12 Month Well-baby Check up and Dropping Formula

I would go ahead and definately get the shots all at once. I know it is an awful lot for a baby and some do feel cranky and sore afterward( I have found that it depends on the baby not really the kind of shots) The consequences of him missing a dose of say like the flu shot will be much worse than the crankiness from getting the shots. I have an 18 mos. old boy and the thing he had a reaction to was the chickenpox vaccine. He was miserable for 2 or 3 days and had a slight bump and red welt on his upper leg for about a week or so. What also might help ease the discomfort is I always give a dose of Tylenol just before going to the Dr.s so it is in their system in case of fever or irritability.(I learned this a while ago with my first baby; Now almost 18 years old.)
And as for the formula I gradually aaded milk to his formula(my youngest was on soy formula) and by about two weeks he was completely on whole milk with no problems.

As for the shots, my daughter didn't have a problem. A low grade fever, and a little sleepy for the rest of the day. But they wouldn't do them all at once if it wasn't safe. As for the formula, my daughter hated sippy cups too. But she liked to drink out of a straw. I found these little cups with lids and straws. They don't spill very bad. And once she got used to those, she was fine with the other sippy cups.

Hey Sarah, I agree with everyone about the shots. I am not sure why your little one is getting so many- my daughter is going in for her 12 month apt. on the 28th. She is getting 6, and that includes Hep A (just added), and no combos (I don't use the combos, they are not as effective). I don't know which other one you are getting. Either way, I wouldn't worry about splitting them up. He will forget about them soon after they happen........ I know, easier said then done, just thinking about my baby girl getting all those shots makes my belly hurt!! But I know she'll be fine!!

As for formula, I would do what your Dr. said and try half and half, then gradually take the formula out. My daughter is breastfed, so I just gave her straight milk in a cup, and she did fine. She has had a cup since she was 5 months old (not with milk- she had just water in it until recently!). It wont help now, but I always start babies (I am a nanny) on cups early and give them formula or breastmilk in the cup at meal times. This helps with the weening process later. However, since your son has not had a cup, I would try the Take and Toss kind- they don't spill easily, but they don't have the valve so they are easy to drink from. A lot of children don't like the valve cups at first b/c they don't know what to do with them!! My daughter loves the Take and Toss cups. Straw cups are good too- Take and Toss has some. I thought the straws were too long, and the cups too big, so I bought the little 4 oz. cups and cut all the straws in half- I use the straws in the smaller cups. My daughter loves it! Since the cup is smaller it is easier for her to hold.

I hope this helps. Good luck with your appointment!!

Hello Sarah,
First about the shots. I wouldn't worry about making mutipleappointments for him. As you know children at that age don't remeber the naxt day what happened. I used to give Ped immun. shots and the main thing you want to do is about 30 min before his appointment give him a dose of Motrin. The every 4-6 as needed switch back and forth with Tylenol/Motrin. This will help with the common side efects with shots.
Second, with the Milk. The best thing to do is about 1 week prior to his appointment give him a few cups of about 4oz of Milk. Just to make sure that he is able to handle it. If your having a hard time with the sippy cup try to give him a cup with a straw. It's something different and exciting. I went straight to milk all at once, but your the Mom and it's your decisions. Do what feels right to you. Good luck and hope everything works out :-)

Hello, there is nothing to worry about as far as getting the shots all at once. I have three children, set of twins who are 2 and a 4 year old and they've all gotten their shots like that. In my opinion the less times you have to go to the doctor's office and get the shots the less tramatic it's going to be on them. Imagine this: go to the dentist office and only have one wisdom tooth pulled when all 4 need to be pulled. Then go back individually to get the rest done one at a time. It's NO fun. Only one of my kids seemed off beat for less than a day. Not really sick per say, just a little drowsy. As far as the bottle goes, try putting some juice (diluted with water, very important to dilute with water) into a sippy cup. Kids love sweet things. This will get them loving the sippy cup. Meanwhile, put switch bottles, every other bottle milk and then the formula. Once your child likes the sippy cup start putting the milk into it. This worked like a charm with my kids. I hope this helps. Take care.

You can tell your pediatrician that you want to spread out these vacs. You don't have to give them all at once. I would wait to get the MMR vac until your baby is about a 1 1/2 if at all possible. I wish that i would have known that when my son was that little. I just thought that you had to do whatever the ped told you, but you do have some say. No one knows your child better than you.

My husband and I decided to wait til our daughter was 18 months old before starting her vaccinations and that was because I had to return to work and she had to start daycare which requires them. I do not think that most of the vacines that they require are a good idea, and after researching most are unnecessary and can be really bad. That said yes that would be a lot of shots, but this should be his really big one and then it will be just a couple here and there. They will alternate legs and a lot of offices bring in two nurses and they administer then at the same time so that the pain is shorter and kinda all at once. But if you prefer his to have them broken up you can talk to the doctors office, but it is kinda like a bandaid just go ahead and get it done and get it over with. Also I would give him some Advil before the visit about 30 minutes, so as to help with the pain and will maybe help if he has a reaction to the vacine.

