Switching to Milk Soon...

I was told to do it gradually. I mixed it with formula, starting with a quarter milk one week, 1/2 milk the next, 3/4 the following. My son did just fine. Hope that helps!

hi B.
I took my son in for his 1 year check-up, and I explained to his doctor that he has no drive to eat real table food i.e. veggies, meat or noodles. I said he still eats stage 3 and he said when he is ready he will do it!! That also means a sippy cup. when he's ready he will do it! And as for the milk, I gave my son 2% milk when he was 11 m/o w/o doing it gradually and he loved it! Talk to your dr and see what he says regarding your baby! Hope this helps =).

~m~

You should stick to the bottle until she accepts the sippy cup. I breast fed but supplemented with formula. And at 1 year I added half formula half whole milk, and gradually went into just whole milk. She got a horrible red rash for the first week, but then it passed. Good luck.

Dear B.,

Gradual. That is the key, she may just reject it all if the change is too different from what she is used to. My great grand daughter took one swig, stopped, and looked at her mom as if "what did you do?" written all over her face, then she spit it out.

I really do agree with you about the expensive formula, when my brother was born, we made a formula of sterilized water, canned milk, and one tsp of Karo Syrup. He was fine, and is now 65 years old and very healthy. Ole !! I do realize that there must be a lot of new vitamins and such in the expensive formulas. New ways.

My daughter rejected her bottle quite early by refusing to take them, and one by one they were tossed on the floor and broken ( the days of glass bottles) I had decided to let her give them to herself, and she disposed of them fast, so that stage of her life was over. I noticed that my grgrandchildren enjoyed straws with their milk for a while.

Sounds like you have a great life, and sweet loves to share it with. C. N.

The way that I did this with my children, was gradually replace the formula, because if your child straight on milk, it will usually cause tummy problems. The way The Dr. told me to switch them over, was 7 oz of formula and 1oz of milk for 2 days. The 6oz of formula and 2oz of milk for 2 days, and so on. I waited untill my children were on the milk for about a month, and then I just switched them over to the sippy cup, and they were totally fine. I wish you the best of luck my dear.

If you get rid of both bottle and her normal formula at the same time, replacing them with whole milk and sippy cup, she will have a far more difficult time with those transitions than she would if you do them somewhat gradually.
Luckily, children usually take to milk very well from breastmilk or formula, because cows milk tastes pretty good in comparison - and if shes been eating baby yogurt, cheese, and having whey based formula with no problems, you already know she isn't allergic. By 1 year, the digestive system is significantly mature enough to handle the new whole milk. Just go ahead and try to give her a bottle with whole milk in it - if she takes it, great! Then you know she likes the taste - continue giving her a bottle with whole milk at those important times like in the morning and at bedtime, and only offer her milk in a sippy cup during the day. Gradually take her off the bottle over a period of a few weeks so you dont have to deal with the sleepless nights and endless tantrums, and it is much less traumatizing for everyone all around. As she gets a little further into her first year, she will eat more and more table food and need less and less milk support except with meals during the day - and know that it completely healthy and normal for children to have a morning/nighttime bottle up until 18 months - so give her a few weeks to a month to make a smooth transition into toddlerhood.

Feel free to contact me, Im a child psychologist by profession and a stay at home mommy now!

Hi B.! We were so excited when we got the green light to switch our son to whole milk. We started switching his formula with milk (in his bottle, still warmed up) immediately and he took to it wonderfully! I say just give it a shot with your daughter and make the switch in her bottle! Then you can start giving her a sippy cup of milk at mealtimes as well. But check with your doctor on how much she should be drinking a day, I can't rember what ours said! It will be such a great relief on your wallet!
Good luck!
T.

B.
My daughter liked to use straws (probably because I use them) so I let her try whole milk out of my glass/straw at first. She liked it and had no problems, so I bought the straw sippy cups to use. (Have you tried the same brand of cups as the bottle your daughter uses?) It doesn't allways apply, I think I had one of every cup ever made before my garage sale last year. I tossed out the bottles on her first birthday and the only problems she seemed to have was the bottle first thing in the morning. After the first two days I realized it wasn't the bottle she missed, but the couch and mommy snuggle time she got while she had her bottle right after she woke up. I just brought the cup over and gave her some one-on-one attention while we talked about what a big girl she was to drink out of a cup, etc. Anyway it took her all of a day and a half to transition both milk and bottle. Good luck - it sounds like I may have had it easy and I hope you do to!!

