Done with formula/breastmilk?

btm013

I have LO's one year checkup on Thursday and I've heard from several people that his pediatrician wants babies completely off the bottle and only drinking whole milk and eating solids. I thought that's why they had stage 2 formula?! Has anyone successful switched their kids to solids without issue already? Some of the mothers in my moms group went cold turkey and I just don't feel comfortable doing that yet. My LO eats quite a bit of solids now but still relies on a bottle before bed and especially in the morning. We are scaling back but I feel like I have this deadline looming.

Jelly Bean 001

DD still is on a bottle a lot. eats lots of regular food. and has had the occasional whole milk. but i'm not rushing to change her routine just yet, even though her pediatrician told me the same thing yours did. just do what you feel is right.

virginiaunicorn11

Your thread title asked about breastmilk, too, so I'll offer that I don't plan to wean my kid til he's two or he weans himself. That plan could change, but that's where I stand right now. I don't know if the physical bottle is the issue or what's in it is, I'm a little ignorant. My kid mostly nurses, though we will transition him to some various types of milk for one or two sippy cups during the day, more regularly, over the next couple weeks.

Our pedi is an idiot, but my baby is healthy, so I'm going with a balance of what she says and instinct. I'm a big believer in following medical advice but not when a doctor's "policy"  is inflexible or goes against a mother's instinct. Though if you trust him and have concerns, talk it through.

Good luck! 

jessieR358

I'm not weaning until LO is ready.  He still nurses about 4 times a day with me. My ped did say he wants him off a bottle and drinking a sippy cup, but he's still not great with the sippy cup with water at meals so I'm taking my time. LO eats lots of solids thoughout the day too. 

bwow615

I think we may have a milk allergy or intolerance (or dairy) over here.  Waiting till LO's 1 year check up to talk to his ped about it, until then no dairy.  He will be one on 6/15, and has his 1 year appt on 6/22.  He drinks 2 - 4 oz bottles of breastmilk a day and nurses when he wakes up and before bed.  He is pretty good with a straw cup, so he is drinking a decent amount of water and loves food! I do want to wean from pumping during the day so hopefully we can get to the bottom of this milk reaction he is having.  I am fine nursing morning and night until he is ready to drop those feeds and as long as i continue to produce milk for him.  

Eta, 1 year not 1 month.. We've passed the 1 month mark a long time ago! 

mindaa

Same here. LO has gradually been taking more solids and less breastmilk, but I don't really sense he's ready to go cold turkey. We'll be replacing the daytime bottles with a sippy cup of almond milk, but will probably keep morning and night feeds for a little while.

slr1229

Ours eats 7-8 oz of formula every morning and eats tons of solids 3-4x a day and before bed has 6-7 oz so I am struggling with this too since she eats a ton of everything. 

fridaysdance

Our little one was being highly resistant to solids at daycare so my husband and I each took a day at home this week to explore foods with her. She was doing great yesterday. We are gradually working milk into her diet and it seems to be going well. She has more energy than ever with these changes and is trying to walk a lot more.

virginiaunicorn11

fridaysdance said:

Our little one was being highly resistant to solids at daycare so my husband and I each took a day at home this week to explore foods with her. She was doing great yesterday. We are gradually working milk into her diet and it seems to be going well. She has more energy than ever with these changes and is trying to walk a lot more.

What a thoughtful approach!

fridaysdance

@virginiaunicorn11 We honestly think she just doesn't respond well to the new lady in the morning there. She did great at home this week. A friend of mine works in her room regularly and never has any troubles. They've had a lot of changes due to 2 of the workers leaving on maternity leave so we felt like she might need a few days of full attention at home to refocus.

Emilywooddesign

I personally couldn't wait to get my kids off formula, we do whole milk now and the transition was really easy, I'm slowly starting to try to wean them off the bottles but they don't seem to be ready so that's okay. 

bartonolivia

Ezra will be one tomorrow and we've been mixing his formula and whole milk for the past week and now we are starting to give him all whole milk. He drinks the milk in a sippy cup throughout the day but for nap time and bedtime he drinks it in a bottle. (He tends to drink more at once since its in a bottle) he sometimes acts like he doesn't like the milk so we will mix an ounce or two of formula with it when he's acting that way. Other wise he really just eats solids. Breakfast, snack, lunch, (bottle for nap time) snack, then dinner, and a bottle before bed. He gets milk with each meal and water with each snack but doesn't necessarily drink all of the milk with the meals each time. 

moz3518

Eli started whole milk at 11.5 months. My plan had been to transition to whole milk slowly but I miscalculated how much formula I had left. Cold turkey it was and Eli did great actually. I was also worried bc while he eats everything he didn't eat a lot but his appetite has def picked up once he started whole milk. 

beckyk9109

Those that have transitioned to whole milk, how much are your little ones drinking per day? Our pedi just said no more than 24oz but said nothing about a minimum.

delujm0

LO will be 1 on the 21st, and I just started cutting her BM bottles with whole milk this week - 1oz milk to 3oz BM.  Then next week i'll do 2oz/2oz, and then 3oz/1oz, and then all whole milk.  I plan to keep her wake up bottle, which is 5oz, all BM until I stop pumping and run out of frozen reserves.  And I plan to continue nursing her at night until either DD or my body give up on that.

