Our son used a bottle until he was almost 5. He has very severe oral sensory issues and would not put any thing else near his mouth. We spent two months at the Children's institute in Pittsburgh in the functional feeding program. They used square tupperware drink boxes with the straw spout to squirt juice into his mouth. After the first 3 weeks I would say ... he started to drink from the drink box on his own.

My son is almost 3 and still on a bottle. I switched the nipple to a silicon sippy spout which caused a bit of tension but after he held it in his mouth for a few days and I guess realized it was the same texture and all he stopped minding the change. I have since tried to switch him to hard spout sippy cups or cups with straws and he is not having that AT ALL!! And he will literally starve himself or dehydrate himself or make himself throw up and become very aggressive and self-injurious until I give him his bottle...the therapist told me not to worry about it for now.

We just went through this with our younger son. Unfortunately, he we had to have his 4 front upper teeth pulled. We felt AWFUL parents. But, like your situation, he'd starve if he didn't have his bottle. He has serious sensory issues, so eating is a REAL struggle for him. We now have him on a hard top sippie cup. It's a daily struggle, but we just keep offering him a variety of foods. Best of luck to you!

I meant to add, he had his teeth pulled do to bottle rot :(

That was one battle I just wasn't willing to fight. He kept the bottle til he turned four. As he approached four I began talking to him about giving it up. The night before his fourth birthday, he told me he was done with it.