Need Advice About Switching Son from Formula to Whole Milk

Yes, and I was told that milk, although not that bad for you, is not good for you. I switched my little guy to water and he loved it. Especially ice water.

Intolerance to cow milk is very common. I would try almond milk or organic rice milk. Then use other foods to get calcium. Good luck.

Hi N.,

My oldest son had an intolerance to cow's milk when he was little. The doctor suggested that we try giving him goat's milk instead and we did. He did fine with the goat's milk. It is a bit more expensive, but he tolerated that so much better. Now, he can drink cow's milk without a problem. Best of luck to you!

L.

Both of my kids had big problems with the switch from formula to milk. Milk can cause constipation. (It's also possible your kids have lactose intolerance to some degree?) At the time our pediatrician recommended soy milk, plus using Miralax in it. However I then discovered raw milk, which I know some people consider controversial, but we have had nothing but great experiences with it. It tastes better and has pro-biotic qualities that really do seem to aid with digestion (additionally, we haven't had any ear infections since we started with the raw milk?!). You may want to research into it and see what you think. Good luck!

It took me a couple weeks to get my son switched to regular milk. Then I had to find a brand that he liked. Have you tried mixing the formula and milk together like doing four and four of each and see how that does like gradually working him off the formula? That is what I did and my son didn't have a problem with it at all. You could also get them tested for being lactose tolerate.

When I switched my oldest child over at the age of 12 months I mixed the whole milk with water. Half and half for about 6 months and then gradually less water and more milk. Eventually I realized my kid was lactose intolerant! (LOL) We use soy now.

Hi I don't usually respond, but this was so close to my daughter when she was a baby. My daughter was almost 18 months old before she was completely off of formula and come to find out she was allergic to milk. Or rather milk intolerable. She didn't break out or anything. She spit up a lot tummy upset not eating like she normally did. So we put her back on formula and later reintroduced milk to her. but of course with her being lactose intolerent didn't do too well unless it was in cereal where she didn't get much milk. I hope this helps you out.
I'll tell you a little about me I am a mother of 3 grown wonderful children a girl and two boys. So I've been there and done that. My daughter was also on soy based formula when she was a baby. That's just a thought you might want to try. Good luck. M.

It is extremely common for children to have a food sensitivity to cow's milk and dairy products. In fact, it's the #1 cause of ear infections in children. Your child's symptoms are telling you that he is not tolerating the milk.
It is a misnomer that children need to be drinking milk. If you're concerned about him getting enough calcium, he can get this through his foods. Dark leafy greens and almonds both contain quite a bit of calcium. Also, sometimes if children can't tolerate a glass of milk they can tolerate a small amount of cheese.
You're on the right track- keep listening to jack's body- it will tell you exactly what it needs.
Good luck.
Dr. T. Fleck

i had to mix the two for some time before my daughter would take whole milk!

I know that when I switched my daughter from formula to whole milk I some problems too. What happens is the switch can cause some constipation and that is probably why he isn't very hungry.I would strongly suggest that you don't go back and forth stick with one or the other. The feaver could just be him cutting some teeth. If it continues, I would take him to the doctor. He could be somewhat lactose intolerent. Let me know how things turn out please.

Daniele

Hi N.,
I strongly urge you to discuss this with your pediatrician, right away. Bring a dirty diaper with you. In general, white or gray poop is a sign of a problem with absorbtion, but only your pediatrician can tell you for sure. Keep your son on formula, no milk, until you get a good answer. Good luck!

N., I would stick to formula for now. Especially if you are immunizing him with the current recommended schedule, and he had his MMR at about 12 mos. I think when we switch to milk, their immune systems are weakend, and he may already be showing sign. That, coupled with the immunizations can further weaken his immune system,and they just can't tell us for sure the consequences. I have a 18 month old who I am keeping on formula until he is 2. I also have 3 others, the oldest is 19 and I can tell you, the immunization schedule it TRIPPLED since he was a baby. So has the autism rate. We need to pay attention to the clues our kids are sending us. Trust your gut.

Dear N.,
He may be allergic to milk. I'm not sure what kind of formula he was on. Or he may just have the flu.
D.

I've been transitioning my 14 month old for the past 2 months... we started doing a 3:1 ratio of formula/milk, now we're at 1:1 ratio... hoping to move to 1:3 form/milk ratio in a week or two. Eventually we'll get it down to all milk... maybe by 18 months. We're doing it slowly as my son does not really care for the taste of milk. We (and the ped) see no need to hurry things along.

I did it right away too and had some small problems with it. What I did was half formula and half milk for awhile at first. I only gave him a small amount of milk in the morning and some before bed. He drank formula during the day until about 15 months. Then he went strat to milk. He is now 3 years and has been only had milk at night and in the morning. Try this and if you hve anymore problems, I would tell the doctor the problem. It takes a child sometime to go from formula to milk. So give it some time, slowly.

Check out Kidshealth.org. There is a limit to how much mild to give a child so their apetite doesn't decrease. "limit your child's mild intake to 16 to 24 ounces a day" KidsHealth and it should be whole milk until the child is 2.

It would be a good idea to call the pediatrician; white/beige bowel movements are probably not a result of dropping formula. It could be coincidental that they happened at the same time. Do call the Dr and see what he has to say.

Hi N., My name is J., and a mother of five, and a stay at home mom. I had this problem with our 12 year twins. Now research suggests to keep babies on formula until 14 months, because their digestive system can not process the whole milk. Especially when they are sick. No dairy at all. I did not put my two year old on regular milk until he was 18 months old. I have not had any problems with his bowels or stomach as I did with my twins.
Hope this helps.

All of the info. I got from Kaiser when we brought our son home said to call immediately if you see white, black or red bowel movements!! Please get it checked out - better safe than sorry!

Did you switch all at once? It's better to use a mix for a week or two -- 1/4 milk and 3/4 formula for a few days, then half one and half the other, then 3/4 milk and 1/4 formula, and then all milk. Switching all at once is too tough on the digestive system. I haven't read earlier resposes yet, but I'm sure people mentioned lactose intolerance (highly unlikely, though not impossible, at his age -- breastmilk contains lactose, too) and milk allergies. Please do not assume he has either if yoou switched from 100% formula straight to 100% milk. My son had lots of GI issues (before we tried milk) and could not handle either cows' milk or soy milk. His issue wasn't an allergy or lactose intolerance. He has been able to have cows milk without any problems since he was three. My guess (though you should probably check in with you son'd pediatrician) is that the change just happened too quickly for your son's digestive tract to adapt smoothly. Whenever we switched from one thing to another, our ped GI had us do the mix process I mentioned. Good luck!
K.

Hi N.. If your son was on milk based formula before then transitioning to whole milk shouldn't cause a problem. With my 6, we did the transition very slow though by changing one bottle/cup to whole milk for a week, then another, etc. until they were completely off of formula. I had three that were lactose intollerant which they outgrew by the time they were 3 y.o. The other three transitioned from formula to milk without a problem.

Instead of just drinking milk he can do whole yogurt (Yo Baby) and cheeses also.