How Much Milk?

dkny155

My dd turned one on the 6th and we are about to switch over to whole milk. She has been taking 21 ounces of formula split up into 4 bottles. She loves her sippy cup so i dont think taking away the bottle will be much of an issue but the dr would like her to take no more than 16 ounces of milk a day max. So my question is how much milk are you children getting, and how are you splitting it up (3 cups a day? larger amount at bedtime? etc..) ???? TIA

monkeybutt61612

When my son turned one, we did milk in the am before breakfast and then after dinner

twinkletoes3126

When my son turned 1 the pediatrician said he should have 16-24 oz of milk. He usually ended up on the lower end of this, probably 16-18 oz. He's now 19 months and hasn't decreased his milk intake at all, although it varies widely day to day, it averages out the same. For instance, yesterday he probably only had 8 oz of milk but Monday he probably had 24, and today he's already had about 8 oz and it's 8:30 in the morning. I just follow his cues for the most part without letting him go overboard.

twinkletoes3126

Oh and he gets milk at breakfast, lunch, and dinner and if he requests it. Water and occasionally juice at snacks and in between meals.

AimeeL85

I don't keep track but if I had to guess, I would say my 15 month old drinks about 12 oz. a day on average. I wouldn't worry about splitting it up into certain amounts at certain times like you're used to doing with bottles, I would just fill up a sippy cup, and refill once it's gone.   With both my kids we fell into the pattern of milk with meals, water the rest of the day, but you don't necessarily have to do it that way.

Crequito

I asked our pedi this question and he said there's no max.  He said to basically replace her formula intake with whole milk and if she drinks a little more ok and a little less ok.  She usually has 3 8-ounce bottles of milk a day.  Some random days she has 4.  Her basic feeding schedule is: Breakfast (fruit, cereal, egg, or toast w/ cream cheese) with a sippy of water; midmorning bottle of milk (need to break the bottle habit); Lunch (protein, veg, fruit, crackers) with a sippy of water; midafternoon bottle; Dinner with a sippy of water and then last bottle about 30 minutes before bedtime.  We also keep the sippy of water nearby during the day and she'll drink from it whenever.  I think the only reason she's drinking so much milk right now is because she's attached to the bottle.  We'll start working on that habit soon as I'd like to pack them away and regain some space on my countertops!

RN2011

Our DD gets about 14oz a day. I give her 5oz in the morning with breakfast, about 2oz with dinner and 7oz before bed. Throughout the day she gets water no juice. This seems to work for us.

Hummingbirdbaby3

When Benjamin turned one we switched to WM and he was drinking 24 ounces a day. I worried about it being too much, but that's what he needed. A month or two later we were down to 2 bottles per day, morning 8oz and night 8oz. We are actually still doing that and I am going to start taking away the morning bottle next month.

sunshinedaisies

We never did or will switch to cow milk. It is not necessary so don't get too worried about it

GettingMooreOuttaLife

When we switched we just replaced his formula with milk. so for the first month he was having 24oz. After about a month he adjusted to 18-20oz a day. Now at 19 months he has a sippy (8 oz) in the morning with breakfast. 4oz ish with lunch and 8oz with dinner. Sometimes he doesn't finish all after about 30 mins i just take away the sippy and he gets water throughout the rest of the day.

SLGILL1978

My daughter is 14 months. We did a slow wean. We just finished up the last of the formula a few weeks ago. My daughter gets 6-7 oz of milk in the mornings and evenings. During the day she drinks water. I haven't introduced juice yet. 

pb_bride

DS is 17m and he's still not a big WCM drinker.  He gets WCM at B, L, D -> he drinks a total of 8-10oz split among those 3 meals.  I make him a smoothie for snack every day and I put in 4oz WCM + 4oz plain yogurt.  This is the only way to get him drink a bit more WCM.

JSS1002

WE're figuring this out right now. Pedi told us to do three 8-oz bottles per day... but that seemed like too much (he was too full and not eating food, and had MAJOR constipation issues).  So a friend of mine who is a neonatologist said that they really only need 15-20 oz per day-- we started just giving him small 4 oz bottles throughout the day as needed, both to help with constipation and so that he wasn't so full to eat table foods. This seems to be working - he's asleep for the night and had 16 oz today, 3 full meals and a snack, and a sippy of water w/ prune juice mixed in (to help with the constipation).

JSS1002

Oh, but he hates every single sippy cup I own (and I own them all, because I keep trying new types!), so any tips on that would be greatly appreciated!

AimeeL85

JSS1002 said:

Oh, but he hates every single sippy cup I own (and I own them all, because I keep trying new types!), so any tips on that would be greatly appreciated!

When DS was younger I bought so many kinds - he would actually drink out of almost any of them, but for some reason I just had a habit of buying anything I saw that looked neat. Finally my mom gave me a set of tupperware straw sippy cups and that's all we use now, and I was glad to be done with washing and assembling cups with 5+ pieces. I just use regular disposable straws with these, those can be thrown out and the other two parts go in the dishwasher, easy peasy.

Tupperware Straw Cups

dkny155

Ok so dd is taking about 17oz a day of the whole WCM and she is cool with it but it is totally constipating her. I gave her a touch of prune juice in her water this morning and this usually works. Do you ladies think the constipation will pass when her body gets use to the WCM or is this going to be a ongoing battle? I do give her lots of pear and veggies such as broccoli and string beans so i am hoping it losens up. Also she loves her sippy cup with water but she wants nothing to do with it when it has milk! I'm thinking of letting her get use to the milk then changing on bottle a day to sippy cup and so on til no more bottles. Any advice on that?