some point and give up the bottle on his own, just like he gave up his soother. However, he is relying on it as some children rely on a soother to comfort them throughout the night.

I've recently been telling him that his bottles will be going "bye-bye" very very soon. This upcoming night, the night of December 30, seems as good a night as any. Jen has already resolved to have nothing to do with it and will be spending the night elsewhere.

Switching water for milk is not an option, as he simply throws this out of his crib onto the floor, usually narrowly missing my head.

Is it right for me to simply make him go "cold turkey" and have it over with in a few nights? Should I wean him off of it slowly and draw out the process over a week? This is foreign territory for me.


Advice of any sort would be wonderful and greatly appreciated.