Transitioning to milk

[fieryred33143]

I''ve been waiting for PS 2.0 to ask for advice on transitioning to milk but I''ve waited too long darn it!

Sophia will be 11 months tomorrow (

...

...

) and aside from the big b-day bash, I am most looking forward to not shelling out $80 every two weeks for formula

.

Is there some magical method to transition to whole milk? Is it best to start now, working her slowly into it? Should I start when she turns a year old and just cut out the formula cold turkey?

Also, what is the best way to serve the milk? Right now she takes room temp formula (I did NOT want to heat bottles in the middle of the night so she has always had room temp). I''m not sure how she''ll do with cold milk. She does not like cold water, not sure if it''ll be the same with milk.

And finally, what does the 12 months+ milk schedule look like? Right now she''s eating a lot more food (although we''re STILL working on table food...slowly breaking her down since she''s the biggest drama queen when it comes to different textures

). Is the schedule the same as when giving bottles? She gets 4-5 6oz bottles right now, three meals and one-two snacks.

TIA

 

[lizzyann]

Hi Fiery, my son is 13 months old now and he was breastfed till 8 months, then I switched to formula. He did not like cold formula either as he was used to the breast milk being warmer. So I also gave him room temperature formula.

I''m sure as you have learned with having a little one that everyone has an opinion on ALL things baby and only you will know what works for your little one. But here is what I did....it sounds like our kids are similar in that my son is also picky with food textures as well. I started my son on half formula, half whole milk bottles around 11 and a half months. This is what my Dr recommended to me at my sons 9month appt to ease the transition. So at my sons 12 month appt, my dr. said to try to get him to drink (3) 8oz sippy cups of whole milk per day. I explained that he doesn''t drink that much at a time so she said to just try to have him drink 24 ounces per day. So he drinks (4) 6oz sippy cups of whole milk per day. He is completely fine with it being cold too. I think he just really likes the taste of whole milk. Who can blame him? Formula smells so bad! My dr. recommended to have him stop using bottles by 15 months but he has already stopped using a bottle.

With regards to eating, my son has three meals and two snacks per day.

Hope that helped!

 

[waxing lyrical]

My girls started drinking goat''s milk around 12 months. They still breastfed until 16. I plan to do the same with Henry.

 

[PenelopeJane]

YAY for 11 months, fiery! Looking fwd to seeing ya in the toddler thread soon!

I started the weaning process 1 week before Axel turned 1, but it can be initiated whenever (right at 1, a week after 1, etc) you desire or what your pedi recommends.

Axel took room temp formula as well. For the first week I did 3/4 formula to 1/4 milk. (Mixed the milk in cold but with room temp formula.) It went well so the 2nd week, we did 1/2 formula & 1/2 milk. Week 3 was 1/4 formula to 3/4 milk. Half way through the 3rd week there were no problems so I decided to do 100% milk.

I also kept the same formula feeding schedule for the milk. At first it might be wonky as she probably won''t finish all the bottles that are mixed with milk, but it''ll balance out in the end. After Axel got used to drinking milk we dropped a bottle or 2 and he now drinks a sippy cup of milk (about 5-6oz) with each meal and once before bed and has about 20oz/day...it varies, though, sometimes more sometimes less.

Congrats...this is another milestone!

 

[Mara]

quick question-- what is the reasoning behind no cows milk til 1 year old? and is it just 1 year old is the milestone, aka at 1 year old you can just start with cows, or is there supposed to be some type of other ''sign'' they are ready? just curious--figure good to know for the future!

pre-congrats on S turning 1 year, Fiery!!!

 

[pancake]

Cow's milk doesn't contain enough iron so introducing it too early before bub is consuming a significant amount of iron-containing solids is ill-advised. We (in Australia) recommend switching to cow's milk around 12 months - but it's not a rigid, to-the-day thing.

Most babies have cow's milk containing foods (eg. yoghurt, cheese, custard) between 6 and 12 months and that is absolutely fine.

In terms of milk requirements - at 12 months babies should be having 3 meals a day, snacks, and around need a minimum of 350-400ml/day of milk. Some will have more milk than that but as bubs get older they need to have their milk intake reduced and solids increased otherwise they will become iron deficient. A number of families I see fall into a vicious cycle - the come to me with a toddler who "won't eat", who is found variably to be fine, iron-deficient or frankly anaemic. Then you go into the story a bit more and the 15 monther is still drinking >1 litre of milk/day "because he won't take anything else".

 

[lknvrb4]

Date: 5/31/2010 10:53:53 PM
Author: PenelopeJane
YAY for 11 months, fiery! Looking fwd to seeing ya in the toddler thread soon!


I started the weaning process 1 week before Axel turned 1, but it can be initiated whenever (right at 1, a week after 1, etc) you desire or what your pedi recommends.