 

We haven't been to the doctor yet for her 12 month, but I didn't know there was a maximum, that's good to know.  DD's not great at actual solid foods (she's good with purees, but she's just figuring out how to chew and swallow softer foods like berries right now), so I hope to keep her on at least some BM for a while, for the nutrients, until she's eating normal foods.  I made her some eggo minis on Saturday, cut into strips, and put a thin layer of peanut butter on them...and she put them in her mouth, sucked off the peanut butter, and then spit them out.  Sigh. 

 

I wonder if the fact that she had such bad reflux for so long is making swallowing harder for her...her gag reflex seems to still be working in overdrive (we weren't able to wean her from her Zantac until about 9 months).  She is ok with swallowing stuff that is soft, or things like Goldfish/cheerios that she can suck on until they are soft, but things like bread and meat?  forget it.

 

She's also not super into drinking out of a sippy cup, or drinking water.  I put water in a training sippy cup with a fast flow bottle nipple on it, and it just confused her.  She kept saying "baba" and thinking it was milk, and then taking a swig and getting angry that it was water.  She also rejected the soft sippy cup spout (even when I put breastmilk in it), and a straw cup, so I don't know how I'm going to get water into her at this point.  She does like to put her face in the bath and drink that water.  Maybe i'll just give her shallow bowls of water at meal times and let her drink it that way hahahaha.

mindaa

^^ LOL on the bowl of water

We're having similar issues with solids still (1 year last week) - glad we're not alone!

btm013

My LO had a terrible time with solids until about a month ago. He could eat purees but anything too textured he would gag and vomit all over. Then one day he woke up and was interested in everything we were eating. It was so strange!

HoosOnFirst

Hi all, thanks for bringing this up. We transitioned to milk last week, but I am still giving her formula first thing in the morning and last thing at night. But during the day we are trying to stick to milk, water and solids. 

Our pedi said no more than 20 ounces of milk per day, and didn't mention a minimum. But that some babies may only drink 6-8 ounces and that is ok, they won't let themselves starve. I just try to offer liquids a lot and let her self-regulate.

I will say she's had some constipation since starting milk and vitamin d drops - anyone else?

btm013

@HoosOnFirst yes!! our little one gets so constipated since switching to milk and water.

mjschenk

Ok I think it was on this thread pediatrician said to not give cows milk right before they sleep. Because of their teeth if I brush after is that ok? Is there a 5 minute wait or is it more like an hour? 
I am wanting to cut out his last feed at bed and am curious about the logistics of this.

caitlincunn

Make sure you wipe/brush their teeth. It could be right before as long as there isn't any milk left sitting on the teeth overnight. Also,  you probably know since your asking about it but for anyone else, do not give them a bottle to sleep with in their crib. 

mjschenk

@caitlincunn thanks I just realized after I left that he was kinda broad. Figured someone on here would know 

virginiaunicorn11

I am finding that if I overthink food things, I drive myself and my baby nuts, and it doesn't change anything. If I just chill and don't make food/eating a big deal, he often eats more and we have fewer issues (or the same issues, but I worry less). Some meals he hardly eats anything and sometimes I think he must have a hollow leg!

So for example, we are dropping some nursing sessions and introducing cow's milk. I'm not monitoring how many ounces (it's well under the maximum 16 oz/day the pediatrician told us), and I'm not stressing if he throws the cup. I take the cup away when he throws it, and keep offering it when there's a chance - sometimes that's every few minutes, sometimes that's more like a couple hours later. If he's still not taking very much in another few weeks, I will rethink my approach. But for now, I'm assuming this will be a gradual change and we will hit our stride on it soon enough. Same with weaning from breastmilk - I'm not tracking nursing sessions or stressing too much if they vary day to day. 

I am in NO way saying this works for everyone, or that being precise isn't a better strategy. I am just offering this alternative approach, because when I am not confident in my decisions, the things that I see on here really inform my opinion. This is one area that I'm currently feeling confident in - he's growing and happy, and eating nutritious foods, and it's all working for all of us right now. So in case this helps someone else decide to worry a little less, I wanted to offer this as another example.

Such good mamas on here, paying so much attention to their babies' needs and nutrition! You're all doing such a good job!