Transition from Formula to Milk - Cedar Hill,TX

Hi, with my first born I mixed half formula half milk until he finally started drinking milk by itself. I hope this helped :D

Try to start mixing in just a little bit of milk at a time with the formula. 1 tabelspoon or so to start. Gradually increase the ratio of milk to formula every couple of days.

Hope this helps,
L.

THis will sound odd, but try a different brand of milk, sometimes they do taste a bit different. And I think since they are a year old they will want a bottle bad enough that it won't take long until they will take the milk, just to get a bottle.

My twins (boys) are now 7. I have 5 children, they are the youngest. I always tried mixing milk and formula and gradually decreasing the formula amount over time and increasing the milk until they transition. Good Luck. W. K.

Hi P.,
I have six year old twins who were on formula. You need to try to mix it all up.. What I mean by that is that if you give them a 8 ounce bottle or sippy of formula, start out with only making 7 ounce and sub that last ounce for reg milk. Do that for about a week or two, then 6ounce formula and 2 ounce milk. Get them to take the reg milk slowly. It's what I did and it worked like a champ. Hope this helps.

I just went through this in January. At the recommendation of my pediatrician, I weaned my daugher off formula by giving her a mix of formula & milk . . . the first week was about 3/4 formula & 1/4 milk, then 1/2 and 1/2, etc. It worked great . . . in less than a month she was drinking 100% whole milk, and she didn't even know what hit her!

My DD hated cow's milk when we first started and she absolutely refused to drink it. I breastfed her so we didn't really have any formula to add in, but a friend of mine suggested orange juice. I am not a big fan of juice for little ones, but I was desperate for her to drink the milk, so I started with 1/2 milk, 1/2 juice and each week, I adjusted it to be more milk than juice and after about a month, she was drinking milk like it was going out of style. Good luck to you!!

Hi P., when my son was 1, he would not try milk either. I definately understand the expense of formula. I bought the powdered milk flavoring (I got Strawberry) and he drank it up and loved it. I got Nesquik and they say it has vitamins, but I figured it had to be better than no milk at all.

Hi P....the best and easiest way to do this is to mix 1 part milk with 3 parts formula...they won't notice the taste...gradually over a period of weeks, decrease the formula to milk ratio...1/2 & 1/2...then gradually drop down to 1 part formula to three parts milk. My kids transitioned like this and there was no problem at all.

The little ones need whole milk, not 2% or low fat...they need the fat for brain developement...Good Luck!

S.

Have you tried warming the milk up a little to break the chill? This is not ideal, b/c you don't want to have to warm it forever. But,if you do it for a while until they are used to it, then they might begin to like the taste of the milk more. After they like it, you can try it cold again. I hope this helps!

I have three children of my own and a home daycare. I have helped many children with the transition to milk. First, are you still warming their formula? If so, stop. I use room temp. bottled water to mix the formula. That way their not used to it being warm. Then I transitioned slowly over a months time. I just replace a little bit of their formula with milk. Say you make an 8 oz bottle of formula. Use a larger bottle and add 1 oz of milk to the top. Do that for a week. The next week mix 6 oz formula and add 2 oz milk. The next week 4 oz formula 4 oz milk, etc... By the end of the month they will be on straight milk. I started changing mine over when they were 11 months, so by their first birthday, no more formula!! I understand the cost of formula. If they transition well you might speed it up a little and up the amount of milk every 4-5 days. Just remember they will get constipated as you increase the milk. If the diapers start to look very light brown, almost creme colored, then they are having trouble adjusting to the milk. They may need to alternate a bottle of milk, then a bottle of apple juice to help move things along.

Hope this helps,
S. A.

I have a friend who put a little bit of honey in the milk and that did the trick. Try it and let me know how it works!

When making the transition from formula to milk, I began to add milk in with the formula, keeping the ounces for each bottle/sippy cup the same. Gradually lessen the amount of formula and increase the amount of milk over a few weeks to a month as your little ones adapt. This really helped with the taste transition. Hope it works for you, too!

R.

Start adding milk to their formula. I added an ounce of milk less an ounce of formula & gradually increased the milk & reduced the formula. I still warmed it a little, that made the transition easier.

I don't know if anyone suggested this, but if your twins don't seem to like the milk after you have tried mixing formula with milk and then gradually less formula, you could possibly try soy milk, or rice milk. Soy milk is creamier and a little sweeter than cows milk. My girls are lactose intolerant so we do soy milk. Or you could possibly just try chocolate milk. That is the only way I will drink cows milk.

Becca

P.,
Try soy milk. It is more the texture of formula. They also have it in regular and vanilla flavors which they may love.It is also very good for them. Good luck.
A.

