1 YO Transitioning from Formula to Whole Milk/ off Bottle?

I did a slow transiiton over a 4 week period, either 1/2 mix with formula or just replacing a formua bottle with a milk bottle. Also I would take the chill off the milk (warm it just to room temp) since they were used to having their formula warmed. Good luck. Hope this helps. I also use organic milk and I can taste the difference so I assume they can too.

Hi Nadia,

I had kind of the opposite problem, but maybe my solution would work. Soon after my son turned 1, I was afraid he was drinking so much milk that he wasn't eating a variety of things. So I started putting a big spoonful of vanilla yogurt in his milk (in the sippy cup), mixing it up and calling it a "smoothie" (which he, now 1 1/2 years later, still calls a "mooie"). Maybe your daughter will like the taste of the milk with the yogurt in it, and at the same time will be getting extra calcium.

B.

she needs the milk. if you're having problems with both, milk and sippy cup, then do one at a time. do the milk first then around 15 months try introducing the sippy
btw, my kids did not want milk. i tried at 11 months, they didn't go for it. then i gave them organic whole milk and they drank it right away.

You may need to break this task down into 2 steps. I say to work on milk transition first. The bottle, for many little ones, is their security and a constant remembrance of their babyhood. They don't want to grow up and change. So, if your child is healthy, it's OK to wait a few months before transitioning to a sippy or whatever.

As for the milk, have you tried flavoring it? There are a few organic "Nestle Quik" type syrups out there, you can find in organic food stores. What about other milks? Almond milk is option, although it is not as fatty as whole milk and babies need that fat. I've heard Kefir is good - not sure of its nutritional content for babies, still you may want to ask around and see if it may be a good substitute. How about an organic whole milk yogurt (which is 1:1 equivalent to whole milk in nutrition). You might want to start out with a yogurt so she can get nutrition while you try out several milks and flavors until you get the right combination that she will take. Good luck.

BTW - your description: "I enjoy eating naturally by eating simply, interacting with my daughter and letting her explore and discover the world around her" -- love it!

we left the night bottle as the last one to go, the morning as the second to last. We slowly transitioned so it didn't just disappear. Can your daughter take formula from the straw sippy? Start with formula and then follow the advice of others about how to slowly introduce milk. I also agree with the person who said organic, my daughter likes it so much better.

Don't wait o nthe sippy ... do it now now now.

With Milk being a thinner/runnier liquid than Formula, you will want to be into sippy cups by the time she's on whole milk... otherwise the stuff drips out of the bottle.. so annoying.

Here's what I learned with my kids:
1) get off the bottle before 1year, when they figure out how to fight you about it and hold a milk/formula strike.
2) take your sweet time switching to milk.... transition slowly, and they don't know the difference.
So for an 8oz bottle, say 7 oz of formula + 1oz milk.
then in a few days, switch to 6oz of formula and 2 oz of milk... keep it up for a couple of weeks and that's the end of the formula.

After learning from my mistakes with my older toddler, I switched to a "NUBY" sippy cup the 2nd time around at 11 months...
For two or three days my baby drank 1/2 the formula as normal, but since she eats solid foods like pasta and cheese ,meats, etc... I didn't care...
After a couple of days, she sucked down a 8oz sippy no problem.... no more bottles.

Boy, that is a very different experience than when I switch with my first child late.... I started at 15 months with him... and couldn't get him off until almost 19 months. And then when the bottle was gone he held a strike on milk altogether. To this day, he will only drink milk that is flavored!
GOOD LUCK!

Please do not feel compelled to rush these changes. Your daughter is still very young and is likely very attached to her bottle. It is wonderful that she is taking water in a straw sippy, continue to make sure she has one every day so that it becomes part of her normal consumption. But as for the milk, at one year it is still an extremely important part of her nutritional intake. Let her stay on the formula but very gradually mix in the milk. Jessica (answered below) wrote the standard recipe! You may have to start with an even smaller ratio (ex., 1/2 oz milk + 7 1/2 oz formula) to get her to take it. Once you have made the switch, then you can think about swapping to sippy.

