To Go Cold Turkey or Not?

To piggy back onto Dawn's response, our ped. advised that the transition from formula to milk should only take a few days tops. I was a disbeliever to be honest but darned if he wasn't right. start subbing little bits of milk at a time. We did 1 oz. of milk for one day, then 2oz, then it was half to 3/4 before we knew it, then straight milk.
Have you thought about yogurt (baby kind obviously)? I think the older the stage, there are actual chunks (soft) of fruit in there. Plus, there are the fruit & grain yogurts too.
I would not alter too much at once. Since the formula/milk shouldn't take too long, do that first (plus, formula isn't cheap so kick that habit first! haha) then go from there. Best of luck, the food is the tough one because you want to make sure they are getting proper nourishment. Also, make sure you are doing vitamins too to ensure the minimum is being received with the nutrients. Big hugs to ya!

I would go cold turkey on the bottle first, but wean him to the non-pureed food. too much cold turkey at once could mean a very cranky baby... and parents! As for the formula to milk... take a few days to wean into that.

I would drop the bottles in favor of the cup all at one fell swoop. You'll get a lot of resistance, but if he can drink water in a cup, he can drink the milk in the cup too.

What I wouldn't do is drop the formula at the same time. Instead, insist on him drinking the formula out of the cup. Right now, before a year gets here, start making the formula get cooler and cooler in the bottle, until he is drinking cold formula. Put finger foods on his tray along with the puffs and other stuff he likes. Even if he doesn't eat it, put it there. Don't push him.

Put a cup on his tray with cold formula too. He might take some, he might not. But it's there and he knows it is becoming "usual".

By the time he is 13 months old, if you have successfully transitioned to cold formula, drop the bottle. Pack them up and put them away so that it is HARD to get to them. On purpose, mom. Then it's just the cup of formula. When he is finally taking the formula out of the cup, and he will, start adding an ounce of 4% milk into the formula. He probably won't notice the difference in the taste. Do it for a couple of days. Then add 2 ounces, and as he gets used to it, add another ounce. At some point, there's no more formula. And you are home-free.

My daycare helped me a lot with this because there were no bottles in the 1 year class, plus my ped was adamant that I get off the bottle. So they stopped making the bottles warm first, and then offered cups, along with me doing it at home, and then I pulled the night time bottle and fed him a snack and gave him a cup instead. As soon as he went into the toddler room at 13 months, (they waited a month because he wasn't walking yet), no more bottles at either home or daycare. It was much easier because it was reinforced in both places.

As far as the food is concerned, you're pushing that too hard. Do bottle thing first. The food thing will come, I promise. If by 14 months you are still having trouble with the food, write me, okay?

Good luck!
Dawn

If he's not ready he will not eat no matter what you think. I have an 8 yr. old that will go without eating for days if she is not offered food she will eat. She will not eat when she gets hungry. She will just go without. If I try to make her eat what I serve she just gets the food on her tongue then starts projectile vomiting. I choose to not fight over food, I do not have to be that much of a control freak. I tried a couple of times to just make her take a bite, that she might like it and it was all about me being the adult, the boss, the one who "makes" her eat what I made. All I did was make a fool of myself. She is a person who deserves to have likes and dislikes. I learned the hard way food is not a fight-worthy issue.

So, I think you are planning on too much at once. If he is still on formula he is not hungry since formula provides 100% of an infants nutrition needs. Start weaning him off formula the right way, there are hundreds of posts here on how to do that the right way. Then once he is off the formula you will see a change in his eating habits. You need to wait until he is there before you add or remove anything else.

Taking away too many things at once will only confuse him and make it all harder. He needs time to be allowed to wean off each thing separately.

I would probably change the food first, since getting him to drink milk is really not that important if he's drinking water just fine. I would probably just go straight to finger foods, since he does okay with puffs and crackers, just make the bites really tiny and don't give him a whole lot at a time. If you want to quit the formula, that will make him hungrier so he might be more willing to eat the solid foods, and then make sure to offer water throughout the day in his cup. Good luck!

My daughter never accepted milk. At age 8 she still will not touch it. I have heard that you can make the transition easier by blending some fruit into it for a while, or mixing formula with it. But some kids never accept it (by contrast my son loves it). He is still pretty young. I don't think you have to go cold turkey and could gradually increase the table food options and decrease the purees.