Sippy cups - bottles - milk - HELP!

laurapaine2003@yahoo.com

Im so confused as to what to do. I'm stressed bc everything I read says at 12 months old to get rid of the bottles and switch to whole milk. I've tried every sippy cup there is - she only wants water out of them and freaks if there is milk in them. Also, I just read that at this age they should only be drinking about 12 oz of milk per day!? My LO wants upwards of 20-24 oz per day. This is just all so frustrating. Is it ok if this takes a few months to transition? I did read that too much milk at this age hinders iron absorption. I tried letting her get nice and hungry before attempting a sippy to see if that would help - nope. I do half whole milk and half supplemental formula - she seems to take it pretty well but doesn't like whole milk straight. Also, cold milk enrages her, she hates it. At what age to do they typically get over that and they'll just drink cold milk? Last question: why do they need milk at this point - health wise is it the calcium or something? Why can't 12 month olds just drink water and eat food? LOL sorry I'm so clueless! Just curious about why tho - any insight or help or suggestions will be GREATLY appreciated. 

LoveLee85

Some people do cold turkey, other gradually take away the bottle. I'm going gradually. My sister is giving me her method later today when I talk to her. My LO hardly even uses his sippy cup with water. No idea how I will get this done. LOL He was just now actually feeding himself his bottle and now I'm taking them away?! Haha oh well, it's always something. I believe she would take a month and cut out one per day bottle feeding a week, until she's down to once a day(nighttime) then the next week zero bottles and milk in sippy only. She uses the super cheap plastic colorful cups with snap on lids(they have been around forever). She said fancy cups never worked for her kids. 

missliz53

After all the reading I've done, I think that the experts who say to just switch cold turkey at 12 months and presto! must have had babies that were super easy going and great eaters. Mine is also not eager to drink cow's milk, and refuses to take formula or milk from a sippy, but takes water just fine.  

I asked my ped about the milk thing because even the AAP gives conflicting advice on their website depending on which page you are looking at. She recommends starting milk at 12 months and doing a slow transition. Start with one ounce a day and double that amount every 4-5 days until they are completely on cow's milk. It takes about a month this way. Offer the milk/formula in a sippy first during their meal, then put the rest in a bottle that you feed after they finish their solids. You may also have to start with warm milk and slowly reduce the temp until they are are drinking it cold. 

They should be getting about 16 oz of cow's milk per day when the transition is done, but no more than 32 oz a day for sure (they recommend 4, 4oz servings a day of straight milk with meals and snacks). And they can get their dairy requirement through cheese and yoghurt too, you just have to make sure they are taking in enough water to meet their hydration needs. They need the fat and calcium and Vit D from milk or other dairy products.

When you reduce the amount of milk/formula you are offering, offer a solid snack or extra food in it's place. So for instance, before LO was getting 6 oz of formula at 3pm, now she gets 4oz and at 2:30pm, I offer her a snack (2 crackers, 1/2 pice of toast, ect). 

Here's our feeding schedule right now. I'm doing a very slow transition. I'm not in a big hurry to get her off formula since it has some beneficial stuff like Iron and DHA that milk doesn't have. 

8:30am: breakfast, 1 oz of milk, 3 oz of formula. 

12:00pm: lunch, 1 oz of milk, 3 oz of formula. 

2:30pm: afternoon snack

3pm: bottle with 1 oz milk, 3 oz formula

5:15pm: dinner, 1 oz of milk, 3 oz of formula

7:45pm: bottle with 1 oz of milk, 5 oz of formula.  

She doesn't generally drink all of her milk/formula so she typically takes in more like 18-20 oz total.  I don't think that their milk needs just instantly change the very second they turn 12 months. 

ElleMF728

We do gradual as well. DS2 gets 24oz of whole milk which my pedi said is on the high end but as long as he is tolerating it (no constipation etc) its fine until we move him down. 

Right now I'm moving to whole milk, with water in a sippy.  This is our first week to be completely done with formula (exactly 13 months) I started adding more and more whole milk to his bottles and less formula until we got to this point.  I will continue with this for 2 weeks or so and then start doing one "bottle" a day in sippy, add another rinse repeat.  The last bottle I remove is the one he gets around 7 pm.  We did the same thing with DS1 and he was right where he should be a little before 15 months which we were comfortable with.  My pedi doesn't push it, she knows we are headed in the right direction and that it just takes some time to get there.  

I do think gradual is a little better.  My neighbor had to give suppositories because her LO just couldn't handle such a quick shift. I give milk to signal sleep and always have and lower the ounces accordingly.  Soon it will be 2 small sippies and a larger one before bed, when he transitions to 1 nap it will just be 2 larger ones. Right now he gets some milk when he wakes up so that will be the first to go away.