One of my toughest parenting moments came when my middle child was 14 months old. He got coxsackie and could not take a bottle or pacifier. Once it was gone, he would not take either anymore and it was devastating because he really needed the sucking. He eventually transitioned to a blankie as his lovey but to this day (he is 12 now) I think it was too soon. My older son was weaned from bottles by 18 mos and my little girl was closer to two. follow what your baby girl needs and you will not go wrong! Just remember it all happens most smoothly when you do it very gradually.

We transitioned our kids to milk and off of the bottle at the same time and it ended up working pretty well, I think. But there were some hiccups in the road. The kids didn't like the sippy cups because they had to work so hard to get the milk out. I bought the tossable cups that have three holes in the top and just dealt with some spills. That way they would suck the same amount as they did with the bottle and they would get a mouthful of milk.

Not sure if you have tried this as well, but instead of letting her drink the bottle in whole, just give her little spurts of it while she is in her high chair. That way she can get used to having liquids with her meal instead of separately.

In terms of not wanting the milk, not sure what to say. My pediatrician has said the milk is for the calcium, the fat and the calories. I guess if they are getting those things through other foods, maybe it is ok? But I'm not a nutritionist. Sorry...

I hope that helps - good luck!

How about rice milk? My son is lactose and we go back and forth between this and soy formula (the go and grow kind now that he is almost 14 months). But since it has no fat in it, we have to feed him a high fat diet-the fat apparently is important for brain development at this age.

My son will only drink out of a regular glass or his bottle which is so frustrating. I would prefer him to use the straw cups so I can't help you with that transition. My older son literally just stopped the bottle one day and went right to the straw cup. My little guy is much more stubborn and will only do what he wants with this issue.

Nadia,
Take one step at a time. Don't rush it. She'll get there eventually. When I change the milk with my children, they were all around 4mths old, because they didn't react well to the formula; I started by puting 1 ounce of whole milk with 4 of water for about a week and then raise the ounce of milk to 2 and less water, etc. Maybe it will be easier if you do the same with the milk and the formula. First do 1 ounce of milk and 7 of formula for a week, then the following week added 2 ounces of milk and 6 of formula, and so on until she is fully drinking milk. Also, you might want to try starting with 2% milk if the whole milk is too strong for her taste. After you are done with the milk, then try the sippy cups. That might take a little longer. Start with juices and water with the sippy cups first. Let her get the feel with something else. She is still young, and at that age they like the comfort of the bottle specially early in the morning and at night time. I hope this helps.
I.

Hi. When I made the change, my son was 1 years old. I put 1 ounce of whole milk with the 7 of formula for a week. The next week I added 2 ounces and continued the same until all 8 ounces were whole milk. After that was done I waited some time until I switched him to a sippy cup. When he was 2, my pediatrician said 2% milk would contain the sufficient nutrients for any person over 2. Make sure she's not allergic to milk and good luck!!

We did the transition gradually... 6 oz formula mixed with 1 oz of whole milk. Every couple of days we increase the milk % until he was drinking whole milk entirely. It worked really well.

As for the bottles- we were in the opposite situation where he was around "big kids" all day and only wanted a cup with a straw so we had to watch his fluid intake. Several friends, however, put ONLY water in the bottle and to access the milk or formula, you had to have it in a cup. Also, my son hated sippies- we used a straw cup and he loves them.

Talk with your pediatrician, but my understanding is that milk has a lot of vitamins and nutrients that are difficult to ingest other ways at this young age. Your little one should be on a multivitamin at this point and should be eating solids, so you don't need to give as much milk. My son is 18 months old and he has milk with his meals, but water or very watered-down juice in between!

with my kids i introduced a sippy cup early at around 6 months while they had a meal.. i would put formula or watered down juice or even just water in it..so they could get used to drinking from it..i did have one child who did not like regular milk or formula after a while and i gave her water in a sippy or juice.. without her liking the milk it was easy to get her off the bottle.. i just stopped giving it to her and she could care less.. i gave her yogurt and cheese and that type of stuff to get enough dairy. to this day my daughter hardly likes milk and she is 6.. but eats plenty of the other stuff to make up for it, she will drink flavored milk..so thats another option.. for getting rid of the bottle i gave them water and eventually they didnt want it because it was boring and had no flavor..lol.. one of my kids knew it was water so i would just put a splash of milk in there to change the color to trick her but it worked..lol My first one was off the bottle at 12 months, the second was at 13 months i think and the last one was a little longer around... 15 months i think. hope some of this helps. :0)