I would suggest going ahead and switching to milk first and then switching to the sippy cup. It is likely switching to the milk will be easier. To help her adjust to the milk you can start by replacing part of the water when you make her formula with milk. You probably don't want to just change because it could be harder on her system. If you give her some time to get used to it then it will be less likely that it will be a shock to her system. Replace 1 oz of water for milk with an 8 oz formula bottle, then as she accepts it and gets used to it you can lessen the amount of water, increase the amount of milk and then after you get to about half water, half milk you can start lessening the amount of formula as well as increasing the amount of milk. Eventually, and this could just be a matter of days if she takes to it easy, you will be at all whole milk.

Wait a couple of weeks of her being on milk before you try to get the bottle replaced. Replacing bottles can either be really easy or really hard. When you feed her give her the sippy cup and don't give her the bottle. Whatever is her favorite thing to drink go ahead and put it in the sippy cup. Give her the sippy cup during the day as much as you can. Put the bottles up where she can't see them. It may take her a while to drink from it. Start with the sippy cups that have spouts that are soft and like the bottle. They have ones that are stiffer for 12 month olds but you want to start with something nice and bottle like. She may take right to the sippy cups or she may take a while to get used to it. Just encourage it during the day constantly, use her favorite things (Put them in the sippy cup with her watching, say things like I'm putting your apple juice in your sippy cup, Yummy!).

With my son switching to milk was easy and switching to the sippy cups was hard up until after he was a year old. As he started to get more understanding he started to like the sippy cup more. Just do your best and stick with it. Sometimes she might be upset because she wants the bottle for comfort. Try to give her the comfort instead and offer the sippy cup.

Good Luck and you are right on track with this so don't worry that you should have done the sippy cup earlier because all kids are different in how they take to things like sippy cups.

Well, let me start by saying that my 2 year old still drinks from a bottle. When I switched my 5 year old to milk, I did it gradually over several days, mixing it with whatever she's used to. She took to it no problem from a bottle. The problem was when I tried to get her off the bottle, and to drink it out of a sippy cup, she completely rejected drinking milk from a sippy cup and to this day will not drink any kind of milk. That is why I am in no hurry to get my little one off of the bottle. I've tried sippys with the 2 year old, saying "do you want your milk out of a big girl cup or a baby bottle" and if she chooses the big girl cup, she drinks maybe 2 oz and then leaves the cup hanging around to "cheese up" but with bottles, she downs the whole 8oz in one foul swoop. Good luck. I don't know if this is advice to stick with bottles, or make a clean break while she is still young!! Good luck!

Hi B.,

I suggest you start ASAP on the cup and get rid of the bottle. I started my baby as soon as she could hold the cup and she never took a bottle from brest to cup. I just did the switch at first she did not whant it. I just keept on giving it to her and she started to take it. I also started potty training when she was able to sit at about 8 months on and off at 11 months I started taking her when I woulde see her pushing I would run her to the potty by then she new what was going on. I would make a big fuss clap and prais her. She would get very happy. Clarissa is one year old and she is almost potty trained. I just need for her to talk some more so we will have total succes. With 4 kids I have learned the sooner you start the easer it is. The longer you wait the more reluctent they are and the harder it gets. Not all kids learn at the same time with some it will take longer than with others. Best of luck.

God Bless
D.

I was wondering the same thing. My daughter will be 1 next month. I can't believe formula is so expensive. My daughter does use a straw and a sippy cup so that isn't a problem, but not sure to start on regular milk. Thanks anyone for the advice. I have given her a little bit (2 oz a couple of times. and she seems to love it better than her formula.

with my daughter i threw all her bottles away and put whole milk in a nubby sippy cup(it has a silicone top) looks kinda like a bottle you can pick them up from walmart for $1.96, theirs no need really to gradually change, with us i just made the switch soon enough yor child will take it, if she gets thristy enough she'll take it, you can try adding a little bit of chocolate syrup to give it some flavor, but also remember that untill she is 2 or 3 years old you should give her anymore then 32 oz of milk per day, the body cannot absorb to much vitamin D so dont give her more then that amount, if she gets thirsty give her water or juice.

when my daughter turned 1, I just switched her with no problems. She liked milk alot better than formula. Also when she turned 1, I threw away all her bottles, but she never had a problem using sippy cups.

You should never give a child milk before a year of age, for several reason, one being that the extra calcium can block the absorption of iron -I actually have a friend who's child became anemic from too much milk.

Really, we're not supposed to be drinking milk at all. If your child gets dairy in his diet; cheese, yogurt, ect, he does NOT need milk at all. Soy is also not a great idea at this age because soy itself contains chemicals that effect one's hormones...it's especially important to watch the amount of soy our children get, and soy is in everything....more info here: http://www.mothering.com/articles/gr...soy_story.html

Soy milk is not the best alternative because...the effects of the plant estrogen in soy can cause premature puberty (I've had friends who had to stop soy on their daughters because they were going through puberty at 9. Have you considered Rice Milk or Almond Milk?