Hi Mamas!
I forget the process of how to introduce little one(he just turned 1) to whole milk and get him off formula. My other son is now 8, so its been a while. Would you mix half formula half milk? Or just switch cold turkey? And then we will work on losing the bottle. Right now, he still drinks 4 bottles a day about 6 oz. each. I've tried formula in his bottle with the sippy attachment last week, and he did not go for it. He will drink water out of sippy. I'm not too concerned about him still being on the bottle, but I would like to lose the formula! My niece said she just threw away all the bottles when her daughter turned one and had her "tough it out".
I appreciate any advice/stories of what worked for you!
Thanks!
Thanks for all the tips! I used half formula and half whole milk this morning and he drank it fine.
@ Reggie: Thanks but no thanks on the "scare tactics" website. That site is just plain weird. Should I not feed my child chicken because he is not a chicken? Or beans because he is not a plant? We all grew up on whole milk, Twinkies, and Chef Boyardee in the 70's. I will give my child organic whole milk and that is my choice!
My son liked both milk and formula so it was not hard to just switch to milk. He is 7 and a half now. His sister (who is 2) hated milk at first so I gradually added milk to her formula bottle. I increased the amount of milk each week and after 3 weeks or so she was on whole milk alone. We got rid of the bottle when she was almost 2. Good luck! :)
My daughter would have been happy with a cold turkey switch and wouldn't have cared one bit! My son on the other hand was not quite as happy about the transition! With both of them I started out slow, like 25% milk. My daughter really just sped right through it and didn't look back. It took my son about a week or more on that ratio before I could even consider upping it! It took him about 5 weeks to fully transition but I tried to just go with the flow and it seemed to work. As far as bottle vs sippy, again, my daughter didn't care as long as she was getting her milk and my son was slower to transition. We started about 7 months with him though and he was completely off the bottle by about 9 months. So when you do switch just follow his cues and see what happens. I don't think at a year you necessarily need to "tough it out" but do whatever works!
At the age of one I would change to homogenized milk. Start mixing it half and half. First week half and half, second wk. 3/4 milk 1/4 water, 3rd wk. full milk. There are many moms' who feel that their child needs the formula or the Physician says so however if your child is growing normally and is at a good weight homogenized milk should not present a problem. I would also give your little one Trivisol Vitamins or whatever brand your Drug Store carries for little ones'. This as well will help for not only having vitamins but it is good for their bones, teeth etc. I wouldn't worry to much at this point of weening, perhaps at 18mths try again. Sometimes little ones' just need that as a form of security which is fine. I dont' think I would carry it much further than the 18mths only because it becomes harder after that. Try each wk. putting milk in his sippy cup and see how things go. Its the same as some little ones' will keep a soother for a longer period of time and others' give it up once they realize they aren't getting anything out of it. I hope this works for you which I'm sure it will. He may even cut back on the 4 btls. per day once he is on the sippy cup. Good luck, mom!!
thanks for asking C. C. We're at the same age!
I went a bit longer on the formula than a year. I tried to slowly cutr the bottle out all by eliminating one feeding a time. First it was the lunch one since she was a good eater of solids. Neither child ever liked milk. I tried everything. So now i give them yogurt at dinner to help supplement and cheeses work too.
My suggestion is to NOT switch him to cows milk after because he's not a cow. Harvard conducted several studies showing that humans aren't meant to digest the milk of cows. Literally, if you think about it, cows have 4 chambers to their stomach (which we don't) and we can't digest all the different properties that are in cows milk which is meant for baby cows. If you're concerned about calcium, kale, sesame seeds and almond have tons. Not to mention you won't have to worry about diabetes, obesity, allergies and all sorts of other ailments that go along with dairy consumption. Check out a neat site www.notmilk.com