As to the transition. You can still give him formula, but the benefits of formula by the age of one has really timed out. I suggest giving him whole organic milk. This way he is getting all the nutrients without the processing and bad stuff that regular milk can have in it like hormones and antibiotics. We used goats milk which is suppose to be better for you as the body is better able to digest it and there are very few allergies associated with goats milk like there are with cow's milk. But that of course is your preference. Good luck.

Hi there, One mom mentioned that some immunizations are unnecessary and can be "really bad." Some experts think there may be a link to immunizations causeing Autism, but nothing is proven. No one really knows what causes Autism. However, I feel that the benefits of immunizations outweigh the risks. I hate to get all opinionated, but there are two sides to that debate! Some of these diseases are really terrible with high mortality rates, so why not rest assured? Okay, I know you plan to immunize your baby, so I'll leave it at that! :) I personally totally agree with Renee. I too had my son's shots done all at once (mainly to have it be over and done with) but they don't really affect him afterward anyway.

I also used diluted juice to get him to take the sippy cup. I used the Gerber soft sipper and started him very early on due to him not wanting a bottle (he was breastfed). I did give him some formula in the cup starting at 7 mos, but I think I gave him straight milk starting at 11 1/2 mos. He loved it and still does. Good luck with everything!

About the shots...My 5 month old is on a delayed schedule for his shots. I beleive that is a lot to do all in one visit. Baby's immune systems are not fully developed until they are around 2 years old. So overloading them with all those vaxes will probably come with some kind of side effects. Just do what you believe is best for your baby...they are all different. As for the formula I don't know much about...sorry...

first of all i got my sons shots divided. he got some at 12 months and some at 15 months. then he got his last one at 18 months. this was easier for us all. as for the formula thing my little one loved his formula and hated regular milk. so i either put some chocolate in with it or warmed it up like his formula. he never drunk his formula cold even when he got older. but he loved it warm. he was off his bottle at 11 1/2 months completely. when he turned 4 months i started introducing the sippy cup and so when he was 9 months he was used to the sippy cup and i started only giving him 2-3 bottles a day and the rest in a sippy cup. if he is still on the bottle you can introduce whole milk to him maybe once a day now before he turns a year old and it will not hurt him a bit. i would definately say drop the bottle at a year though because i know lots of kids teeth are messed up because of the bottle. good luck.

Hello Sarah F.
With my two oldest kids, I didn't worry too much about how soon to take them off of formula and put them on milk, although it wasnt too far past thier first birthday. What I did was just introduce milk every so often even though they were still on formula and then I would decrease the formula and give them milk.
Hope this helps..
M.

Don't worry about the shots. If you want, ask the pediatrician. If he's any good he'll tell you that it's okay to split them up if you want just so the baby doesn't get so many at once. Mine did. And that's what we opted for. No biggie.

As for the dropping formula ... we began mixing whole milk in with formula slowly to transfer her. 1/4 milk 3/4 formula for a week. Then 1/2 & 1/2 for a week. And so on. By just over a month she was on nothing but whole milk. Unfortunately she began throwing it up & I was afraid she was lactose intolerant because her father is. We tried Soy milk, etc & she couldn't handle that either. Her pediatrician recommended going back to formula for a while and she was fine. She was closer to 18 months before we tried switching to whole milk again ... but when we did ... she was fine.

Hi! As for the shots, my son had no problems at all. Not only did he not suffer any effects (fever, etc.) but he barely cried! He fussed more when the doctor checked his temperature and his breathing and put him on the scales than he did when he got the shots. I know every child is different, but I've heard the same thing from several moms now-- that their children get more worked up over separation or frustration than they do pain. My doctor did suggest giving my son a Tylenol before the visit, to lessen both the pain and the possible fever-- you might want to ask about this. I didn't bother, and my son was still fine, but I'm sure it wouldn't hurt if you're nervous. As for the milk..... ugh. We struggled with this for a while, and had our first big success with a cup and straw rather than a sippy (not a special straw, just a regular one like you'd get at a fast food place). We gradually moved from the straw to the sippy, but my son still does better with a cup that has large holes-- they can spill more, but they're worth it because they don't frustrate him like the smaller holes do. Good luck!

Hi Sarah,

I have 13 month old BG twins and they just had their shots a couple weeks ago. They had 4 shots, 2 in each leg and yes the last one did sting alot. The motrin works really well, I suggest having your son take that before the shots. The twins did the motrin and were fine with the shots. My son started crying with the first shot and my daughter didn't cry until the last one and I heard that one burns and it must of cause she was hollering. They only cried for a short time and then with a bottle, they were off to sleep. I also just took them off the formula and put them on whole milk and they are doing fine. I didn't do any half and half, I just finished the formula and very next bottle was the milk. They both took to it with no problems. I am very blessed I have such good babies. With having two at once, I find it easier to just do it and pray that it will all go well. So far so good :)) You know your baby the best, do what you feel comfortable with and what you know he will like. Best wishes to you.

