Any Tips for Weaning

When weaning from formula to whole milk, I first tried just straight milk to see if they'd go straight to it. If not, I gradually added more milk that formula each day. So like the first day, maybe 1-2 ounces of milk and then 1-2 more the next day until all they were drinking was milk. The sippy cup was introduced earlier with just water and they could have it when they wanted to try it, but then at about 1 year, I just took the bottles away completely and then if they wanted milk, they'd have to drink out of the sippy. Good luck and I'd only tackle one at a time, but it will only take you about a month or two.

When I weaned my son from bottle of formula to sippy cups with cold whole milk, I did it cold turkey. Actually, first I tried warm milk in the bottle, then adding a little chocolate to the milk, then formula in a sippy. Finally, I just decided I couldn't make it easy, so that was it. I put the bottles away (because if he saw them, he would only want a bottle) and just told him that cold milk in a sippy cup was all there was. At first I had to hold the sippy cup up for him, then after a couple days of that, decided he just needed to learn for himself. It was a long week. He was fussy, wouldn't drink much and cried for his bottle, but eventually he decided he was thirsty enough and that was it. All done.

Here's what worked for us. Introduce the sippy cup at meals and let him get the hang of that- I'd go ahead and put formula in that. Once you know he's figured out how to use it, I'd take away all bottles except morning and night and let him get used to that (meaning formula in sippy cup during the day, formula in bottles at night and morning). Then get rid of the night time bottle (meaning use a sippy cup of formula instead) then get rid of the morning bottle (sippy cup of formula instead). This process took us about 2-3 weeks. Then we let him try milk once a day for a few days and he liked it and didn't have any adverse reaction to it so we then just completely changed over to milk in a sippy cup. But- every child is different- good luck!

hello the way i did it was if she had a 8 oz bottle 6 was form 2 was milk for a few days then i went to half and half for a few days then by there birthday or shortly after i put then on to whole milk

try using the sipper cups with the soft tip. i used those for my son and he was of the bottle by 13 months. u can find them at any wal mart. not sure what brand

Hi K.,

My suggestion is to add a little whole milk to his bottle along with formula each day. Continue by adding more milk than formula until Aiden is completely off formula. That is how I transitioned my twins from breast milk/formula to whole milk. Once Aiden is solely drinking whole milk, start introducing the sippie cup. Sippie cups will be messy, but it gets better. I hope this helps.

M. (mother of twins)

We found that giving up the bottles and binkies for our first two was WAY easier for them than it was for us. We made a big deal of it and drew out the process...needless to say, toddlers are pretty adaptable and move on quickly. We always ended up saying "If we knew it would be that easy, we would have done it a long time ago!" Be prepared for a couple of hard days, but I think you will find it is not as bad as you expect. Good luck! :)

are you going to use a sippy cup...if so here is what we did and it worked great! buy the soft topped cups they are easiest to transition to because it is very similar to the bottle. then start putting the formula in those so that the baby starts to get used to using the cup. the switch from formula to milk was easy my daughter didnt have a problem with that part she loves milk!

My daughter wouldn't drink milk at first, so we just started mixing a little in with the formula. Every couple of days, I'd use more milk and less formula, until we were able to just give her plain milk. It was a smooth transition for all of us!

Yuck! milk mixed with formula :) I think it's best to make sure the milk is as warm as the formula would be. All 3 of my kids didn't care as long as I warmed up the milk first..I think the coldness was a shock to their systems..lol