Help with Transition to Whole Milk

Doing a gradual transition now to milk-based formula sounds like a good idea to me....

My daughter was on soy milk since she was 5 mos old and she transitioned to whole milk fine at 12 mos. I had to do half and half for a day or so and then 3/4 milk, 1/4 formula and she then drank whole milk with no problem. I did not switch her formula. Good luck!

Hi T.,

We were on Soy formula too and the doctor had us switch to whole milk formula around 6 months. We did it by making our formula 1/4 regular and 3/4 soy for a few days and when that went okay, we went to 1/2 of each, then 3/4 regular 1/4 soy, then all regular formula. Our daughter did great!
At 10 months, our ped told us to start giving her vanilla yogurt with baby food fruit. She said that the yogurt cultures make it easier for babies to digest. After that we introduced cheese. we were told that if she tolerated the yogurt and cheese well that she'd be ready for whole milk at 12 months. We just make the switch a couple of weeks ago and she is doing well.
Hope that helps!!

Hi my son is 9 months old and is also on soy milk and I am going to transition him to Silk milk first. Whole milk might be too strong for our little guys since they had allergic reactions initially to milk based products. My son's pediatrician recommended tht I start introducing him slowly to milk-based or containing foods to see what type of reation is obsrved if any. Hope this helps!

the reason that milk based formula isn't good is because babies aren't able to digest milk proteins until they are at least 11 months 3 weeks old. There was a study done where they took samples of numerous infants at various ages and NONE of them had the ability to digest that protein until 11 mos 3 weeks old, some not until 12 mos 2 weeks old. The formula companies process the proteins in the milk to make it digestible but it doesn't always work for babies.

My son was also on soy formula. We transitioned him to whole milk without any problems. (I was wondering just like you are at the time) Since your baby is eating cheese and isn't having problems with that, I think he'll be fine.

I went through the same thing with my son. He was on soy formula and I was worried about the transition to whole milk. My doctor said that there was no need to slowly introduce it but I did. I started with an ounce at a time and slowly increased a mix of formula to milk. He did absolutely fine. In fact, I went from one ounce at a time, to half of his bottle, right to a full bottle in less than 2 weeks. I guess it depends on how your baby handles it. Good luck!

I had to supplement my daughter with formula starting at about 8 or 9 months. She hates formula and refusees it so about 9 months or so I started adding milk to the bottle with the formula. Since I still have some, she is getting some formula still but once the can is gone she will just get milk. 10 months is a good time to add a little milk, maybe half milk and half formula in a bottle. My daughter has not had any problems.