Axel took room temp formula as well. For the first week I did 3/4 formula to 1/4 milk. (Mixed the milk in cold but with room temp formula.) It went well so the 2nd week, we did 1/2 formula & 1/2 milk. Week 3 was 1/4 formula to 3/4 milk. Half way through the 3rd week there were no problems so I decided to do 100% milk.


I also kept the same formula feeding schedule for the milk. At first it might be wonky as she probably won''t finish all the bottles that are mixed with milk, but it''ll balance out in the end. After Axel got used to drinking milk we dropped a bottle or 2 and he now drinks a sippy cup of milk (about 5-6oz) with each meal and once before bed and has about 20oz/day...it varies, though, sometimes more sometimes less.


Congrats...this is another milestone!

I did the same thing with my son. I did not have any problems switching over to milk. Switching from a bottle to a sippy cup was more of a problem. I would just introduce the sippy cup everyday at the same time so he could get used to it. I would say this took 2-3 weeks before he took to it. Best of luck!

 

[steph72276]

Yea Sophia! I did the same thing as other posters in that I would do half milk/half formula for a week or two and then did the full switch. I totally can''t remember this, but if anyone else knows....how long did they do the whole milk? I am pretty sure my pedi recommended switching to 2% pretty early on b/c of all the saturated fat in whole milk, but it''s been years, so I can''t remember at what point we did that. He drinks 1% now that he''s five. I know babies need more fat, but is is necessary to give them the whole milk? I really can''t remember, thanks!

 

[waxing lyrical]

IIRC, my girls took about 12-14 ounces of goat''s milk a day and nursed maybe 6 times a day. They had their normal meals and snacks.

 

[PenelopeJane]

Date: 6/1/2010 7:15:26 AM
Author: FL Steph
Yea Sophia! I did the same thing as other posters in that I would do half milk/half formula for a week or two and then did the full switch. I totally can''t remember this, but if anyone else knows....how long did they do the whole milk? I am pretty sure my pedi recommended switching to 2% pretty early on b/c of all the saturated fat in whole milk, but it''s been years, so I can''t remember at what point we did that. He drinks 1% now that he''s five. I know babies need more fat, but is is necessary to give them the whole milk? I really can''t remember, thanks!

Our pedi told us to give whole milk until 2 years old and then to switch to 2% at that time.

 

[steph72276]

Date: 6/1/2010 8:35:19 AM
Author: PenelopeJane

Date: 6/1/2010 7:15:26 AM

Author: FL Steph

Yea Sophia! I did the same thing as other posters in that I would do half milk/half formula for a week or two and then did the full switch. I totally can''t remember this, but if anyone else knows....how long did they do the whole milk? I am pretty sure my pedi recommended switching to 2% pretty early on b/c of all the saturated fat in whole milk, but it''s been years, so I can''t remember at what point we did that. He drinks 1% now that he''s five. I know babies need more fat, but is is necessary to give them the whole milk? I really can''t remember, thanks!

Our pedi told us to give whole milk until 2 years old and then to switch to 2% at that time.

Thank you! I''m pretty sure that''s around when we switched to 2%.

 

[PenelopeJane]

no prob, Steph!

Mara,

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002448.html

"Cow''s milk is not recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics for children under 1 year old. Infants fed whole cow''s milk don''t get enough vitamin E, iron, and essential fatty acids. They also get too much protein, sodium, and potassium. These levels may be too high for the infant''s system to handle. Also, whole cow''s milk protein and fat are more difficult for an infant to digest and absorb.
Cow''s milk can have dramatic effects on the infant''s iron levels. Infants fed breast milk or iron-fortified formula have normal iron levels. Studies show infants often have low iron levels when started on cow''s milk at 6 months of age."

Forgive me as I don''t know how to add live link

 

[Sabine]

Has anyone switched to whole milk and switched all to sippys and no bottles all at once? Or did most of you put the milk/formula or milk/bm mixture in the bottle until they were used to the milk, and then work on moving from bottle to sippy?

Oh, and when do you offer the sippy of milk? Do you do it with a meal, right before a meal, or in between meals?

And finally, has anyone made the transition to milk with a LO who may have a dairy allergy?

My ds is 10 months, and so far he''s had 2 severe allergic reactions, and one was to cheese we think (we''ll probably get him allergy tested at 1 year), but he has other dairy and different cheeses just fine, but he''s on Nutrimagen, so I worry that he won''t tolerate milk.

 

[pancake]

Sabine - it's worth discussing the allergy issues with a paed. In general if kids are tolerating other dairy (yoghurt, cheeses, custards, etc) then it's unlikely that they will have a significant reaction to dairy but if there is concern it might be good to have a paediatrician to guide you through. Allergy testing is usually not that useful until after the age of 2.