I have graduated 3 off of the bottle and the best way that we found was to slowly, little bit at a time, add milk to the formula. This week start with just an ounce or two of cows milk to their formula and then do a little more once they are used to that. Do you warm their bottles? I would start weening them of that too-but you could always warm the milk as well. Also, would they by chance take a sippy cup? You could start making that transition as well whilst doing the milk/formula thing. My final suggestion, adding sugar free nesquick or ovaltine to the milk. My doctor said that it was okay because they will eventually make the switch. It always helped us in the transition-I had one that HATED milk, so we added ONE tablespoon of the SF Nesquick and now she is a white milk lover! HTH

What we did for our son was, depending on how you made their formula (our son liked his a little warm) is to prepare the milk the same way.
When we transitioned from formula to milk, we first made him a cocktail. We started a 8oz bottle of formula with about 6oz formula and 2oz milk. We then started making it less formula and more milk ( 4oz formula to 4oz milk, then 2oz formula to 6oz milk) until we were giving him an entire bottle of milk. When we got to the point of just milk, we warmed it up in the microwave for about 30 seconds so that he got the warm milk that he was used to with formula. :)
I hope this helps...GOOD LUCK! :)

When my oldest (now 23) was transitioning, my doctor told me to gradually add milk to the formula. Slightly increasing the milk over a period of time until we were all milk. This worked great! I even did it with the following 3 kids with no problem at all.

B. B.

Try warming the milk up to room temp, or warmer, depending on how you fixed your bottles. Best of luck!

Good morning P.,

well, what i did was was do a half and half bottle....half formula and half milk. I always used the 2% milk...my baby didnt like whole milk.

Or you can try the carnation powered milk. That might work to and they would be getting the same nutrients they need.

My lil girl also drinks the silk soy milk and loves it.
Give it a try.
Let me know how it goes.
Have a good day
L. b

Try promiseland Organic milk. Also, I would investigate the milk industry as a whole because milk (pasturized) is not a idea to give to your children anymore. Seems the pasturization is causing more than expected. Also, there is a lot of research going on rite now about bringing back raw milk as a result....Do your research!!

P.,
When I transitioned both my boys from formula to milk I mixed them 1/2 and 1/2 in a bottle for about a week then put in 3/4 milk and 1/4 formula and the straight milk and they were fine.
Once you get them on straight milk stop using a bottle and go to a sippy cup.
H.

Try soymilk, even the vanilla flavored. That's what my son drinks and loves it. If they dont like it cold, try running their sippy cup of milk under hot tap water to warm it up to room temperature.

Try slowly adding the milk. Such as give them 6oz formula and 2oz milk do that for a few days. Them 4oz Formula/4oz Milk then 2oz formula/6oz milk. Hope this helps

Talk to your pediatrician of course, but mine told me that milk is not really necessary as long as they get the vitamins and nutrients they need. They can get these vitamins/nutrients from yogurt, cheese and other dairy products as well as green leafy veggies. As long as they are getting a well balanced diet, milk doesn't have to play a major role. If you feel that milk is important, my girl friend put strawberry flavoring in her son's 1 milk cup a day. Just be careful with this as the flavoring is full of sugar. Good luck!!!

P., I am a mother of a 5 year old boy and a 13 month old girl. I didn't have any trouble transitioning either of them to milk once they turned a year. I can't remember all that I did with my son, being that it was 4 years ago...however, I just recently transitioned my daughter of formula. Praise the Lord!!! :o) The little stinker likes her milk warm, so....we warm regular milk and she drinks it just fine. We initially mixed 4 oz milk with 2 oz mixed formula for about 2 weeks and then went the full amount to plain milk.

Hope that helps!

M.

Hi there. I can empathize with your problem, as my 9mo boy is resisting the same transition. I have had big babies with big appetites. I always had to add plain rice cereal to their formula to give them a fuller feeling with formula. (I didn't skimp on their meals) I have tried putting some of the rice cereal in the milk and warming the milk to room temp with more success than nestle's follow up formula now called Good start 2. Bu I have been know to mix formula cereal and put it in the milk. I was willing to try everything to make sure they were getting all they needed. Ped' said pediasure was ok too. I have also heard that replacing one bottle a day/week (depending on the kids) with milk instead of formula will be a smoother transition. Didn't work for me, but it's another idea to try. Good luck. I'll watch for word of how it goes for you. S

P.,
I have twin boys who will be 2 next week. We transitioned from formula to milk slowly because our boys were still on 25% lactose formula. I started putting two ounces of milk in with 6 ounces of formula and slowly increased the milk percentage over about a month or two. Now they go through a gallon in two days! Good luck!

