transitioning to milk
CesEve99
member
i know leanna asked this last time but i forgot what you guys posted.
i'm just curious as to how and when to transition mady to cow's milk. she's about 3 weeks away from actually being 1 and my pedi told me that's when the transition would take place.
at this time mady is still taking 5 bottles a day of 6 oz each of formula....how much cow's milk and how many bottles is adequate for a 1 yr old?
i know i would discuss this with my pedi but i don't plan to schedule the 1 yr appt until the wknd after her bday b/c i'm afraid the vaccines may give her a reaction if i do it before her bday and i may have a cranky baby at her party! (i took the pointer from melb lol)
also, what should i expect at the 1 yr appt? the mmr shot? the chicken pox vaccine? what else?
Re: transitioning to milk
You are going to get a ton of different answers to this question because everyone transitions differently.
I started cow's milk at 11 months old, per my pedi. His reason for starting at that time is because he likes when the child is offered straight milk as opposed to mixing milk and formula together. If the child drinks the straight milk right off the bat, there is no need for weaning, but if the child doesn't like straight milk you will need to mix milk and formula together, gradually decreasing the amount of formula, weaning them off formula completely by a year old. Your pedi will instruct you how to do that.
Nicky liked straight milk right away, so I began offering it in a sippy cup along with meals and only gave him a bottle of formula at bedtime. Once I ran out of my last can of formula, that was the end of bottles for us. He only drank milk from a cup. Milk in the bottle was never an option because I heard from friends of mine that it is much harder to get rid of the bottle once they get used to drinking their milk in it.
Speak to your Dr about how many oz a day he thinks you should feed her, but mine told me once they hit 10 months old that solid food should be the prime source of nutrition and to cut down on formula to 16-24 oz a day and continue with that amount when he started milk. Nicky really loves his milk so I let him have about 28 oz a day, which is four sippy cups full.
When Mikey was 11 months we had almost a full can of formula left (the big costco cans). I didn't want to buy another can so soon after starting that can I started giving him 1 bottle of milk a day. Once that formula can was done then he was on milk full time. He was on whole milk for maybe a full week before he turned 1.
At the 1yr appointment they'll do the mmr and chicken pox vaccine. There are a few other ones that they do too. We waited on the chicken pox vaccine until Mikey was 15 months because DH needed to get his vaccine first (you know that LONG story).
We already weaned her off bottles in preparation for milk! She gets 2 sippys of formula and 1 bottle before bed. I did what Andrea did, cut her down to 18oz of formula a day and give her mostly solid foods. I'll ask the pedi next week how much milk she thinks i should give her.
My pedi's office gives the MMR shot, the chicken pox vaccine, and the pneumococcal vaccine, whatever that is!