Switching from Formula to Regular Milk

I may be in the minority here, but I switched my son to whole milk at 11 months cold turkey. Minus some interesting diapers for a few weeks, he adjusted just fine. We were able to get him off the bottle at this point two. By one year, one week, he was entirely on sippies.

In my training in childhood nutrition I learned that there is an element in the intestines that allows us to digest the complex proteins in cow's milk. These elements don't form until the child is older than 11 mos and 3 weeks old. They did biopsies on infants of various ages to determine this, not just saying it, but actually testing for that needed thing in the babies. So, please don't start until the end of the 11th month at the earliest.

Hi J.,

Whole milk at age 1. For my daughter, I warmed the milk just like the formula. At first I added to her bottle 90% formula/10% milk, then a few days later 80% formula/20% milk, then 70/20 etc... until it was 100% milk. It worked great!

Good luck,
M.

infant: formula
at age 1: whole milk
age 2: 2%
age 3 and up: skim

Just warm the milk the same as you would formula, and she'll adjust fine. Eventually she'll take it cold.

She should also be using a cup soon. Once my kids were off formula, the bottles were greatly reduced, then gone. It was much easier than getting rid of the bottle when they are older, much like a pacifier.

You should wait until your daughter is one year - unless your doctor told you otherwise.

We slowly transitioned our daughter off of formula and onto whole milk until she was drinking straight milk.(Ex: 4 oz formula + 2 oz whole milk) Then we slowly started taking bottles away and replacing them with sippys. The whole proces took about 2 weeks.

these are questions you should be discussing with your doctor. I followed the rules the doctor gave me regarding the timing of food for my kids. My only problem was they did not tolerate the whole milk when they were switched over, so I went to 2%, then, fat-free just like us. They never have had any issues and are now 20 (6'4") and 14 (5'11")strong boys!

At one year. Everthing says 12 months because their bodies cannot properly digest a certain protein in cow's milk until they turn 12 months.

Our dr. said to start at 10 months...but we switched pediatricians because weaning that young is old-school thinking.

Good luck. I would wait. We just weaned our daughter two weeks ago. We started with 2 oz milk to 6 oz formula, and every day dropped on oz of formula and replaced with milk. It took about 4 days...but she's off completely!

Watch for reactions though and call your doctor if you see any changes.

Good luck!!!

K

hi J.... my daughter will be ten months in two weeks also :o) i have a six year old and remember everyone makig a big deal about waiting until the one year mark. i just started looking into it myself... formula is SO expensive that I am counting the days until i can ditch those tubs! i dont remember ever hearing anything about "weaning" from formula to milk so I was surprised to hear about that process this time around... woops. I know I switched her cold turkey a week or two after her birthday and had no issues. Having questions, I just googled "switch baby to milk" and there are a lot of resources to read and here is just one that I saw.... enjoy the cheaper life soon! ha ha after April, I hope I never lay eyes on another similac check in my life! I have considered switching to the older baby/toddler formula they make.. I have just always trusted Abbott and their products and think the price goes down once you get out of the first formulas... I am still deciding. Anyway, good luck and Im sure whatever you decide will be right.

Step1 Wait until after the child is a year old. Whole milk is the best for a baby, since many of their calories are still coming from their beverages. The fat found in whole milk is important for development.

Step2 Note if the baby has been diagnosed with a milk allergy. If the baby is lactose intolerant, milk may not be an option.

Step3 Watch for signs of food allergies or sensitivities. Any vomiting, diarrhea, rashes, stomach aches, swelling of the lips, face or tongue indicate a problem. Call the pediatrician as soon as possible if any of these symptoms appear after the child makes the switch milk.
Step4 Transition the change. Start by mixing the formula with the milk. At first, mix a small amount of milk with a large amount of formula. As baby gets used to the change, increase the amount of milk, and decrease the amount of formula. You can also add whole milk to baby's rice cereal or oatmeal to ease the transition.

Step5 Make sure the baby gets enough milk. It is recommended that baby gets 16 ounces of whole milk per day. Remember that there are other ways for baby to get milk besides drinking it. Yogurt, cheese and ice cream are just a few examples of other ways for the child to get dairy in her diet.

The rule my pediatrician gave me was to wait until the baby is drinking the formula like you or I would have a glass of milk with our meal. If it is still the main source of nutrition you should wait because formula has the complete nutrients the baby needs to grow (especially their brains). Hope that is helpful to you.

This is pretty much your choice, or rather your daughter's. You can add milk to her formula or give it to her straight. I plan to slowly add it in but for my first, we went straight to milk with no problem. Just make sure that when she is drinking milk, she is not drinking too much since it can cause constipation. 20 to 24 ounces is the recommended amount per day. My d is 9 1/2 months and I occasionally put milk in her bottle. they say 12 months is the time but 10 months really isn't that far off.

I have twin boys and we weened them when they turned 1. I would start by giving them 2 oz. of milk and the rest formula and then a couple of days later increase it to 3 oz. milk - rest formula. Next day (if they were doing ok) give them 4 oz. milk -rest formula, etc.

She is too young to shwitch to whole milk yet. Wait until she is a year old. Formula has nutrients that whole milk does not plus it is harder for babies to digest milk until they are older.

Hi Jess-

I specialize in maternal and child health. There is a reason why you should wait until 1yrs of age. Children have not yet built the digestive enzymes to process cow's milk until they are almost 1yrs old. (11m and 3wks if you want to get technical). So it is best to wait otherwise, she may develop milk allergies later in life.

J. W. MPH
Wellness Educator

Our docter said it was ok to introduce it to him then, but he still wanted some formula so I would his nighttime bottle with formula. I switched my son at 10.5 months then at 11 months I got rid of the bottle too. He got his milk in the sippy cup. Yes you can do half formula half milk together. I used the Born Free training cup because it was similar looking to him like his bottle. We started the weaning on a Wednesday by Saturday night he finally drank from that sippy cup. Otherwise he didn't want to have anything to do with it. So I would supplement those milk feedings with yogurt or cottoage cheese. So expect her to not want it at first but keep trying she'll give in.

What does your Dr. say?

My next challenge is going to be the pacifier at bed time. Woohoo can't wait (he's 15mo old) I'm waiting a little bit longer and watching for the perfect time.

Hope this helps.
A. R.

At 12 months you wean her from formula to whole milk. I also switched from bottle to sippy cup completely at the same time so I gave them sippy cups with whole milk and bottles with formula. Every few days I eliminated one bottle from the day. Starting with the least liked one to the most favorite.