Bottle Feeding for a One Year Old

Start by mixing his formula with milk instead of water. You can mix 1/2 and 1/2 to get his belly used to it. Then gradually it will become all milk. Do start feeding him at 7am so his belly is full for daycare. You can cut his 6am bottle back to 1/2 bottle if you think he may not be hungry by 7:00 or you can feed him the cereal first at 6:00 and then give him the 1/2 bottle to rinse it down. :o)

W. M

I'm a mom of 2 sons (now 19 and 21 years old) I'm also a physician's daughter. I took my sons off the formula and the bottle at 1 year old. I changed the formula an ounce at a time every 3 days, and I changed the bottle to a sip cup the day they became 1 year old. It wasn't a problem at all, and they loved it.

I have been cutting back on the formula little by little. My son had a 6 oz bottle so I gave him half formula half milk for a couple of days and cut back more each day until the bottle is just milk.

You could offer him the whole milk at 6am, then give him breakfast later, and offer water or diluted juice at that time. You can introduce him to the sippy cup at meal time as well if he doesn't already use one, and after he's used to the whole milk, and the sippy, you can start offering the milk in the sippy. If he resists the whole milk, you could replace 1 or 2 of his feedings with whole milk while leaving the rest formula, making taking away a formula feeding a week and replacing it with whole milk to sort of wean him slowly.

I would check with his doctor before I changed from formula to milk. When my son was little I changed to milk because "everyone" thought it was the thing to do and he was allergic to the milk, so I had to change him right back. He stayed on his formula for quite some time and he did fine. It was a bit more expensive and since he had asthma, I am glad that I kept him on it. He stayed on his bottle much longer than a lot of other children because it was his "security blanket" and I didn't take it away for that reason. The only time that I tried, he became very upset and ill, so the doctor told me to give it back and he is a fine young man now, winning awards during his growing up for the WHO'S WHO SCIENCE MERIT AWARD INTERNATIONAL and several other prestigious awards, so all my worrying about him catching up was all for nothing.
S.

i have two little boys that i have weaned on the bottle, so i have some tricks. a month before mine turned one i introduced them to whole milk. 3/4 formula. 1/4 milk in one bottle when ever during the day. over the week work your way up to all his bottles being mixed. if he takes it well, the next week do half milk half formula in his bottles. after a week or two, make it 3/4 milk, 1/4 formula. after his first birthday make it all milk, but dont put it in a bottle. go to wal mart and get a Nuby softspout sipster. it is a sippy cup with a soft plastic spout thats like a bottle, but its a cup. you may already use them for juice. these cups made the transition a piece of cake for my boys they are soft like a nipple so they have that familiarity, just in a different shape. My boys loved there bottles and it was a piece of cake with this method. for my second, i went even quicker, and i only did the gradual formula to milk. you know your boy, if this sounds up ur alley you have to tailor it to him. you would be suprised how easy it all is. for the morning, i would leave it as a bottle until you have him on the nuby cup, then do half cup a milk so he doesnt get full. my childrens morning bottle feeding was the last to go. good luck if you have any q's ive done this twice, so let me know!

It is reccomended to switch bottles to sippy cups when babies turn 1. We took away bottles on our boy's first B-days, and jus replaced formula with milk(thankfully they never had problem with the taste and we never had to mix formula and milk). I found it to the best age to take the bottles, since it only gets harder when they get older.(our 3 1/2 God daughter still uses a bottle(not at our house:)) and parents kept saying when she is 18 months , then 2, then 2 1/2....and now the child says "I am not ready yet":))Watch out for milk allergies though, it seams to be very common nowdays. I have lots of friends who's babies had the reaction when given pure milk at 1 , but were eating cheese and yogurt just fine.
Hope this helps......entering into toddlerhood is an exciting journey:) ( even though ages 1 -2 has been the most challenging for us)

First of all, make life easier on yourself...NO more bottles-get them out of the house. He needs to be drinking from sippy cups. He will need to drink whole milk until age 2 then down to 2% or less milk. They do have the next step Lipil. But I would talk to your pediatrician. If he is a good eater, eats a variety of foods, I would go to whole milk at age one! My baby has been drinking 4 oz of whole milk since 10 months from a sippy cup, eats a great variety of food and still breastfeeds and she is doing great. For breakfast she has a sippy cup of milk, banana slices and cheerios. While she is eating, I am getting the other kids ready in the Living Room. If you don't feed him at home, the car ride will not be enjoyable, PLUS you don't want him to get use to filling up on milk every morning. So no more than 4 oz with breakfast. Happy Birthday little man!

