D.C. Area Babies

how did you transition to milk/sippy?

Sprout likes milk and will drink out of a sippy.  Did you transition at all or just cold turkey switch?

I feel a little bit confused by the whole thing. Typically, he eats breakfast, lunch & dinner (with water) and then had 3 large bottles between meals (one when he woke up, one between breakfast/lunch and one after dinner an hour before bed). With milk replacing formula, I'm thinking I should probably change his routine to more reflect solid eating being his major source of nutrition now.

I'm wondering if we should immediately switch to bigger meals with a few snacks and cut out the large servings of formula between meals?  Why don't kids come with instruction books?!?

Re: how did you transition to milk/sippy?

  • It sounds like Sprout might do well with a cold turkey approach.  We did a long transition to milk, but that was for digestive issues.  DD did fine with the cold turkey switch to sippies once she was on 100% milk.

    I would switch him to milk at meals and then solid snacks in between meals (when you would have given him a bottle).  I didn't set out to give T bigger meals specifically - just watched to see when she clearly wanted more.  You could try giving him his usual amount and if he wants more just be prepared for it.

    Instruction manuals would be awesome :)

    imageimageimage
  • Cold Turkey worked well for us.  DD protested for a week or two but after a month, she was back to drinking about the same amount of milk as before.  FWIW, milk was/is still a primary component of DDs diet - she drinks, on average 24 oz a day.  She's a good eater too. 
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  • We switched from formula to whole milk in bottles slowly, and then switched from bottles to sippies cold turkey. If there was a bottle in the vicinity, he'd protest and "ask" for it. So we made a big show of gathering up all the bottles and putting them away. We had a rough few days when he threw the sippy around, but then he accepted it. GL!

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  • We did the transitions separately.  For the formula to milk we went 75% formula 25% milk for a 4-5days, then 50/50, then 25/75 to get to 100% whole milk.  We did this in the bottle at 1yo.

    To transition over to the sippy cups I first did sippy cups during the day but kept the morning and night time bottles.  She would drink out of the sippy already so this wasn't too rough and she did drink them along with her meals.  Then I changed the morning bottle to a sippy and then eventually dropped the evening bottle.  This was all accomplished at around 14 mo.  She took it a lot better than I thought.

    Both times with the girls I was worried about leaving behind the nutritional safety net of formula and moving to depend more on real food for their nutrition, but it all works out and they get what they need.

  • kastlekastle member

    thanks everyone!  i know there's no "right" way to do this but it greatly helps me to hear what has worked for others.

    And,

    imageHey Jellisy:
    she drinks, on average 24 oz a day.  She's a good eater too. 

    this is interesting.  his pedi specifically said not to give him more than 16oz, maaaaayyyybbeeee 20oz during the transition, of milk per day.  do you think that is--at least in part--because Sprout is a chunky monkey (almost 26 lbs already)?


  • imagekastle:

    thanks everyone!  i know there's no "right" way to do this but it greatly helps me to hear what has worked for others.

    And,

    imageHey Jellisy:
    she drinks, on average 24 oz a day.  She's a good eater too. 

    this is interesting.  his pedi specifically said not to give him more than 16oz, maaaaayyyybbeeee 20oz during the transition, of milk per day.  do you think that is--at least in part--because Sprout is a chunky monkey (almost 26 lbs already)?


    I don't know, DD at 2.5 weighs about 29lbs so perhaps that is it.  But I don't remember the pediatrician commenting when she turned 1 on a maximum amount of milk.  The only comments I remember were on ensuring she received whole milk till she was 2.  My observation of chunky babies that once they start walking they slim down tremendously.      

  • We never did sippy, we went straight to straw cup for both water and milk, just something to consider and one less item to have to wean from (the sippy).

     

  • imagekastle:

    thanks everyone!  i know there's no "right" way to do this but it greatly helps me to hear what has worked for others.

    And,

    imageHey Jellisy:
    she drinks, on average 24 oz a day.  She's a good eater too. 

    this is interesting.  his pedi specifically said not to give him more than 16oz, maaaaayyyybbeeee 20oz during the transition, of milk per day.  do you think that is--at least in part--because Sprout is a chunky monkey (almost 26 lbs already)?


    T is generally in the higher percentiles for a girl (though proportional with height/weight) and the ped. said 16-20 oz was ok.  Actually, she was having more like 22 oz/day last time we were in for the 18 mo. visit and the ped was fine with that.  Maybe because she's also eating a ton of solid foods, so it's not like she's filling up on milk to the exclusion of other things?

    imageimageimage
  • kastlekastle member

    that's probably it...wanting to make sure he doesn't fill up on milk at the expense of food with different vitamins/minerals.

    i'm sure if he goes over it won't be a huge deal as long as, like you said, he's eating other solid foods well.  i mean, i'm not going to starve my kid so if he needs more, he needs more, but probably starting off a little conservatively & seeing if he'll up the solids a bit is a good idea for him.  i mean, sprout isn't very good at knowing when he's full...he could just have a bottle but see a kid with one & cry for another (and, on the rare occasions when we have given it to him, he's spit up everything he drank) which may be another reason why she wants us to monitor his consumption.

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