How to Transition One Year Old from Breat to Whole Milk?

My son just doesn't seem to like milk. I've tried several times but he just spits it out. He's still breastfed (at 14 months with no intention of weening any time soon) so I don't worry about it. He doesn't need it. I let him have plain water or watered down juice in a sippy or straw cup and that works out just fine.

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Why bother with milk? It's perfectly made for a baby cow--a baby cow that has four stomach sections and digests things twice. Your milk is perfectly made for a baby human. Just a thought :-)
J.

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There is no hurry to have him drink whole milk. Wait awhile and offer it again, if you choose.

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Whole milk is a new experience when compared to BM.

I would recommend introducing it in small amounts in cups at meals and snack time and continue to allow him to nurse regularly, as desired. As with any new food, you'll need to continue to offer the whole milk until the pallet adjusts. This may take several days so be patient. Once he is drinking it regularly and meeting his hydration needs with it, he will (most likely) naturally start to loose interest in the BFing and more than likely "self-ween". I recommend going with a cup that has a straw (like a munchkins cup) instead of a sippy cup with a valve (like Playtex cups have) since the sucking of a straw is more similar to nursing action.

Make sure the milk is fresh each time. Also, he may not like it ice cold since he is use to nice warm body-temperture BM. You may find warming it helps a bit.

Lastly, do not confuse the issue by putting whole milk in a bottle. We had/have very strick rules about this in our house - if we were transitioning to whole milk that was always offerred in a cup. I think this method helps with weening in general - from the breast or from a bottle.

Good luck.
~C.

If you use the search box above and search for transitioning to whole milk you can pull up tons of questions and answers that give lots of good ideas too.

My son did the same thing. I just kept giving him very small amounts in a sippy cup (cold, I wasn't going to get into heating his milk for him for ever after). If he tried it or drank any, great, if not, try try again. It took him a month or so to really like it. In the mean time he ate yogurt and cheese. We overlapped nursing and milk for about 6 weeks.

try a cup with 3/4 BM, 1/4 whole milk for a week, then 1/2 and 1/2 and then 1/4 BM with 3/4 whole milk to transition slowly.

try warming it up a little bit as when he is on the breast the milk comes out warm (body temp) and milk straight from the fridge is cold

I would be extremely cautious of cows milk, it is highly allergenic. It can cause all sorts of health problems for infants like type 1 diabetes, intestinal problems, recurring earaches, weakened immune function, just to name a few. Goats milk is more easily digested than cows milk. Non dairy milks like hemp
and almond are good alternatives. Breastmilk is absolutely the best when they are still this young, just stick with that.

try mixing some breast milk with the whole milk. We had to do that with our son and also had to warm it up a bit since he was so used to having milk that was not cold.

I would nurse as long as possible... especially if he's going to daycare anytime soon. All those antibodies and specialty packed nutritious liquid will be a life saver,as well as a soother in his 2 y/o tantrums.

If you MUST give him mainstream milk, try organic or goats.