My daughter will be making the transition from formula to milk soon. Her first birthday is this month. After her 1 year appt I'm sure we will be using milk. Any suggestions on how to make this any easy transition? I am planning on giving her milk in her sippy cups so I can start getting rid of the bottles. I am concerned when we are out and I can't just make a bottle with powder and water. She is still having about 3 bottles a day. Morning, noon and night. Thanks for the advice.
Give her the sippy cups with a bit of formula/Milk in it at Lunch time, start with once a day then move to breakfast too, twice a day and after awhile you will be down to just sippy cups..I think the night bottle is the hardest one to give up......I would just say give her juice when you are out and about so it is easier to handle, and give her the Milk when you are home..
One thing I learned is that cow's milk is for cows, and it really doesn't help our children's bones. Our systems are not even set up to accept that kinda fluid. I would go with soy milk. It's got all the dietary value they SAY cow's milk has. I watched a 20/20 program years ago that featured nutritionists that claimed that cow's milk has no dietary value. They also said that the milk pumpsdon't know when to stop pumping, and the pumps express puss and blood from the cows after a while. Meanwhile, the cows are being fed/are eating their own feces.
fyi - parmelat makes milk that doesnt have to be refrigerated, in little juice box type of things. they have whole, choc, and lowfat, though for your daughter she should be drinking whole milk until she is 2, then skim or low (as per my doc, anyway). those little milk boxes, which your supermarket probably carries, mine does, combined with one of those hard plastic things you put the juice boxes in, are the greatest thing ever.
also, milk is more readily available out there than you think, any deli, fast food, etc will have it. i would definitely skip the juice, give water if you cant get some milk, but juice, even watered down, isnt doing your daughter any favors, and especially not while you are getting her to like milk. hth, D.
Hi M.
To transition our first son from formula to milk, we gave him 1/4 less formula and replaced it with regular milk every week untill the proces was over -- which took about a month. Simulaneously, try to get her used to room tempature then refridgerated tempatures -- hence, try to wean her off warm milk. To be transparent, we never broke our now 3 1/2 year old son from warm milk in the mornings.
We plan to use the same transition plan for our younger son, turning one in April. Good luck! --A.
Hi, M.! My son turns one this month too so I am in the process of doing the same thing. About a month ago my husband and I started cutting out the bottles he gets during the day, one by one. Instead my husband (who has him during the day when I'm at work) has been giving him sippy cups with milk in them at meal/snack times. My son gets a bottle of formula in the morning when he first gets up and again at night before bedtime. The next bottle to go will be his morning bottle - replaced by a sippy cup of milk. Eventually his night time bottle will also be replaced with a sippy cup of milk, too. That way we'll be transitioned from formula AND bottles at the same time. My son never had a problem with the taste of milk though so I don't know what to suggest if that becomes an issue. My husband also gives our son watered down juice or water in his sippy cup when milk is not available or when he's already had a lot throughout the day. This is what has been working for us so far - Good luck! Let us know how you make out!
When I recently transitioned my 15 month over to milk I started out with the bottle being 3/4 formula, and 1/4 milk. Then after a few days it was half and half, then a few more days 3/4 milk and 1/4 formula, and a few more days it was all milk. He loves milk now! However the first time I tried starting him on milk a few months earlier it was too soon for him. He started throwing it up. So I just waited a little longer. Don't be surprised if it doesn't work the first time.
As for the sippy cup figure out what her favorite juice is and get her used to the sippy with that first. My son would only occasionally use a sippy cup until this past Sunday. We went to breakfast and I gave him full strength orange juice in a sippy. He wouldn't put it down!! Once your daughter is a yr old you can give her juice without watering it down. My son even likes Cran-grape juice!
When my son switched to milk we did it gradually to make sure there where no allergies. So here is what you do... You have an 8 oz bottle. Make it 6 oz formula and 2 oz milk. Do that for about 3 days. Then 4 oz formula and 4 oz milk again for 3 days. Then 2 oz formula and 6 oz milk ect...until you have all milk. This way if there are any allergies then you can see it before it gets out of control.
our ped told us to do it this way and i think it was great....every two days add 1oz of whole milk to baby's bottle...so...if he is having three six ounce bottles....the first two days he would have 5ozs of forkula, 1 oz of milk...after that he would have 4ozs of formula and 2 ozs of milk....then 3oz of formula and 3 oz of milk, ect....until the bottles are full of milk... our son transitioned beautifully...no issues at all!
kudos to u on working with kids with autism....my bro is autistic!
best of luck to u!
The best advice that I have is to stick with and don't give up. My son did not like milk at all but I just kept giving it to him. Eventually he drank it... now he loves milk. It just took some getting used to.
As far a keeping it cold when you're out... buy some insulated sippy cups. They keep the drink cold for a while... much longer than a regular one. And as said before many places sell a bottle of milk... just like buying a bottle of pop.
M.,
The good news is that milk is much more readily available than formula is, so if you are out, just get some milk. Even a McDonald's drive-thru can take care of that! It's actually pretty great. If you are worried about getting stuck, keep some powdered milk in a bottle in your car, and add water, just like formula.
My son was very happy to make the transition, liked milk a lot! If you are having trouble, you can transition slowly, start at 50/50 and work down to all milk. You can try heating the milk up a bit. Most parents give formula warm, and then hand a baby cold milk from the fridge, and wonder why the child rejects it. A couple seconds to heat it up can make a world of difference.
