Poll, sort of - Milk and bottles

SarahKate31 · May 2012

We are looking at starting to transition DS to milk from formula in the next week or so and, as usual, I am over-analyzing.

When and how did you start to transition your child from BM/formula to milk?

If your child was bottle-fed, did you continue to give them bottles of milk once they were transitioned?

When did you get rid of bottles completely?

Ragdolls · May 2012

DS was breastfed, so a little different, but I basically stopped pumping at 12 months. He still nursed on demand when we were together but when I was away he could get cow's milk in a bottle. The transition was actually a breeze - he LOVES cow's milk and took to it right away.

He continued to nurse until around 15 months. I think it was also around that time that he transitioned completely to cups during the day - though he still prefers a straw (or to drink from a regular small cup with help). Doesn't love regular sippy cups. To this day he usually still takes a bottle of milk at night. It's a comfort to him. He sleeps beautifully at night and I honestly don't feel the need to fight it.

SarahKate31 · May 2012

Ragdolls:
He sleeps beautifully at night and I honestly don't feel the need to fight it.

I don't want to touch DS's bedtime bottle anytime soon for this exact reason! I'm going to focus on daytime first!

BunintheOven311 · May 2012

Check with your pedi but I mixed formula and cows milk until it was all cows milk. I did it for about 2-3 weeks. She still has a bottle so we're not in sippy cups yet for milk-just water and juice but I am hoping to do that transition soon. For some reason she refuses to drink milk out of a sippy but downs it in a bottle.

jcsntms06 · May 2012

We started giving A sippy cups of water at 9 months old and at 12 months we decided to put her milk in those sippy cups, but she didn't really like it as much. We were also heating up that milk (just to take the chill off). At 13 months we just cut cold turkey and put the bottles away and she did great.

Is it sad that I'm looking forward to getting rid of bottles for C. Haha!

weezie825 · May 2012

SarahKate31:

Ragdolls:
He sleeps beautifully at night and I honestly don't feel the need to fight it.

I don't want to touch DS's bedtime bottle anytime soon for this exact reason! I'm going to focus on daytime first!

Same here! Evie was off the bottle during the day at 15 months and still had 1 night time bottle until just a couple weeks ago. So, Evie was 2 years and 2 months old before we we dropped the night time bottle. Our pedi was fine with it.

She was still off a bottle before Suri Cruise, so I think we did pretty good!

Dhampyr17 · May 2012

We'd do half and half.

We started off doing one bottle of milk a day and then in about three days, we did two and then another couple days, we did three until she was finally all the way over.

I didn't want to just switch her completely and give her an upset stomach, we didn't have any issues this way.

She stayed on the bottle until about 18 months when we switched her to sippy cups.

madladybride · May 2012

I'm sort of the odd one out. DD is still on breastmilk, but drinks it from a sippy cup. I think they started to transition her around 11 months? Initially DCP started giving just water in a cup. Then, when she could drink out of it, they asked us to put 1 serving of milk in a sippy cup. Then we did all 3 in a sippy cup.

We are trying to transition her to coconut milk, as my stash is running low. (She seems to have a sensitivity to too much cheese, She doesn't have any milk allergies according to her blood work.) At daycare we give her 1 cup BM, 1 cup BM./coconut milk and 1 cup coconut milk. At home we nurse on demand and just give water or almond milk or coconut milk, but she seems to prefer the water in her cup.

ETA: She was off bottles by 12 or 13 months.

Dhampyr17 · May 2012

weezie825:

Same here! Evie was off the bottle during the day at 15 months and still had 1 night time bottle until just a couple weeks ago. So, Evie was 2 years and 2 months old before we we dropped the night time bottle. Our pedi was fine with it.

She was still off a bottle before Suri Cruise, so I think we did pretty good!

Our daughter is completely on sippy cups now, but she does get a water bottle in bed during the summer because it can get so humid. She knows though that she doesn't get milk or juice, just water at night.

Kaybee44 · May 2012

We started both kids on straw cups before we even hit the transition to milk so we just mixed formula and the milk. First off with 80/20, then 60/40, 50/50 etc. until it was all milk. I had stopped BFing B because of my pregnancy and stopped with C because of her weight issues.

Mella&T · May 2012

A few weeks prior to her being one, I began slowly mixing cow's milk into her bottles. (2oz cows, 6oz BM or formula, then 4 and 4 and then 6 and 2). By her one-year appt I got the OK to go to all cow's milk and our ped let us know how much she should be drinking. We switched to a sippy one day and she sucked it down like it was a bottle. We still give a bottle for the bedtime feeding for the same reasons as Rags. Plus, she gets squirmy in my arms with the sippy but with the bottle she just lays there and drinks it, so it's nice to know she's getting her whole bottle before bedtime. GL...hopefully it's smooth for you, too!

