whole milk question

joyco

we've started trying to ease the boys into having whole milk since they'll be 1 in 2 weeks and I don't want to go cold turkey on formula and force the milk on them.  We started yesterday by putting 1 ounce of milk in their bottles mixed in with their formula (for morning bottle and night, 6 oz formula & 1 oz milk, afternoon and evening bottles 4 oz formula & 1 oz milk).

Spencer has had the runniest poo all day today and he's been spitting up after each bottle.  

He's allergic to milk, isn't he?    He eats cheese w/ no problem and yogurt too.  Is this something that hopefully will clear up by the time he is 1 or are we going to be a 3 milk family?

Any tips, advice, anything to share about this whole milk conversion?

ali-1411

They've been on a milk-based formula, right?  And they've had yogurt, cheese without any problem.  I wouldn't think milk allergy right away.  He might just have a stomach virus.

You can transition them with milk your way...but if you want to get them off the bottle I have a suggestion.  Don't put milk in the bottle.  Only formula.  Give them milk in a sippy cup.  It took Layna about a week to figure out there was milk in the cup and that milk was good.  But she only ever had milk from a cup.  Straight whole milk, not mixed with anything.

The week of her birthday, I had her down to only getting a bottle at bedtime.  Then (cold turkey) I gave her a sippy of milk instead of the bottle.  And she never had a bottle again.

amycory2008

I don't know about the poo thing, but we're thinking we're not going to do milk in a bottle.  I've been giving him formula in his sippy so he'll be used to drinking out of that more.  It was helping that he was cutting back on formula a lot, but since he's been sick, he's taking all his bottles again.  I hope the transition is not too hard because he still seems to get a lot of nutrition from the formula, and he's not eating as much ever since he had that stupid stomach bug.

MrsH07

I agree with the sippy cup thing. At 11 1/2 months we started giving him half formula and half milk in his sippy cup. He wasnt interested in the combination so we tried a bit of milk and he loved it!

Two weeks ago DS had awful diarrhea and diaper rash so I took him to the Pedi and talked to her about it. I can eat cheese and yogurt all day long and it wont bother me, but if I take one sip of milk I am sick! She said that sometimes people can only tolerate so much dairy. I forgot the specific medical terminology that she used, but anyway, he can have an issue with milk and not cheese and yogurt. We werent sure if the diarrhea was caused by the milk or a virus, so she had me take him off dairy for a week, but I could give him soy milk. He loves the soymilk! I havent switched him back to milk yet, but I am going to because I think it was just a virus and not a lactose interolance.  Anyway, maybe try a bit of soymilk and see how he does with that.

KittyFX

I think there is something different about the amount of lactose in milk vs cheese and yogurt? I can't remember but I think I read something.

texmommy3

I am the same way...yogurt is fine, sometimes lowfat ice cream or lowfat cheese.  The real deal like milk or full fat cheddar, that gets me sick.  I think I have some issues with the greasiness too, but definitely the lactose also.

amyinaustin

For us, I have often found that the things that I'm most anxious about when it comes to transitions (whole milk, solids, rice cereal, etc) goe a lot easier than I anticipate.  We went cold turkey w/ the whole milk. I figured if it worked, then that would be a nice surprise.  If it did not, we'd do the mixing thing you're talking about.

Well, it worked - and she is a milk FIEND now.  At first she could take it or leave it, but after about 2 weeks, she was loving it.  She also started refusing bottles though at about 8 months - so she had been "practicing" w/ a sippy cup w/ water in it for a while.  She was a little confused when it had whole milk in it the first time, but it did not bother her for long.

Sorry, I don't have any advice or tips on the poo issue - but I hope that you get some good suggestions from others.

amyliisa

ali-1411:

Don't put milk in the bottle.  Only formula.  Give them milk in a sippy cup.  It took Layna about a week to figure out there was milk in the cup and that milk was good.  But she only ever had milk from a cup.  Straight whole milk, not mixed with anything.

This is what we did, too and it worked great.  Don't have any info for you about the milk/allergy/intolerance thing, though, sorry.

amyliisa

Oh, and:

joyco:

they'll be 1 in 2 weeks

Holy.Crap.  That is all.