Switching to cow's milk

bumpuser2452272

How did you transition your lo to cow's milk? Did you switch all together one day or gradually switch?

 My son is almost a year old. I have pumped since he is 3 months old and he has exclusively had breast milk. My supply is decreasing significantly and I am almost through my freezer stash, so I think 1 year will be a good time to switch. Also, his daycare does not allow bottles past 1 year.

 I was just curious what other peoples experiences were. Right now he sleeps from 7:30 pm to 7:30 am and I am afraid of interrupting his sleep schedule.

I believe my doctor said 16-24 ounces of whole milk a day once they turn one.

 

Thanks!

meglette417

I tried giving him milk before a year and he didn't love it so I had to mix it with formula over a time to get him to like it, he eventually was fine.  I would try giving it to him at first but if he doesn't want it then just mix with breast milk and start soon before you run out.  

fanofanne

meglette417:

I tried giving him milk before a year and he didn't love it so I had to mix it with formula over a time to get him to like it, he eventually was fine.  I would try giving it to him at first but if he doesn't want it then just mix with breast milk and start soon before you run out.  

this is what we did, but our babies were formula-fed.  i tried giving them milk one day and they did not take it at all, so we weaned them off.

first we did 4 oz formula, 2 oz milk (for like 3-4 days)

then 2 oz formula, 4 oz milk (again, for 3-4 days)

and then switched to all milk to problem.

b/c they were formula-fed, the measurements had to be spot on, but since you're breast-feeding, you probably can fiddle with the measurements, i.e. one ounce bm and 5 oz milk. 

danslilgrizzly

My son will be a year next week and has been mostly breastfed, but at this point we were supplementing with 7 ounces of formula a day. When the last box ran out, I didn't see the point in buying more, so I just gave him organic wcm instead and he LOVED it. He enjoys it much more than formula. It tastes a lot better, and a lot more like breastmilk, so I guess it makes sense. 

I was going to start the weaning process last week, but he got a little sinus infection, so I'm waiting until that passes.  I think you are just supposed to wean one nursing session per week, starting with the middle of the day feedings. 

sunnyday016

We introduced it in a sippy cup during meals.

Starlight811

At 13 months one full day I did half&half and the next day switched to 100% cows milk. Her stool changed the day before and what i did was made sure i served in a sippy cup and no more bottle. She did not mind the "new" big girl sippy and the new taste. She didn't have tummy problems at all. I think it helps switching to a sippy for cow's milk if you haven't already done so just to help with the transition to a new taste for LO and worked great in my experience.

harmonicbabe26

Cold turkey just before she turned 1 and she took to it right away. She was used to cold milk because I had been pumping for her for a while and supplementing and she pretty much always got it cold so that might have made it easier. 

blu-eyedwife

I stopped pumping at 12 months, but had enough of a freezer stash to keep him on BM for another month.  During that time I tried to give him WCM and he loved it, so we switched cold turkey.

If he hadn't liked it, we were going to transition him by mixing it with BM.

BabyCampbell312

I was told no more than 16 oz a day of actual cows milk.

We did a very slow transition. We would do about 4 oz formula and 2 oz cows milk for a week and then did 3 and 3 for a week and then 2 and 4 for a week.  We ended up stopping and starting over due to a diaper rash. Turns out DD has an issue with cows milk so we are trying soy for a while per doctors orders.