BTDT: Transitioning to WCM

ludali · June 2014

DD is 11 months and 1 week today - gaaaaaaaaaaah!

So my question for the BTDT Mommas, how did you transition your LOs to WCM? Right now DD nurses, has bottles of pumped milk at daycare and when with my Mom, and is getting better with the sippy cup.

BlueJewelM · June 2014

I only nursed DS1 to 9 months, so I only know from a FF perspective, but on his 1st birthday we packed up all the bottles and just did sippies for milk. We did formula until the can ran out and just switched. So it was easy for us! Milk was only served in sippies, not bottles. You have to pick your transition style, some change one thing at a time. (Replace F/BM in bottle to WCM to do baby steps).

I have pretty mellow and laid back babies though. I have some pals IRL whose babies really had trouble switching to cows milk. Especially the ones who were EBF. which makes sense...BIG CHANGE!

magdalina.h · June 2014

At 11.5 weeks we started adding about an oz or 2 of milk to his bottles with boob juice. We did it before his 1 year appt so if he had a reaction, we already had an appointment set. Then we just slowly added more milk and less boob juice. No idea what I'm going to do with Alexis.

catskitch · June 2014

not btdt, but my PED recommended the gradual change from bm to wcm too, mixing the two until it's all wcm

V&G101808 · June 2014

Not BTDT but I plan on switching N to just sippies for milk soon. Once he makes that change I'll start a 1:3 WCM to BM ratio and see how he does. I'm going to start at 11 months (he's 10.5).

kanned0121 · June 2014

They are getting too big! I'm not ready.

ludali · June 2014

Thanks ladies!! For someone who has had supply issues and is always concerned about my stash, I'm very excited to start mixing in WCM and not running out!!!

NikkiD522 · June 2014

I am not BTDT, but I was just at the ped today so I asked her and she said you either gradually introduce or just go "cold turkey"... it's really up to you (helpful, right?) We have had no allergies and have been pretty liberal with exposing him to new foods, so I will most likely just start giving him WCM in a sippy sometime next month because I want to avoid doing milk WCM in a bottle because he isn't a fan of formula in the sippy, so I'm hoping once we switch, he'll be okay with the sippy and the WCM combo.

Good luck!

ludali · June 2014

kanned0121 said:

They are getting too big! I'm not ready.

Right?!?!?!?!?!?

(

carrotcake06 · June 2014

Don't overthink it. I agonized over how I'd do the transition w the big one and it really was nbd.

BM goes in bottles and WCM goes in sippies. I had a period of a few weeks where we did both until he got the hang of sippies, mostly bc he was never great at a bottle to begin with. Then we stopped bottles altogether.

I kept morning and night nursing though. We stopped night nursing at 15-16mo and morning nursing around 20mo.

I will do the same w the babies. Keep morning and night nursing and replace daytime bottles with sippies of milk.

ludali · June 2014

That sounds great @carrotcake06! If I had my way, we'll be nursing morning/night, but we'll see...depending how many times DD is up in the night, she's been dropping the morning session on random days.

NikkiD522 · June 2014

can I just say that I am sad to see him growing up so fast, but STOKED that I won't need to wash nipples and bottles anymore....

BelhurstBride · June 2014

DD1 wanted absolutely nothing to do with WCM. At about 18 months old I was ready to cut out some nursing sessions and got desperate. She was already getting watered down prune juice to help with constipation, so I put that in the WCM. It eventually worked.

ludali · June 2014

NikkiD522 said:

can I just say that I am sad to see him growing up so fast, but STOKED that I won't need to wash nipples and bottles anymore....

Oh yes.....I say that every night I'm washing bottles, nipples and pump parts!!

Snowbird7 · June 2014

Just a little word of warning (and this might be obvious information, so I apologize) to everyone to look out for constipation when you make the switch to cow's milk. My sister's baby is 4 months older than my LO, and when she switched her little man to cow's milk, he had an absolutely awful incident with constipation (a piece was rock hard and got stuck coming out, causing him to scream ... it was horrible).

Just thought I'd mention it!

ludali · June 2014

EEK @ayanahazel1 sounds awful!!

Snowbird7 · June 2014

ludali said:

EEK @ayanahazel1 sounds awful!!

It was! She takes care of my LO all day too, and when I went to pick him up, she looked awful and shaken up.

ludali · June 2014

ayanahazel1 said:

ludali said:

EEK @ayanahazel1 sounds awful!!

It was! She takes care of my LO all day too, and when I went to pick him up, she looked awful and shaken up.

Ugh I can't imagine! Is he fully transitioned now? Did he have any light constipation after slowing the pace?

Snowbird7 · June 2014

ludali said:

ayanahazel1 said:

ludali said:

EEK @ayanahazel1 sounds awful!!

It was! She takes care of my LO all day too, and when I went to pick him up, she looked awful and shaken up.

Ugh I can't imagine! Is he fully transitioned now? Did he have any light constipation after slowing the pace?

Yup! He's fully transitioned and is doing just fine. I think his constipation decreased through a combination of increased fiber and prune juice as well as his little body just getting used to the change.

And of course, insert the "Every baby is different so yours might be totally fine and handle this stage differently" speech here.

BlueJewelM · June 2014

Yes, dairy can definitely bind little tummies up.

Maybe this is just me and my dr but my kid (well kidS when we get to WCM) only get 1 small cup of milk a day. The rest of the meals he drinks water or VERY diluted apple juice. If my kid had more than 6 oz of milk or so a day it is/was rare. He eats yogurt daily and enjoys a cheese snack sometimes, so I'm confident his calcium needs are being met.

Coconuthead · June 2014

Great information ladies! I am definitely nervous about this. He is still a big nurser and won't use a sippy cup, although he has recently showed and increased interest in water and with my help drinks water from my water bottle. I am thinking about trying a straw sippy or some other kind of cup.

I am also thinking about doing WGM instead of WCM, he has a sensitive stomach and I hear goats milk is easier to digest. I will keep up nursing when I am home but I will be back in school when he is 12.5 months.

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