Switching from Formula to Whole Milk - Anna, TX

I have a son thatis 13 months and I just went thru the samething...mine was taking sippy cups great but his iron had been low so what I did was switched to the NextStep Formula by Infanmil and my doc said it was basically powerded milk with allot more iron in it and I started mixing 1-2 ounces of whole milk with it and he is doing great! He is off the bottles and takes 2-3 ounces of formula with the milk and when he is 15 mo they will check his iron and if it is back to normal then I will gradually stop the formula but it is good for them until they are 24 months...hope this helps you! K.

I was worried about this too, but my pediatrician just suggested trying the first bottle the next morning (after her check up) and filling it with 8oz of whole milk instead of 8oz of formula. I did it thinking she would not drink it and she drank the entire bottle.........never went back. Then about a week later - all bottles were gone and switched to sippy cups.

Good luck!

My daughter like her formula warm, so I had to switch her to milk and adjust her to the cold temperature. I started at about 11 months and mixed some formula and some milk. Everyday I'd make the percent of milk a little bit more. It took about 2 weeks and then she was on 100% milk. Then I cut out all the bottles except first thing in the morning & last thing at night and eventually got rid of those too. By about 13 months old, we were completely bottle free & on 100% whole milk and never looked back.

My son just turned 1 last weekend and he has been on whole milk for about 3 weeks now. He has been using sippy cups for water and juice since he was 4 mths old. The bottle only had formula and water in it(until he could hold the sippy cup), so we never put the whole milk in his bottle. We did milk in the sippy cup instead of juice or water (while still on the bottle) for about 2 weeks and gradually put less formula in his bottle. It only took about a week before he started preferring the whole milk to his bottle.

Just be careful about her iron intake. 1yo's need iron for brain and physical growth. There is very little iron in cow's milk. You can always switch her to toddler formula, or for financial reasons, as I did, go to half milk/half toddler formula. Here's an excerpt from an article about iron deficiency, "Historically, the prevention of iron deficiency anemia has focused on the first 12 months of life. It appears that toddlers deserve the same degree of attention because of the risk of developmental effects from iron deficiency anemia and because the prevalence of iron deficiency anemia between one and three years of age may be greater than was formerly thought." The article is here, http://www.aafp.org/afp/20021001/1217.html. There are also liquid vitamins with iron, if you'd rather do that. Toddlers also still need essential fatty acids (DHA and ARA), "Because DHA and ARA are needed for neural development and brain growth, children have a strong developmental need for these fatty acids especially through the first 3 years of life." (taken from babysonly.com). My son was on Baby's Only Toddler Formula for the first two years of his life. He's tall and smart, if that's any proof.