With my two toddlers (ages 2 and 17 months), the doctor checked their iron levels (with a finger-prick blook test) at their nine month checkup, then if it was okay (which it always was), told me to go ahead and start on whole milk. My dr. is pretty conservative, so I trust his advice!!! I didn't mix the two (thought that might upset their stomach) and they LOVED the taste of the whole milk. (Have you tried formula...it just SMELLS gross!!!) Good luck!

It's not like there's some switch that gets flipped when our kids turn one that makes it okay to give them milk on that day, so it's fine for you to go ahead and give him milk, although I don't know if there's a specific reason why you should NOT give him formula after a year. Check with your doctor on that one. Personally, I would give him milk now instead of formula--I was so happy when my babies were old enough to drink regular milk! And if you need to go ahead and get him on the day care routine, then just start giving him his milk and breakfast at 7:00, although you may need to gradually work him up to not eating until then. Hold him off ten minutes or so each day until he can go from six to seven without eating. Good luck!

just give him breakfast when he wakes up, and a cup of milk with it or after it. he will get snack at daycare probably, and most daycares eat lunch early like 11. at one year old, he should be having his milk with meals, not as a meal. just a drink. also, give water between meals if your son wants something.

I have a 13 month old ( and a 3yr.old) My doctor said he needs 16oz. of milk after he turns one. When he goes off of formula. My little one went right to the milk very easy. He use to scream for his formula in the morning right when he woke up but since he has been on milk he doesn't ask for it till alittle while after he has got up.
Hope this helps.Your doctor will tell you more when you go to the 1 yr. check-up. Try a sippy cup now if you haven't and get him use to a cup and not the bottle so you can get him off of it when he turns one.

K., You should start giving him whole milk now. I would also start introducing a sippy cup instead of a bottle. As far as feeding him at 6:00, if that is too early for him try feeding him just before you leave for daycare if daycare won't be feeding him first thing when you drop him off. You'll have to play with this and see what works best for you and him. You might have to adjust your schedule but he'll adapt once you two find what works best.

I had the exact same questions for my friends when my son was ready for whole milk. My son is 14 months. I gradually switched him over a 2 - 3 week period to whole milk. He didn't really care for it at all in the beginning and still will not drink it cold in his bottle. I have to warm it up in his bottle, but cold is fine in a sippy cup!!? Once he switched, my ped told me to not give him as much milk as I would formula, instead add more cheeses, yogurt, and other calcium rich foods - rather than milk.

I'm a teacher and my son had a bottle at 6 am and then got to daycare around 6:40 am. They would give him his cereal and fruit around 8:00 am. If your son is hungry at 7, then I would feed him at 7 and tell daycare to give a snack if lunch is not until noon.

Hope this helps a bit!
H.

I am no expert but when my daughter turned one she let me know when she wanted a bottle of milk. I started her on half breast milk and half whole milk. In about a month she was on all whole milk. I tried to get her off the bottle entirely but she loved her bottle at night so I let it go for a while. All of that will just come naturally as if it took no thought at all. You will see. Does your daycare provide meals. Mine always did so she eats there. You will have to find out.

I switched my son "cold turkey" to whole Goat's milk...it's supposed to be easier to digest...and he didn't have any problems with it that I recall. When I stopped formula, that's when the bottle went away, too. He didn't mind at all because he found that the milk came out faster out of a sippy cup. Good luck!

I got lucky with my daughter when she turned one because she pretty much gave up the bottle and only wanted sippies. I held onto the bedtime bottle for a bit because I thought she needed it to stay asleep longer, but she was fine without it. You can try after 12 months replacing the formula with milk in a bottle as long as he is eating enough table food to supplement the nutrients in the formula. If he's mostly eating "people" food, then no worries. If he's mostly on formula, now's a good time to start moving towards more table meals. If he's still mostly on bottles at his one year checkup the doc may have him stay on formula until he's eating table foods. Either way don't worry, as long as he's getting the nutrients he needs 12 months doesn't mean he's not allowed formula.

Hello K.
Golden rule of thumb is if your little one has teeth then get them off the bottle as soon as you can.They tend to chew on the teat and that can cause a serious choking hazzard.
Secondly,you have to remember that formula up to a certain point is his only means of feeding,so once they start on solids you should be weaning him off the formula and giving him diluted fruit juice or plain old water with his meals.
I used to give mine milk at bedtime and that would help soothe them for the night.
If your little one is waking up at 6 a.m and you are having to take him to daycare by 7.3o then why not give him juice when he wakes and his breakfast at 7.
Best of luck
A.

My little boy is 13 months. I slowly started replacing whole milk. Try 1/2 whole milk with 1/2 formula to begin with, then gradually replace more milk and less formula.

