Introducing WCM

jessica_gail2 · April 2014

S had her 1 yr appt with shots today and pedi said to switch to WCM. I'm sure it's been asked before, but how did you all do it? She suggested taking bottle away cold turkey. She said to pick a Friday night in case it's hard for her. No more than 24 oz of WCM per day. And to give it to her at meals.

S is a champ at the sippy and with straw cups. But I'm clueless about all this. So give me details please! Do you give milk only with meals? Did you have to ramp up how much LO drank (I can't imagine S sitting there and downing a whole sippy of milk at supper)? What about bedtime? A sippy before bed?

Thanks ladies! Hope you all have a great weekend!

ETA: S is on formula. She has about 6 ozs 3 to 4 times a day.

Ruthie04 · April 2014

We also mixed with formula until we ran out. Initially, I did WCM in bottles (I know, controversial, but it worked). They actually took to the cow milk with total happiness. I think it tastes much better than formula. We then cut out the two daytime bottles and gave straw cups of milk at snacks and bottles at morning and night.That went very well. We then started offering at meals and dropped the morning and night bottles. We now (they are 19 mos) offer milk with breakfast, lunch, dinner, and bedtime. It's always in a straw cup. They LOVE it and easily meet the recommended amount. There was definitely a lull when they were getting less than the pedi preferred, but they straightened themselves out in a week or so.

GL! Being off bottles is so awesome!!

mnj05 · April 2014

We ditched every bottle except the bedtime bottle pretty much cold turkey. He had already been taking the sippy so it wasn't a complete shock. I offered milk as much throughout the day as possible at first but food first at meals. It took us a while to cut out that nighttime bottle but it also fell around his circumcision so we kept more out of comfort than anything. He also cut his molars at the same time and wasn't eating much so we went back to formula in a bottle a couple of times a day to get some sort of nutrition in him.

Now he chugs his milk at meal time along with scarfing his food. Between meals, I give him water and juice; roughly 3/4 water, 1/4 juice. We do offer a sippy of either milk or the juice/water mix before bed, sometimes he takes it all and sometimes not.

It could be rough for a day or two, but it's so much easier and better! Good luck!

Jenny935 · April 2014

We tried going cold turkey and ditching bottles all at the same time, with the thought that if he didn't know milk came in bottles, he'd just deal with it. (He'd only ever had formula in bottles and water/juice in sippys). That plan did not go well, and nobody slept that weekend! So I did bottles of milk for a week or so. Then we went back to milk in a sippy during the day, but a bedtime bottle. He wasn't getting nearly the full amount into him, because he'd stop using the sippy pretty quickly and just quit drinking. Then we started sending milk in a sippy to daycare with an empty bottle in case of emergency. Wouldn't you know, he guzzled it down. Sometimes the fact that he has different rules for daycare and home is a good thing! Good luck!

pb_bride · April 2014

We EBF'd so I can't help with bottles. Since he was still BFing 3-4x a day when we introduced WCM, I started with just 2oz a day, in a sippy cup. He's been drinking water from sippy so he has no trouble drinking milk.

As for when to offer, we only offer milk at meal times; he gets water in between meals.

BabyKsMommy · April 2014

I offered wcm like I would nurse. So it's before breakfast and at night after dinner. Our pedi said no more than 16oz a day. So I warm up the milk and put it in a straw cup. He first only took a couple ounces then he increased to the whole 8 oz. I figure the milk may help him go to sleep because his tummy is full. At 2 1/2 we still do the milk the same way.

mcgeeva · April 2014

We switched from bottle to sippys cold turkey. It took us two weeks to be on wcm because I pumped and bfed so it was easier to do wcm with bm until my freezer stash ran out. We did a sippy cup of wcm before bed for months and finally dropped that as well when he stopped drinking as much. We were a little odd and would heat his sippy of wcm right before bed too. Good luck!

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