I went with the combo for my son. Some insurance companies pay for the combo and some don't but I told the doctor's office even if I have to pay for it out of my own pocket I did not want him stuck anymore than he had to be. My son has done very well with all the injections. I always gave him Motrin which is a 6 hour medicine or Tylenol 30 before getting his shots.

When I took my daughter for her 12 month check up she did fine with her shots. Just give your son the remommended dose of Tylenol about an hour before he gets his shots. They will cry a little and then shake it off. The tylenol will just ease the pain.
My daughter doesn't like a sippy cup even now. She is 16 months, get the cups that have the straws (only a couple of dollars for a pack) that are the disposable ones (they are reusable just wash them after each use). My daughter started using them a little before she was 12 months old...she loves them and learned to use them rather quick.
As for the transition from formula to whole milk, I just gave her formula every other bottle. Then less and less and then formula only at night til the can was gone. They don't really notice a difference (at least she didn't)...
Good luck! I am married to a man in the military and he was gone when she was born and then home for a few months and he left again a few months ago and is due back sometime in the spring. Kids are a wonderful joy...I love my daugter after 5 miscarriages I am blessed.

Well, my daughter had no trouble with the shots. Just make sure to give him tylonol before going to the doctor. That will help with the fever and the soreness from all of the shots. And about the switching from formula to whole milk i also had no trouble with that, but i didnt take the bottle away until about 13 or 14 months. Then came the pacifier. Had to get rid of that at about 16 months bc she started biting the ends off with her new teeth!!! LOL!!! Im sure everything will go ok. Your a mom and you will know what to do more than you think. I felt the same way with my daughter and thought i had no clue on what to do but it all seemed to come naturally. Hope this was of at least a little help.

That seems like alot of vaccines. I can't even imagine what the other 4 are if one if the MMR. It seems that my daughter is getting her more of her shots grouped together than my oldest son did. The most my DD got at once was 4 shots and an oral vaccine. But none of my kids ever had a reaction to their vaccines, except once when my son's arm swelled from the polio. You can give him some Tylenol when you get to the dr's office to try to get ahead of the pain. If you don't mind going back again, I don't see why they wouldn't let you split them up tho.

As for the milk, I was under the impression you had to wean from formula, but maybe not. My oldest went on milk at 9 mos.I remember trying the 1/2 and 1/2 and he rejected it. So I'd give him less formula in his cup and offer him a separate cup of milk. My 2nd son had growth issues, so he was on formula and pediasure past age 1. He also refused a bottle or sippy cup, but I got him to drink from the sippy cups that have a straw. A friend of mine used to mix chocolate syrup into the milk to get her child to drink the milk, but then all she would drink was choc milk. I would try mixing the 2 and if he will drink it then lessen the amount of formula and increase the milk a little each time. But if he won't drink the 2 mixed, then just keep offering him a second bottle/cup of milk. It won't hurt him to be on formula past age 1, just look for one that is for older babies, I am pretty sure Similac makes one. I used it for my son. And with the price of milk these days, it is probably no more expensive, lol!
GL.

K.
mom to Kyle, Alex, and Isabel
And I Support Research for Congenital Heart Defects!

Hi Sarah, I have 2 children that are not on formula & when switching them I did the 1/2 & 1/2 thing. You could start the first day off alittle less gradually if you'd like....Say if you're making an 8 oz bottle, 6 oz formula 2 oz milk...& the next day 1/2 & 1/2...next day 6 oz milk 2 oz formula...then on the 4th day all milk. that's how I've always done it with my daughters. Now...if your son is on a Soy based formula, you might want to take it a little slower than what you would normally. Watch out for a little bit of the runs.

As far as the shots go, if you're uncomfortable with your son having that many at once, just tell your doctor that you'd like them split up. No advice that you get from anyone is going to change how uncomfortable you feel when it comes to your baby getting shots. (I couldn't even hold my kids while they were getting their shots until I had my 3rd child!!!!)

Good Luck!

Hey Sarah,
As far as the 12 mo. checkup goes, he will be fine. Mine had all of hers together, and she cried only for a little while, and then she slept.... for a good while. My Ped. suggested some baby tylenol as soon as we got home to help with any soreness or fever that the shots may cause. By that night she was running around playing as usual. They are lots more resiliant than you think.

As far as the formula goes, I just started the milk in a bottle, and eventually went to a sippy cup. But, my daughter was breastfed for 11 monthes. She really didn't have any trouble with the transition at all. I know that there are a lot of people that say there are Do's and Don'ts as far as raising a little one goes, but I feel that every baby is different, and in most cases your judgement is the best because you know them the best.
Hope that helps,

K.