My second child, Grayson, is turning 1 at the end of the month. For the life of me I cannot recall transitioning my daughter (and thus how to do it for him) off formula to whole milk as well as transitioning off bottles to sippy cups. He currently drinks 4 bottles (4 - 6 ozs each). He does get a sippy cup of water 2 - 3 times a day for practice. Do I wean him off a bottle at a time? When, how? Any advice and/or how you did it is appreciated.
Thanks everyone. Im going to do what Stacey K suggested.
I sort of eliminated O. bottle per day til he was down to his favorite before bedtime bottle. Then O. day I warmed up his moo-kie and put it in a sippy cup. I was expecting a fit, but he never flinched! lol
as for the formula, I'd mix it with the milk til eventually all 100% milk. Good luck!
I say the sooner the better. The longer that he is on the bottle the harder it is to get him off. What I did with my daughter is I weaned her off the formula and the bottle at the same time. She only got milk in a sippy cup and formula in a bottle. Every couple of days I would take away a bottle of formula and replace it with a sippy cup of milk. I started with her first bottle of the day because she was the hungriest and most awake and she could care less what she was drinking or what she was drinking it out of because she was so hungry. Then so on. The night time bottle is going to be the hardest so I would save that for last. I substitued her night time bottle with a book and her bunny to cuddle with and it worked like a charm (it was harder for me than it was for her) Remember that she will not be drinking as much milk as she did formula because she is getting her nutrients from food and not drink. Good luck!
I did exactly what this parent did. I also had the rule that NO MILK went into a bottle, so when your ratio of milk gets higher than the formula start giving it in a sippy cup. Some kids transition fine to milk, its usually the bottle they get addicted to, so try to avoid giving milk in a bottle.
"When we transitioned our adopted daughter off of formula, I started with 25% milk/75% formula for a few days. Then went to 50/50. Then 75/25. After about 1.5 weeks it was all milk!"
As you know, every child is different. If he is able to handle going right to milk, then toss the bottle sand only use sippy cups. Talk to the pediatrician about whether or not you need to wean him onto milk. But as far as bottles go, its all or nothing, I had to get them out of sight and use only sippy cups for my girls to really take them!
i gave my kids whole milk from the sippy cup. and started replacing a bottle a day with the sippy of milk. each week did another cup... so at the end of 4 weeks he'd be having 4 sippys of milk instead of 4 bottles of formula.
It's really how ever you would like to do it. We went Cold Turkey and my daughter never thought twice about it. We got rid of the bottles at 9 months and went all the way to sippy cups, then on the day before her birthday we ran out of formula and never bought another container. She loved milk and is not 18 months old and would drink a gallon of milk a day if we let her.
It is totally us to you but that worked for us. I am not a couple of months preggo with number 2 and I have no illusions that it will be that easy for this one. :)
Hi M.---It sounds like you are pretty much on your way if your little one is drinking water from the sippy. Maybe start with putting formula in the sippy cupy for a while. Really, all he needs to drink is water when transitioning from formula to regular table food. I do NOT recommend even bothering with cows milk. It is a highly allergenic food for humans, meant for baby cows to grow into big cows in a short period of time.
I apologize as this does not answer your question directly, but this is such an important subject that is not well known, I am compelled to offer this information so that you might make the best decision possible for your family. I offer this thought as a reformed milk drinker and I've learned about the dangers of cows milk from a series of wellness classes I am taking, taught by a Naturopath who has her PhD in Nutrition. Dr. Pam shares advice based on long term research and I would be happy to get you copies of articles that she shares with us.
In the meantime, you can explore www.pcrm.org and www.strongbones.org. Another website is www.notmilk.com and, from Dr. Weil, http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/id/QAA182741.
Edit: You might find it interesting to know that the advice to drink milk for bone health comes from milk producers and from the USDA, which was started to promote farm produce. So we really are getting biased info from these sources. Then, our physicians basically don't know what they don't know and tell us that milk is good because that is what they are told. Milk actually increases the risk of type 1 diabetes in kids and the risk of prostate cancer in men. Skim milk increases that risk for prostate cancer even more, as it concentrates the milk proteins, which are the problem. I also recommend reading The China Study by T Colin Campbell.
Don't worry about calcium. We get more absorbable calcium from green leafy veggies, such as broccoli, bok choy and kale than from milk. Other great sources are sesame seeds, fortified OJ and plant milks and others. Feel free to contact me if you would like more info on this subject. Good luck, be well. D.
When we transitioned our adopted daughter off of formula, I started with 25% milk/75% formula for a few days. Then went to 50/50. Then 75/25. After about 1.5 weeks it was all milk!
