Switching from Formula to Whole Milk

hi A. i have a one year old who is lactose intolerent and i have her on lactaid milk which is whole she loves it. i give her milk at breakfest, lunch and dinner and the rest of the day she has water except for her one glass of juice a day hope this help!!! J. i

If your daughter is allergic or sensitive to milk, there are many alternatives such as rice, potato and almond milk. You can find these products at specialty food stores. I can give you the name of one I used to work at in Madison if you are interested. The owner is very knowledgeable and helpful regarding such products.

My oldest daughter was also on soy because of inability to digest milk protein in my breast milk which caused terrible constipation and gas. She didn't like the whole milk at all so we switched her to Silk soy milk until she was 2 and then switched her right to skim. Skim isn't quite so strong tasting so it worked better for her. I also let her have "special" sips of my glass of skim milk all during that year so she'd learn the taste of it.
With my other kids I just start making 4 oz of formula instead of 6 and then top off with the whole milk for a few days and then make 2 oz of formula and top off with whole milk for a few days. Then within a week or two you'll be done with the formula all together.
PS I actually liked using the Silk better than the whole milk because unopened Silk lasts for a while so I could stock up on about 4 at a time instead of having to pick them up all the time like the whole milk.
Good luck,
J.

When my son turned 1 we finished off the formula by mixing 1/2 as much formula as we would and then adding whole milk to it. My son drank it, but not very enthusiastically. We ran out of formula before our daycare provider did and actually we had better luck with just regular whole milk than our daycare lady did mixing the two. I'd try mixing, if you have left over formula. If your daughter doesn't seem too interested, try just whole milk.

My son absolutely LOVES milk. We give him about 4 24oz of milk a day. I'd double check with your doctor if as much milk is needed as formula, I am not sure on that answer, but our son gets 24 oz because he drinks a full glass with breakfast, lunch and dinner and then has a snack with milk in the afternoon. He gets mad if he only gets a half glass of milk, because he likes it so much so we give him a full glass.

I know there are a lot of Soy milks, so if whole milk causes issues with your daughter, talk to your doctor about the benefits or issues with using Soy milk instead. I have never read up on the subject, so I don't really know if Soy milk has as much of the nutrients as whole milk.

Our son (who is 14 months now) was on soy formula when he was little too. However, our doctor talked to us early (at about 6 months) about slowly weaning him from soy formula to milk based formula leading up to a year. That way he would be ready for whole milk when the time came. We changed to milk based formula at about 8 or 9 months and when he turned a year we just went straight over to whole milk and he did fine. I am surprised that your doctor kept her on the soy until now unless she is still having problems with with the milk. I would hold off on changing over until you speak with your doctor. She may have some sort of dairy allergy and you don't want to mess with that. Getting other opinions is great but remember that each child is different and you should probably go with what you doctor says unless you feel uncomfortable with their advice. Good luck! **nice name by the way! :)

Right before my daughter turned one. I would start putting reg.milk in with her formula like 25% cow milk, 75% formula and I every few days just adding more and more cow's milk til she was solely on cow's milk. At one it's also a good idea to get rid of the bottle completely and use sippy cups. The longer and longer you keep them on a bottle the more and more attached they become and it's really hard to get rid of the bottle. They should be eating a regular 3 meals of table food by one with snacks in between and shouldn't need formula or bottles anymore. But every baby is different and unique so some maybe ready at 10mos some not ready til 14mos.

I just switched my one year old from formula to whole milk. He too was on soy formula, so our pediatrician recommended that we mix the two together for awhile. He was drinking 3 8oz. bottles a day, so we started with 2oz. of milk mixed with 6 of formula and just built up. We started on his birthday which was 11/11 and just this past Saturday, we finished his last can of formula and he is totally on milk and doing fine. He was eating cheese prior to the milk, but never had a rash. But I would still try mixing it to see how she tolerates it. Good luck.

All 3 of my boys were on soy formula. How I switched them over was at meal times I would give them a sippy cup with milk in it and then the bottle in between meals. Slowly taking the bottle away and replaced it with the cup. We never put milk into the bottle. It didn't take long and they were choosing the cup over the bottle.

My boys didn't use formula, only breastmilk, so we just gave them a cup with organic milk at around 11 months at mealtimes. They readily accepted it because both had a cup from early on since they didn't take bottles, around 4 months we gave them sippies with expressed milk in them.

I think your daughter had problems early on from COWS MILK, not your milk. Did you try cutting dairy out of your diet when you were breastfeeding? Bloody/mucousy stools is a MILK PROTIEN problem, from cows milk in your diet. Very unlikely she had a problem with your milk, it was more than likely something in your diet. If your daughter gets a rash from dairy, its probably a milk PROTEIN allergy. Lactose intolerance is extremely rare in babies and children, and it would be obvious because she would be very sick. I would not advise using soy milk, soy contains estrogen and its just not good for small children, especially boys. Almond milk is a much better option, but again it doesn't contain the adequate amounts of fats her brain needs to develop properly.

Talk to your doctor for his advice, but try giving her small amounts of milk with her formula, and gradually increasing the milk and lessening the formula. It should be a gradual process.

My situation with my son was a little similar--he was (still is, actually) sensitive to milk so he was on soy. I think there is a difference between lactose intolerance and milk allergy, and I don't know which your child has--but my son would get diarrhea and vomit when he (or I, when I was nursing) drank too much milk, and he LOVED milk! I used lactose-free whole milk when we switched, which seemed to work all right. I took away the bottle too, so when we switched to milk it was out of a cup right away. I didn't consciously reduce the amount of milk as compared to formula, but it seems like he drank less out of the cup than a bottle.
My son can eat cheese and yogurt without problems, it's just when he drinks too much milk that he has digestive issues. Even now, he has problems with milk, but as long as we keep it to one glass a day he's all right. I let him have normal milk at daycare and we have lactose-free at home.
Don't know if that helps you, but at least it gives some comparison! Good luck.

I'm writing in response to part of Tammy's response. I thought about using soy milk for my daughter. I found out that soy milks don't have enough of the fats that young ones need for brain development. It also said on the container not to use as baby formula. I'm sure she could have some, but she needs the fat in cows milk. Sorry to be contrary, I hope this doesn't come off as rude. Just thought I'd mention it.

A successful switch is going to be a gradual one. I'm using the measurements I have used before so if the total bottle is 6 oz versus my 8 oz just alter it to fit.

Each 8 oz bottle of formula was changed to 6 oz formula and 2 oz milk for 2 wks. Then since there was no adverse reactions, I changed it to 4 oz formula and 4 oz milk for another 2 wks. Then 2 oz formula and 6 oz milk for 2 wks. After all this it was 8 oz bottles of milk after that.

This system has worked with every baby in my family and since I'm Italian, you know that's alot of babies! LOL!