Taking One Year Old off Formula Help?

Like one poster suggested.. mix regular milk and formula and slowly increase the quantity of milk. this worked great for my son. my daughter switched to milk without the mixing of formula and milk. the sippy cup.. start using that at every feeding. start out with that and then you can switch to a bottle later in the feeding. but always start with the cup. after a few weeks, just dont give the bottle at all. my daughter was very stubborn about using the sippy cup but i just kept on with it and it wasnt very long before she stopped taking the bottle.

good luck.
A..

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We also did a transition similar to one of the other posters.

Formula to milk: we mixed an ounce of milk in at a time. This was simple and quick with both of my kids. 5 oz formula, 1 ounce milk on Tues. 4 oz form/2 oz milk on Wed., etc until 100% milk. We did this at 12 mos once we were running out of formula. It was easy and quick!

Bottle transition: We had more success with a variety of cups with my kids. With both, we eliminated the bottles one at a time, with nap and bedtimes last. With my daughter, we used reg cups, sippy and straw cups. - Fun character/cool colors, etc. With my son, we skipped sippy cups altogether.

The bottles had been kept in one cabinet, so we removed and hid them, only appearing with them at nap and bedtime. Eventually bedtime only. We then transitioned them to milk
before bedtime (so they could brush teeth, etc). Finally, we went to the cabinet with them one night, showed that there were no bottles and gave milk in a cup. It took a couple of nights of minimal frustrations, but both transitioned this way very easily, quickly.

I nursed for 10 months... and then used expressed milk mixed with rice milk due to alelrgies, out of a regular cup while i was holding him the same way. For my son it was no big deal (the change to sippy cup). I tried to stay away from sippy cups entirely until he spilled on everything in our house and i finally gave in. It's not a big deal in my opinion, you see the transition at different times, as long as your child isn't 18 m or 2 yrs drinking from a bottle!

From what I remember with my son, when he turned one, it's more like an adult with drinking milk now... at meal times. I would definitely get her off of the bottle and move onto a sippy cup. I have a 5 month old daughter too, and she won't even take a bottle ( I breastfeed), so I have NO idea how I'm gonna get her on a sippy cup and cow's milk when she turns one! Good luck with your little girl. Even though she's only 10 months, you could even start with the sippy cup now so that when she actually turns one, she's totally off the bottle.
Also, my son was getting too much milk and wasn't eating well, so make sure your pediatrician tells you how much or how little they need each day. I wouldn't give your child a huge cup full before they start eating, they tend to down that first and then there's no room left for food.

Don't be stressed about doing things correctly! As long as you're keeping your baby safe and listening to her needs, you're doing things correctly. Just do what works best for you and your child and don't worry so much about what's the "right" way to do it all.

My baby and I are switching from formula to milk right now, too. She turns one at the end of September - sounds like about the same time yours is! She's my third kiddo, so I'm approaching this the same way I did with the other two, and it seems to be working. As the other posters suggested, I'm slowing decreasing the amount of formula in the bottle and adding milk. Once she's taking only milk in the bottle I'll start moving her to a sippy cup. I've been giving her sippy cups of water through out the day for months now, but she never drinks them. She just plays with them. My experience with the other two kids was that they will eventually start drinking from the cup and then we can get rid of the bottle. I'm not in a hurry. As long as the bottle is gone by 2 years, we'll be fine. It will be a slow trasition of slowly replacing each bottle with a sippy cup once she starts actually drinking from the sippy cup, with her favorite bottle time (the one before bed) being the last to go). Eventually that will become a sippy cup with dinner, and there will be no milk right before bed. Also, I don't mind sippy cups. My first two are only 15 months apart, and there was no way with the second that I could watch him with a real cup. I was in survival mode, so he had to have sippy cups for a long time. Once my third was old enough that I was finally able to breathe, we worked on real cups with my son (who is 3), and he did fine. I agree with that first poster's mother - they won't be walking down the aisle/going to college drinking from bottles/sippy cups/in diapers. This will all happen in time. The best thing is to let it go at their pace and not be stressed. Of course that's a whole lots easier to say that to do! I have to remind myself of it every day. Good luck to you!! You're doing great.