E.
(Preston & Parker 2)

When my oldest daughter turned 1, her doctor wanted her to get rid of the bottle. She did not want to drink her milk out of a sippy cup! One mother who had been through the same thing a year earlier suggested I put Ovaltine mix in the milk in the sippy cup to make it taste yummier. It worked! I wasn't thrilled about the amount of sugar, but I just gradually decreased the amount of chocolate in the milk and eventually got her to drink white milk. This worked great for her. Hope it helps!

I remember those days! My boy/girl twins are 2 now. Are you putting the whole milk into their bottles? I would use the same feeding instrument as you did w/ the formula. Only make one change at a time (milk then sippy cups). Did you warm your formula? The coldness could be the problem. I don't remember having this problem. Maybe let the milk get room temp. b/4 drinking. OH! Big memory. I put half formula w/ half whole milk for a week or so & then lessened the ratio. TRY THIS & I BET YOU'LL HAVE GOOD LUCK.

I'm now looking forward to the "raise" of no diapers! We've potty training now & pull ups, diapers & underpants are outrageous!

Good luck & love those chunky monkeys! Also, my chunky monkies started slimming down even though on whole milk, the formula blew them up (part soy)???? The kids also become LESS dependant on milk as their source of food. Try new foods & don't worry so much about them drinking the same amount of milk.

J.

Hi P.!
I am sure that you will get a lot of the same advice, but here it goes anyway! My son was a very picky eater and didn't much care for milk either. His doctor sugested that I graduly mix in more and more of the milk (Whole milk only, not skim or 2%)into his formula. Start by adding only an ounce or two, then work your way up. You may even have to warm it a little at first, but you can work your way out of that too. It may take a week or so, but it should work. Oh, and don't let your babies see you put the milk in their bottles! Sometimes with my son it is all in his mind, he thinks he wont like something so he won't even try it. Hope this helps. God bless!

My son (12 months) acted the same way. I wanted to mix it with formula but my doctor and several books I read said do not do this because it changes the the way they digest it. I was about to give up on whole milk when a friend suggested reduced fat, and so I thought I would try mixing a little skim in with the whole milk I already had and it worked. He drinks it just fine too. I think the whole milk was just to rich for him. Oh and don't heat up milk, it will create bacteria that you just don't want in your baby. Pour it in the bottle/cup first and wait about 15 minutes before you give it to twins. I hope this helps - I am going to go to reduced fat next and if that doesn't work we will try 2% - but your twins need the fat right now so try hard on the reduced milk. I hope that helps, good luck!

Just in case you have not started, try putting a small amount. Maybe a 1/4 of the normal measurement is milk. 3/4 formula. Maybe a week or 2. Then increase to 2/4 ... and so on.
Good luck!

Hi,
I made a slow transition. My son, now 11 1/2 months is on milk full time. The Dr. said it was OK to start him early. I first started with 1 ounce milk in formula bottles, then slowly made the mixture where it was more milk than formula. Took about 3 weeks, but he does great. Good Luck.

A friend of mine said that she put a little vanilla in the milk to make it a little sweet and had no problems getting her daughter to drink it.

I did the same thing with the slow transition of the formula mixed with milk with my son (who is now 8 yrs old). He was soy formula baby so we had to take it slow but my daughter (now 4 yrs old) was much easier since she was already in milk-based formula. We used Vitamin D milk for about a year and then changed the milk to eventually 1% with no problems.

Neither had trouble going from formula to full time milk.

Good luck!

J. S.

What my husband and I did for our daughters was to start out mixing just 1 ounce of milk with formula and then upping it every week or so until there was no more formula. It also helps to warm the milk for about 30 seconds. I sure hope this helps.

R. Culpepper

we have boy/girl twins that are 3.5 so this is my advice on a lot of stuff!! just do it. finish the can(s) you are on/have left and then no more. they might resist, but they will adjust. with twins it is important that they know you are the boss or they will run you life!

Excuse my contraryness today BUT try warming up the milk to apx room temperature so it's not cold. i know it's been stairing you in the face and you just didn't see it. you can be mad at me I went thru it not once but twice and I swear I felt likd an idiot when our grandmother ever so sweetly mentions warming it up So I'll be your mother-in law stand in KC

Try putting a small amount of Strawberry Nestle Quick in the milk and keep decreasing the amount each day until it's just milk. Works like a charm

I am sure I will ruffle some feathers with this but IT WORKED FOR ME! My one year old refused to drink white milk, no matter how much we tried to coax her into it (we too were looking forward to the price difference of formula vs milk). A friend of mine gave her strawberry milk instead...and she LOVED it! I was kinda freaked out about sugar/cavities and asked my pediatrition and he said go for it! Just remember to wipe her mouth out with a clean wash cloth when she is done. Eventually we were able to dilute the strawberry milk with regular milk and she has been fine ever since, she is 8 now. I also tried this trick with my now 6,5 and 3 year olds! Good luck!