Need Advice on Weaning to Whole Milk

Just keep doing what you are doing. Continue to give her milk in a sippy and sooner or later she will drink it. My daughter did the same exact thing! She would take milk out of a bottle fine, but not a sippy, but would drink water from a sippy. Eventually she just started taking it. She is 13 months and I do still give her her morning milk in a bottle and the rest of the day she takes it out of a sippy. I keep telling myself next month I am taking her off of the morning bottle. I think it is more me then it is her wanting to give her a bottle. I just know that way she is getting a full 9 ounces out of the way in the morning. Good luck, it will get better everyday! Just buy a few different sippy's and see which one she likes best!

A.

My daughter (now 16 months) did the same thing. She drank milk great from the bottle. We were told no more bottles around 13 months and so we packed them up and her only option was milk from a cup. No formula and no bottles. I was shocked but she did just fine and now drinks milk from a cup like it's going out of style. Just keep trying and it will click one day. If you've just started the milk it may still be too new to her (new flavor and new cup--overload). Don't give up.

my peditrition had told me to let my daughter drink milk out of bottle and everything else out of cup.we did this for a fe months.you can try heatin it up. u can try mixin lil formula w/ it. also wen u ween them just strt by one bottle a day w/ the milk. and slowly wrk uo\p to 3 or 4 a day.and after a few months slowly try to ween them from bttle to cup w/ milk.

Hi V.,

You could also warm it up in the microwave for about 20 seconds and see if maybe she'll like it better. My daughter liked the whole milk either way but my dear husband is convinced she drinks it down better if it's warmed up!! :-) Doesn't hurt to try.

-Char

Hi V.,

Here is my experience - we went from breastfeeding to whole milk - my now 3 -yr. old son really has never cared for milk. My 2 yr. old nephew downs it however. Anyway, I guess I would just replace her formula in the bottle with milk. I personally don't think there is anything wrong with a 14 or even 15 month old on a bottle still. There's too much pressure to wean right at a year - my opinion! Since you stay at home, you don't have day care forcing you to wean her, so just let her drink from a bottle...

As soon as Jackson was weaned, we started him on vitamins also - so I recommend that as well.

C. Brady

You have recieved a lot of advice but I thought that I will still let you know what worked for us. My little one was drinking everything out or a sippy cup except for milk/breast milk and I contunuted that until I got her off breast milk and 100% on whole milk. To get her to drink whole milk I mixed breast milk and whole milk in a bottle, every day I reduced the amount of breast milk in the bottle and increased the whole milk. It worked great! In less than 4 days she was drinking whole milk.
Once we accomplished the first task we then tackled the bottle. I used avent bottles and just started putting milk in a bottle and removed the nipple and replaced it with the sippy cup spout. She will be 2 on Saturday and will still only drink her milk out of a bottle with a sippy cup spout and not out of a fun sippy cup that she takes her juice or water from and she calls it her bottle but that is okay with me.
Hope this helps!
Good luck!
M.

During transitions of any kind you come upon problems. You may have to let her just cry it out. It isn't going to hurt her. Even if she does not get a lot of milk for a little while it isn't going to hurt her in the long run. Will she drink formula in a cup? If she will then put her formula in a cup and add a little milk as she gets use to drinking it from there add a little more milk every few days or weeks and she will eventually be drinking only milk. But don't offer it any other way. She will adjust.
Getting a child off of the bottle as soon as possible is best for their teeth. Look it up on line. There is all kinds of info. They don't need to be on the bottle past 12 months. I have a home daycare and watched a child that ended up having to get her 8 front baby teeth pulled when she was 3 because of her having the bottle too long.
Lonie

Try mixing the milk with the formula. Maybe start with 3/4 formula and 1/4 milk then do half and half after a few days and just gradually turn it into all milk. Good luck!

My son was allergic to cows milk at first so I had to give him soy milk, I started out w/half soy and half formula for a few days and would warm it for about 20 sec in microwave then gradually give him more milk and less formula. He is now fine w/cow's milk and drinks whole milk which they need the added fat per my pedi.
I also would give him milk in the bottle just when he woke up in the morning, right before nap/bedtime then I gradually woke wean him from his morning bottle and sit him in his highchair w/warmed milk in his sippy cup then I would change him lunch time schedule and give him milk in his sippy at lunch (cold) and he was full for lunch, he wasn't even interested as well as dinner time. I would give him dinner then bath then bed.
I was able to wean him from the bottle in 1-2 days w/no problem.
As far as the milk in sippy it's an adjustment to them, It taste different so you might want to divide the milk and formula so it still taste like formula and warm it.

Good Luck and Happy Birthday
M.

We started with skim milk and then moved to whole milk. The skim milk is a lot more watery like breastmilk. It took about one week for our son to go to whole milk from the sippy.

Hope that helps!

S.

I agree with mixing it with formula, gradually increasing the milk. Also, there is Horizon Organic milk. It is more expensive but has a better taste. It is available in all the grocery stores I go to and is available in the gallon size. After baby girl getst used to milk you could switch her back to "regular" (Bordens or store-brand) milk.

There are a couple ways you could do it. Give her a cup with 1 ounce of milk and 4 ounces of formula. Do that for about a week. Then increase the amount of milk - 2 ounces milk and 2 ounces formula -- for the next week. You could even do half ounce increments if you like. If she's 13 months or 15 months by the time she's completely switched to milk, that's fine.

The other plan is when you get rid of the bottle, give her milk in a cup and just keep giving it to her. She'll be fine if she goes a few days without milk and she will eventually drink it if she doesn't have another option. Right now, she knows if she holds out, she'll eventually get either a bottle or formula, both of which are familiar and comfortable. She's a smart kid!
She's probably not refusing milk because she doesn't like it, but because it's unfamiliar. If you start now by offering chocolate or strawberry milk just to get her to drink it, you're just adding sugar to her diet that is unnecessary.
Good luck!