I do not recommend putting the milk in a bottle. (or you'll be stuck with the bottle for a long time). She can learn that bottles are for formula and milk comes in a cup or a sippy cup. Then you'll be able to permanently ditch the bottle when she's off the formula (!)

What I did with my daughter and worked well for me, is the first 2 weeks of transition I gradually mixed milk in with her formula (first few days - 3/4 formula, 1/4 milk; next couple of days - 1/2 formula, 1/2 milk, etc). At the end of two weeks, when she was on just milk, I completely got rid of the bottles and moved her to sippy cups. She got a sippy cup of milk with each of her 4 "sit-down" meals (bfast, lunch, snack and dinner). In betweeen meals I had a sippy cup of water available for her to drink from. That's just what worked for me - good luck to you!

Make sure to swithc to whole milk til she's 2, then you can decide what kind to give her after that. I switched my son to milk AND sippy cup at the same time right at 1 yo and it worked perfectly well with us. He had no problems switching. Also you can give her the milk in any combination meals/between meals, but she needs to get between 16-24oz a day. Good Luck!

First of all....you have made it this far, so it sounds like you are doing everything that your daughter needs you to do for her. Don't stress. :) (I know, easier said than done)

My daughter is almost 20 months now, and I don't remember exactly what we did to transition her to milk. We didn't do alot of mixing milk with formula though. I do remember that she wasn't a big fan at first, but now milk is the first thing she asks for in the morning. Just do what feels right for you and it will work it self out.

As far as sippy cups go- I started giving her a sippy cup with water or a little juice with water long before we started milk. At first she just played with it, but eventually she figured it out. Just before we started milk we gave her formula in a sippy. This really helped with the transition. She never had milk in a bottle, ever. Thr first time she had it it went directly into a cup.

Just remember to do what feels right for you and your daughter and it will work it self out. I know how stressful it can be when you try something new and it doesn't work out at first. Don't worry, it will.

Good luck!
Jessica

If your daughter has no problem taking the sippy cup, I would highly recommend switching her to the sippy cup. This is just a personal preference. As far as giving her milk during milk time and a few times in between, I think that's perfectly fine. I'm sure you are also feeding her Gerber or some other brand like that. If for some reason you have not, start out with the veggies and don't introduce the fruit ones until 2 or 3 months later. As a first time mom myself, take my advice don't stress out so much about it. That shows you are a good mother and you only want the best for your daughter. If there is a mom you trust, ask for and take her advice. I'm was lucky enough to have my mom, mother-in-law and sister to take advice from. Good luck.

Have a phased transition for both formula to milk and bottle to cup.

For milk: Start adding 25% of milk to formula once a day and slowly increse the percentage and the number of times u do that. Till you are at 100% milk at all the time.

For Sippy Cup: Take one bottle at a time. Start with afternoon, since he would not have missed his nbottle of morning. replace one bottle at a time. My daughtr was having 4 bottles in a day. I gave her one week time between each bottle switch. Night bottle was last to go and hradest. It took me more than 3 weeks for last one.

But we did it: She was formula free and bottle free at 13.5 months.

Hi K.,

When my son turned one, it was my plan to stop using a bottle and give him milk in a sippy cup at the times he normally would have a bottle of formula. What happened was I'm still giving him bottles of milk and he is 17 months now. I had no idea how attached he was to his bottle until I started trying to give him milk in a cup. One of these days I'm going to have to throw away all of the bottles and I figure after a few days of hell, maybe he'll drink milk out of a cup. I just haven't been ready to go through that hell yet. My mom gave me the advice that it's not as if he's going to be walking down the aisle with a bottle in his mouth, so why do I feel the need to rush it at one year if he's not ready. That made me feel better.

So my point is that no matter how much you plan this out, it may not go completely as expected.

Good luck!
L.

We did the mixing like everyone else, but I wanted to recommend the Nuby sippy cups. They have soft spouts (vs the hard spouts) and my daughter and son both loved them.

That's a lot all at once for your one year old. I let my one year old get used to the milk, then changed to the sippy cup