There's no right or wrong to weaning from BM/formula to CM, and no right or wrong to swapping from bottles to sippy cups either. Every child is a little different - provided you are meeting their developmental and nutritional needs there is room to move. However I would have thought intuitively that the sippy cup should be offered when a bottle would otherwise have been offered. Not much point in offering milk before a meal, because bub then won't be hungry!

ETA: I'm not a mum - hope nobody minds me commenting too much. I'm a paed.

 

[lizzyann]

Hi Sabine, at around 11 and a half months I started doing half formula/half whole milk bottles for about a week. Then the week before his birthday we did bottles with just milk. Then once he turned one we switched to sippy cups with milk.

I had started introducing a sippy cup though around 10 months with just water in it and leave it out for him so he would pick it up and start learning how to use it. In the beginning, he would just play with it. Then at 11 and a half months I switched it to have whole milk and he really got a hang of the sippy cup, so when I did the switch at 12 months he could drink from it pretty easily. The hardest bottle to get rid of was the nighttime bottle which I kept till about 12 and a half months, but now it is gone.

In terms of when i give him his 6 oz sippy cups now - one when he wakes up (he sleeps late till like 9 everyday), one after lunch (right before he naps as it gets him to slow down a little), one with dinner, and one before bedtime.

Hope that helped!

 

[TravelingGal]

Amelia was super picky. She wouldn''t do half and half mixed at all. I started I think with an ounce or two for a 8 oz bottle and gradually over the course of several days (if not a couple of weeks) moving the amount up. Doing it that way was pretty easy.

My ped says I can move her to 2% at the 2 year old mark, but I was hesitant to do that because I felt she needed the fat/calories. He said as long as we didn''t have any history of high cholesterol/heart disease, we could give her whole milk for awhile longer, but I thinik I''ll probably switch her in the near future.

 

[Burk]

Date: 6/1/2010 9:59:07 AM
Author: Sabine

And finally, has anyone made the transition to milk with a LO who may have a dairy allergy?


My ds is 10 months, and so far he''s had 2 severe allergic reactions, and one was to cheese we think (we''ll probably get him allergy tested at 1 year), but he has other dairy and different cheeses just fine, but he''s on Nutrimagen, so I worry that he won''t tolerate milk.

Tayva did NOT tolerate dairy at all when she was younger. Her pedi GI doc wanted to "test" her at a year so he had us do 100% whole milk w/ no formula....it was a disaster. So we went back to formula and tried again slowly. She started doing well with cheese and yogurt for a while and then we decided to try the milk again starting with about 4 oz a day (she was around 15 months at this time)and increasing with no negative symptoms. Within a few weeks she was drinking her 16-20oz of whole milk with no problems in addition to other diary in her diet (yogurt, cheese, ect).

As for whole milk vs. 2% we JUST switched Tayva to 2% and she''s almost 2 1/2. She needed the extra fat in her diet and her pedi was totally on board for us sticking with whole milk as long as we chose and we ultimately had to switch because she started to dislike the taste. Weird.

 

[fieryred33143]

Thanks everyone so much for all of the tips!

I have no idea how she will do on regular milk. She''s not really picky with her food, just with texture but she''s also a creature of habit so it may take a while for her to get used to the change. I think I''m going to slowly transition her with 1-2oz in each bottle.

 

[soocool]

This was many years ago and when DD was 11 months I started 1 week with 3/4 formula 1/4 whole milk in a sippy cup. The next week 1/2 formula 1/2 milk. Third week 1/4 formula, 3/4 milk. By week 4 she only drank whole milk. Transitioned her to 1% a couple of years later. I never heated her formula or milk. Served it room temp. At 17 she is a big milk drinker (no soda ever- hates it) and loves it ice cold.

 

[MustangGal]

I have a formula/milk follow-up question. Did you start giving your toddler vitamins when they switched to milk? I keep forgetting to ask my pedi!

 

[pancake]

MG - you don''t need to unless your child has an identified deficiency or is at risk for other reasons (eg. vitamin D if you were vitamin D deficient). Provided that the diet you provide is adequate in variety and amount, supplements are not necessary.

 

[lizzyann]

Pancake, thanks for all of your info. I was wondering about the vitamins too.

 

[DivaDiamond007]

Date: 6/1/2010 11:36:02 AM
Author: TravelingGal
Amelia was super picky. She wouldn''t do half and half mixed at all. I started I think with an ounce or two for a 8 oz bottle and gradually over the course of several days (if not a couple of weeks) moving the amount up. Doing it that way was pretty easy.

My ped says I can move her to 2% at the 2 year old mark, but I was hesitant to do that because I felt she needed the fat/calories. He said as long as we didn''t have any history of high cholesterol/heart disease, we could give her whole milk for awhile longer, but I thinik I''ll probably switch her in the near future.

This is how we did the switch too. We started introducing whole milk at 8 months with the pedi''s blessing.

We give James cold milk in a sippy during the day and one heated bottle at bedtime. He will be 2 in early July and we switched to 2% a week ago.