Breaking the bottle!

My daughter is over 16 months now, and yes she still gets a bottle. I have tried so unsuccessfully to get rid of it. I don't know what to do. I refuse to take it away and just let her cry for it. That is one thing I simply can not do. It seems like torture.

She was doing pretty well and for a while only getting a bottle or two during the night if she needed. Sometimes she would ask for one before bed, but usually she would only get one around 3 or 5 am. Did I forget to mention she has yet to sleep through the night? I think its because she is so tiny. It doesn't matter how much she eats for dinner she wakes up hungry around 5 or 6 usually, but to tired to wake up. So she gets a bottle.

This was going great until we tried to get her to sleep in her own bed. Then she became a whinny and clingy monster baby. To mommy only of coarse. Also she developed an even greater attachment to her bottle. Then she got sick and now she only wants the bottle. I try to give her something else but she refuses. Sometimes it is so hot I know she desperately needs a drink so of coarse I give her the bottle. I try to push the sippy cup as much as possible when we go out I wasn't even bringing a bottle with us.

Until the park. It was so hot that day, and even I was dying for a drink. We didn't stay long because I knew if I was dying from the heat the kids were to. I knew she was thirsty, but she refused to drink anything. She wanted her bottle. She screamed and cried for it. I told her I didn't have on she had to drink her sippy. It didn't matter she screamed until we got home and got a bottle. So now I am back to square one. Any ideas!

According to her Pediatrician she needs to stop the bottle and should have already done so. It can apparently cause speech delays, ear infections, and teeth problems. We have already had a few ear infections so I'm really worried as it is. I have caught all her ear infections before they got bad, but taking antibiotics often isn't good either.

Most of the time she refuses her sippy, but, this probably sounds horribly mean, if I can get the straw into her mouth she usually drinks some of it. She absolutely will not drink out of any sippy cup other than the ones with straws. She will drink out of regular cups. I have small ones that I give her with a little bit of water at a time. The plan for now is to do the only thing I can do, and that is not give up! Wish me luck!