SarahKate31 · May 2012

Thanks for all the info! I plan on mixing in some milk with formula over the course of a week or 2 depending on how he handles it. I've been trying on the weekends to get him to take his afternoon bottles of formula in a sippy, but no go. He's fine with water in a sippy, but when it's formula, he only takes a couple sips and then loses focus. I'm going to just keep trying and hopefully he'll catch on eventually.

lauranne · May 2012

Claire is still BF when we are together, and I have 200 oz of milk in the freezer. However, I wanted to make sure she'd take to cows' milk, too. So, the day after her birthday, DH gave her a sippy of milk. She's still iffy with the sippy cup of water, so she did just ok. Up until her first birthday she was taking pumped BM in bottles. Once she turned one, DCP cut her bottles cold turkey (I still sent some empties just in case) and Claire started cows' milk from a sippy. She did ok the first week. I've now been sending bags of frozen BM as well, as I still want her to have some BM.

Thankfully, I don't need to nurse Claire to sleep. We are so blessed. A few months ago, I nursed her before bath instead of after because she was hungry. After her bath, DH put her to bed just to see what happened. She went down just fine, so that's our routine now, and it works! Perhaps you may want to try the bottle before bathtime, just to see what happens. You could try pushing it earlier and earlier till it's at dinner! Good luck!

Megcheer2 · May 2012

We transitioned from formula to whole milk when she was around 11 1/2 months old. We did the half and half thing - or whatever percentage - and then when we ran out of formula we went to all milk.

DD went cold turkey from bottles to sippy cups at 10 months. I had unsuccessfully tried sippy cups with her for a few months and then tried a different one at 10 months. She drank the whole thing and so I decided to try her next one from a sippy and that worked too. We ended up never using bottles again, but that wasn't my intention.

She was never one to hold her own bottles (or even sippy cups until she was over 1 year old) so I wonder if that's why she didn't have a super connection to the bottles. Either way, I'm glad it worked out this way. Now we're on to the stage where she wants cups with no lids and thinks she can walk around with them!

tmm140 · May 2012

My mom was sneaking in cups with straws before a year. With formula in them though. The doctor told us that at a year, since he was starting to use cups already, to start the milk in them all the time.

At first we mixed half formula half whole milk. We did this for a week, and then switched right to milk.

Bottles are completely gone and have been since he turned 12 months.

SarahKate31 · May 2012

lauranne:
Thankfully, I don't need to nurse Claire to sleep. We are so blessed. A few months ago, I nursed her before bath instead of after because she was hungry. After her bath, DH put her to bed just to see what happened. She went down just fine, so that's our routine now, and it works! Perhaps you may want to try the bottle before bathtime, just to see what happens. You could try pushing it earlier and earlier till it's at dinner! Good luck!

This is a good idea - we may have to try something like this!

KathrynMD · May 2012

When and how did you start to transition your child from BM/formula to milk? At around 11/11.5 months I started giving DD some milk w/ bottles randomly and then a few times just gave her a sippy w/ milk.

If your child was bottle-fed, did you continue to give them bottles of milk once they were transitioned? I don't remember this part clearly anymore, but I didn't really do milk in bottles or formula in sippies very much. I wanted to try to quit bottles and formula at the same time.

When did you get rid of bottles completely? We got rid of them for good around 15 months. My ped told me to really aim to be fully done by 18 months. I probably could have done it closer to 12 months, but we had a vacation in Jamaica at around 14 months and I didn't want to have to deal w/ milk there or while traveling.

bridetobe920 · May 2012

DD was FF, and we made the transition right after she turned 1. Initially, we mixed 2 oz. of WCM in with 4 oz. of formula. After a few days, we did half and half, then more WCM (4 oz.) and less formula (2 oz.). After about a week and a half, we were completely switched to WCM. Once we were completely "converted", we cold out the bottles cold turkey. She didn't drink as much at first, but we made sure ti supplement with other forms of dairy and she was used to drinking water from a sippy, so she did that fine. Eventually, she drank her milk fine from a sippy (after four days or so).

AKBrideinMD · May 2012

I am so glad you asked this, I have been wondering about this myself...DD will only drink (a few sips of) water from a sippy, not formula (we have only tried once or twice though) so I was wondering how to go about this transition in a few months.

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