My son turns one on the fifteenth of next month. My doctor hasn’t really given any advice on how to wean onto the cow’s milk other than to say it should be done by the first of the month of their birthday.
My plan as of now is to start off with 2 oz of milk and 6 oz of formula, then gradually increase the milk and decrease the formula until he is on milk entirely by January 1st.
So been there done that dopers, how did you do it? How did it work out for you? Breastfeeders are welcome totally, too. I am also curious as to how you handled the whole weaning situation. He’s really moving on from babyhood and it’s kind of scary. :eek:
It is scary - and it’s so individual to the child. With my first one I went to the pediatrician and she said “he’s about to be one. You need to take him off formula and get him on regular milk.” After that day I was out of formula and just didn’t buy anymore and it was not really an issue. More of “here - you have this now.” And it worked just fine. I spent maybe one or two days moving the milk to formula ration by 2 oz at a time and part of that was just to ration out the last of the formula.
With my second I dragged it out much longer than it had to be and made it a production (no, I don’t know why).
Best advice I can give: just move it 2 oz at a time. If he’s on 8 oz. bottles it won’t take much time at all. Maybe a day per increment.
Like I said - some kids are just better at change than others. With the first it was “you are getting close to 3. Pee in the toilet.” And he did. The second turned 4 last month. We are still in overnight pull-ups.
I don’t think there’s any “should” about it. Sure, you can put him on cows milk now if you want to, and it will be cheaper, but there’s nothing wrong with formula for a toddler. Plenty of toddlers drink breast milk, after all, and formula and breast milk are more like each other than they are like cow.
Anyway, I’d just give him a drink of ordinary full-fat milk and see if he likes it. He may not notice the difference. Alternatively, it’s no big deal if he doesn’t drink much milk - he can get some of his dairy fix from cheese or yoghurt too.
We switched from breast milk (both in bottles and au natural) to formula at six months. We mixed the breast milk and formula for a few days, and then switched to straight formula.
At a year we did the same few days of mixing formula and organic whole milk. Now that the babe is one we need to get her switched off of bottles and onto cups full time, though.
I thought I remembered every last detail of Number One Son’s early childhood development, but this particular subject was evidently such a non-issue that I have zero recollection of what we did (he was breast-fed, but I’m pretty sure he drank formula rather than cow’s milk when he was first being weaned off breast milk). DtC must have it right.
Ugh - I was thinking of the formula to milk switch but the bottle to sippy cup switch happened at the same time. It was pretty much the same thing. With number 1 I made a rule long ago - bottle were for formula and milk came in a cup. So when I switched to a cup I also tossed the bottles. He fussed for maybe a day and it was done.
I just got rid of the sippy cup for the 4 year old. I promise I love him just as much but my lord the difference. His babyhood has lasted much longer and a great deal of that has to do with how much I have let him rule my decisions versus how much I ruled the first one’s decisions (WRT getting off the bottle, potty training, sippy cups and the like). FWIW - the older one is much more independent and self assured now. That’s a chicken and egg argument right there.
Here’s how I did it, though I was nursing both times. I did not really care about the one year old drop dead date, but I am not really inclined to take deadlines all that seriously unless they are work related.
By that time we had three main feedings a day, though both my kids ate something every two hours like clockwork until they were quite old. I started with the morning feeding and the nighttime feeding was the last one. I just gave mine whatever I wanted to switch them to – milk, toddler milk or goat’s milk in a cup (I didn’t switch Eldest straight to cow’s milk as he was and is mildly intolerant, runs in the family), then let them nurse after breakfast was done if they wanted to. Once that was in place for a week I moved on to the next bottle. Nighttime went last, and with Youngest that went on forever. Eldest was done by 14 months.
Both my kids wake up hungry and were thus less likely to object to any form of food in the morning. I made both kids a gift of a really nifty cup and thus presented it as a fun thing to do. I think many people founder on new things with their kids because they think it will be hard, which the child picks up on and thus believes it. At least, this was my experience especially with Eldest, the Human Radar.
I really only used sippy cups for travel purposes, but I gather that this is not typical.
We did pretty much what you are thinking of doing, mixing it for awhile until he was on full cows milk. I did it as much to use up all the formula as I did to make it an easier transition. We didn’t have any problems with the switch. He loved, and still does love his milk. He drank whole milk until he was 2. Then we switched to 2% since he was drinking so much. Now he drinks 1% at age five.
We also switched over from a bottle to a cup, or sippy cup at the same time. I think I just tossed all the bottles or gave them away, as soon as he was totally off formula, and used sippy cups. We are pretty lazy and have used them for years. He still has a couple of the straw type sippy cups, but only uses them at home or in the car on a long trip.
I did the same as others. I did it gradually over a week or so but I did it much earlier. I think with my son it was at about four months and my daughter at six months. Sort of hard to remember now it was so long ago.
I think I switched them to 2% at around age two.
You can do it gradually or all at once. I don’t think it really matters but gradually might be better for their digestive system if he has any issues with that.
It does not matter how fast they grow, he will ALWAYS be your baby
You know, it’s only just struck me, rereading this thread - it’s probably about a month and a half since I last gave the Small Boy (about 14 months) milk in a cup at all. He was just so apathetic about the whole concept after he weaned himself off the breast (11 mos) that I just stopped bothering to offer it at all.
He has milk on his breakfast cereal, and eats yoghurt (and a huge variety of other foods). He seems perfectly happy and healthy. If he were feeling under-milked … well, he knows where the boob is (not that it would do him much good at this stage, but the point is he hasn’t shown any signs of trying to get it back)
Heh. Third babies. They do so miss out on parental worries…
We did the mixing thing for a month or so. Both my kids tolerated milk very well, so it wasn’t really a problem. One thing to watch out for, though, is that if they are drinking a lot of milk, they might not eat as much solid food as they should. They do need the milk, but they shouldn’t be drinking it just because they are thirsty.
