Hey Mama's,
My son will be 10 months old next week. He has been taking a sippy cup (soft nipple Nuby)with water for about 4-5 months now, but rarely takes it with formula in it. I want to have him transitioned over by 12 months but I'm not sure the best way to start doing that. Also he goes to an In-Home Day Care and I'm not sure how switching to a sippy will go over with our provider, also she has to have a note from the Dr. if we switch him to Whole Milk before he is a year old. What is the best way to start this? When should I start trying to give him Whole Milk also?
Hi J.! You shouldn't even be thinking about whole milk for at least 3 or 4 more months. My son's doctor said that until they reach about 12-14 months they really need to be on formula or breast milk for development.
As far as sippy cups, we went from water to juice mixed with water and he did fine. We never did formula in a sippy cup. We always fed him by bottle and let him snck with sippy cups.
Good luck!
My daughter is also in in-home care and she actually pushed for the sippy cup before I did. I would let your provider pick the type (the one that spills less, etc.) We've had the best luck with Playtex which we seem to find mostly at CVS. We also switched first to a sippy with a straw so that our daughter could easily learn to use a straw while she was still "sucking" from a bottle. It was an easy transition and now at 16 months she uses sippy cups of all shapes and sizes with ease. If you have a problem with the transition there are sippy cups with soft tops that allow the child to have more of a nipple feel. We switched to whole milk at 11 months. Primarily because I ran out of formula and didn't want to buy another can. The tranisition for my daughter to milk was an easy one too, but I would wait at least another month to switch. My doctor said at least 11 months. Hope this helps.
I put my daughter on whole milk at 11 months...she would not take the formula out of the sippy so I did not want to continue the bottle when she really did not need it (but I had just weaned her from breastfeeding). She did fine and finally took it in a sippy. If he is still wanting the bottle...give him only water in the bottle and milk or formula or watered juice in the sippy...that is what worked for us.
most babies start wholle milk at one year old, so if he won't drink formula from his cup, I wouldn't push it. Try giving him small amounts of whole milk in the cup and see if he'll drink it. Even if he doesn't, keep offering it with every meal(not too much, tho, cause his formula should still be his main nutritional source)and by the time he is one(or whenever your ready), you should be able to drop the bottle and formula completely. Good Luck!!
You don't give Whole Milk until 12 months old. With my son I did like you I put water in a sippy cup to get him used to drinking from a sippy cup before 12 months. Then when he turned 12 months I just took the bottles away and he could only drink from the sippy cup. I gradually took away bottles a few days at a time until he was left with only his evening bottle then eventually took that away as well, but by 12 months my pediatrician said no bottles b/c the longer you wait to stop the harder it will be. They get attached easily and developmentally they will not want to give it up the older they get. What you are doing is great because you want them to know how and want to drink out of a sippy cup by a year.
I went to whole milk at 10 1/2 months. I put it in her bottle cold and she hated it. After about 4 times of this she started drinking it and loved it. She always hated cups. No matter what was in it. On her 1st bd I got rid of all bottles and only gave her a cup. Since the bottle was not an option she took to a cup very well.
Her doctor told me at 10 months that switching to whole milk at that time was up to me.