Hi V.,

Just my 2 cents. When we weaned my son off of formula, found out he was allergic to cow's milk. So we had to go back, however we did do the soy milk and all was well. I just began giving him 1/2 formula and 1/2 soy milk for a few days and then 3/4 of soy and 1/4 formula, I think weaning it this way is better. On the other hand how important is it if she drinks it out of a cup or a bottle? She is about to be just 1 and still a baby, so a bottle is fine in my eyes. With my son, I could not force him to make the transition from bottle to sippy cup, he did that all on his own and each child is different. He gave me his pacifier, his bottle, and other various items that he no longer uses/does, but at his own time and pace. Some kids are better at this than others and that is what worked with mine.

I think as long as she is getting her nutrients, that is fine. My son is a strong, healthy 45 lbs. 42 inch tall big 3 year old boy and after the soy phase, he really doesn't consume milk anymore. He is still allergic to the cow's milk and he doesn't like the taste of soy and so he just doesn't drink any milk. As long as he is getting the sufficient amount of calcium, I wouldn't worry about it. My son loves, yogurt, danimals, cheese and so forth, so he is fine. We are NOT big milk drinkers anyway, so...maybe that is why. He does drink juices, (100%) that I always water down and have since he first began drinking juice, he is a healthy boy. 1/2 water and 1/2 juice.

Good Luck!

G. B.

Try weaning her to a sippy cup first. Put the formula in there and slowly add milk until there is no formula left.
Also, try soy (no sugar added ones), rice or almond milk - it is in some ways healthier. Also, begining to wean at 12 months is OK, but for the first FULL year my pediatritian reccommends breastmilk or formula to be the main source of nutritian. Try not to stess too much over it, she may just not be ready. Hope this helps! God bless, Liz

It has been over 4 years, but I gave my daughter milk in a bottle...until she was about 18 months and which time we gave her sippy cups...if the bottle works...sounds like that is a good way to get it to her...did your pedi give you a reason to not give her the milk in a bottle...

I weaned my son off toddler formula before he was one to whole milk over a one month period. I added one once of milk (and took away one once of formula) to his formula every week until it was pure milk. I think this is easier for their tummies and their taste. This will also help you if she has a reaction to the milk. She may enjoy soy milk or a low fat milk instead. I use sippy cups too. When he uses a real cup the taste swirls around in his mouth, as for sippys it sort of by passes the tonge and goes straight down his throut. I'mot for letting my child cry it out. He still drinks a sippy cup of 2% milk at least 4 times a day or more.

Good luck (and happy birthday to your daughter)

T. Lee

I know several people this has happened to including myself. Try several different cups. You may hit upon one she likes. Gerber Sip & Smile cups seem to do well. My son likes the Playtex cups. Your daughter may just want a certain kind of cup for milk and the other for water. Sounds odd, but can easily be the problem. You may also want to warm it up slightly. Some kids can't resist it warmed and will take it anyway they can get it! Good luck. It will probably just take time.

Hi V.,

I know that this is going to sound weird, but I tried it with my daughter and it worked. Put a little apple juice or white grape juice in the whole milk and let her try it. That is the only way I was able to finally get my daughter to drink whole milk, after MONTHS of trying. It sounds pretty gross, but I actually tasted it and it's not that bad--it tastes a bit like a smoothie. The juice sweetens the milk a bit, and since formula is a little sweeter than whole milk, it's not such a huge transition with the juice in it. I did this for about a month, tapering off the amount of juice I put in the milk.

Just a suggestion I received from another Mom and it worked! Good luck!

Jacqueline

Our pediatrician said to wean "cold turkey." Since he drinks his water cold, he didn't mind it being cold at all. I gave it to him in a cup, and he cried for more after the first time. I think it depends on the baby. I've also heard people who do half and half at first, but I would suggest just trying it a few time by itself to see whether she likes it or not. I would strongly suggest putting it into a cup, though. That way, you won't have to eventually wean her from a bottle when it comes to whole milk. Right now, she may associate bottle with warm formula, so it may be harder for her to understand with the milk in a bottle. HOpe this helps!! :o)

You might want to put her formula in the cup and see if it's the cup she doesn't care for. Take her to the store and let her pick out the cup she wants to drink her milk in. Don't just use it for milk. Use it for juice and water so she knows it's for drinking. Good luck!

My best advice is to just take it easy on the whole milk transition thing. My son took awhile to take to whole milk - at first he just didn't like but as he gradually got used to the taste he decided that he loves it. I really don't see any reason to make a baby cry over this transition. Have you tried offering milk in her bottle first? Maybe the familiarity of the bottle will make the milk less foreign. I wasn't sure from your message if you had tried that already. And you can also start to gardually dilute the formula with milk. Start but subbing out 1/2 an ounce or 1 ounce with milk, then after a couple days, add a little more. I know there's so much hoopla about "no bottles after 1 year of age" but I don't know who decided that was some magic number. Certainly it isn't good for a child to have a bottle all day long, but one a day, as your daughter is doing, is absolutely fine. So if that works to make the transition easier, stick with it. As far as cups go, have you tried different kinds? Something unrelated to the one she drinks water out of? I stressed out about this when my son was transitioning and in retrospect there really wasn't a problem. It just took him a little longer because he wasn't used to it. And as far as I understand, milk is important, but if she is also getting fats and calcium and other important dairy benefits from yogurt and cheese, then she'll be fine. Have you tried Yo Baby drinkable yogurts?

We warmed up our son's milk up in his sippy cup and at first we had to add suger to it at first. Only a teaspoon for a week, and then the next week a 1/2 a teaspoon. That worked for both of our boys. Good luck, hang in there.