A trick that helped me completely stop the formula was to add soy milk instead of the formula. Apparently the taste is simular. I do 4 ounces of whole to 1 ounce of soy. Like I said, I was able to completely stop the formula by doing this.

Also, I am still using the bottle. He gets a bottle in the morning when he gets up, one when he gets home from daycare, and one before bed still. At daycare, he uses sippy cups all day. I will gradually start weening out the bottles over the next few months...completely off the bottle by hopefully 15 months. I might keep the bedtime bottle for a while though.

Changing to just sippy cups AND just milk all at one time might be too much change all of the sudden. Might try changing one thing at a time and slowly working toward the desired end result...all milk with no bottles. Just a thought. Good luck!

most kids have to slowly make switch to whole milk. they don't like the taste/texture of it at 1st since they are used to formula. my ped said i could start out mixing it with my daughters formula...4 to 1 at first and gradually decrease the formula and increase the milk until she's only on milk. it worked pretty well. she was already drinking juice & water from a sippy. once she got a handle on drinking milk from a bottle we started giving it to her in a sippy for morning and afternoon, then finally switched the night time bottle into a cup of milk around 15 months(it was a comfort thing). as far as day care goes, check about their breakfast scheduke, they might feed him there. we just started my 2 yr old in day care last week and they open at 6 am and will serve the kids breakfast until 8:30 and they give them milk with breakfast, lunch and snack.

I breastfed, so our transition was slightly different, but my daughter did take it in a bottle at her babysitter's house, so we still had a weaning process when it came to the bottles and cow's milk. Age one is the time most professionals say that you can start cow's milk, and it's also when they tell you to get rid of the bottle for good. If you're nervous he won't take to the cow's milk right away then you could gradually mix formula with the milk, and over the course of a week or two add less formula until it's just straight milk. I would definitely start moving toward a sippy cup though if you haven't already. That might even be something I'd try cold turkey.

I think it really depends on what you feel you should do for your child. My oldest was on whole milk before he was a year old, but still nursed in the mornings until about a month after he turned one. My youngest will be one on July 2nd, however, and I think I will still be giving him formula for a while. I just feel like he could probably use it. He is not as advanced as his brother was at his age. Really, most things with kids and ages are suggestions. No child follows the same needs and schedules. Don't worry. Whatever you feel is best will be alright. ;)

Hi, yep WHOLE milk after age 1 until age 2. BUT, you should get him off the bottle. All four of my kids were weaned of the bottle by 11 months. Start introducing the cup and get him off that thing!!

Here's what my dr. told me: finish the formula can that you are on and start giving milk in a sippy cup in lieu of the bottle in the morning. of course it takes time to adjust for the little guy. ITs a different drink so in a different cup. I didn't completely listen, my 1 year and 2 week old daughter gets a formula (similac grow and go) bottle in the morning and in about 45 min to and hour gets breakfast, then snack, lunch, nap, snack, dinner, and another bottle before bed. she is not addicted to her bottle like some children can be so I am not worried about weaning her. But during the day I do offer milk in a sippy cup. She doesn't like it much yet so i am not off the nutrition filled formula. The transition needs to be gradual, like all things with kids. And with my son, who is 3 now, he needed a snack before bed once the bottles were done (about 15 months), so we mixed dry rice cereal with yo'baby yogurt. The stuff is yummy so it wasn't hard to give. And if your little one can chew try cheerios with milk and some fruit at the 7 am, after just a few ounces of formula....try it for a few days before daycare, it will fill him up and get him used to milk.

I started doing the half milk/ half formula switch when my son was about 10 1/2 mos old. At that age, he start refusing formula altogether. He was fully on milk by one year when we switch to sippy cups. When my son wakes up now, he gets his milk and works on that until he gets to daycare when he is fed breakfast. My son never seems that hungry after waking up, so just ready your son's signs. If he seems like he can't wait, then feed him. If not, just wait and let him eat breakfast when gets to daycare. Milk is pretty filling so he may be ok with waiting. Regardless, he will let you know! :)

Bottle and when and how you feed your baby is totally up to you and your doctor. If there are any food allergies in the family then wean him off the formula. The first week do 3/4 formula to 1/4 whole milk, 2nd week 1/2 & 1/2, 3rd week 1/4 formula 3/4 whole milk, 4th week totally whole milk. If you are wondering about the bottle situation do what you and the baby are comfortable with. I started with my first at 9mths weaning him off bottle onto cup but with the 2nd I let him figure it out and it wasnt very long after he was 1 that he gave it up. Offer the cup and once you see they are totally comfortable then start taking bottle away. My kids were pretty easy to get off the bottle though cause they were never allowed to just have the bottle at all times so they didnt carry it around everywhere they went.

Hi K.~
This is a question for his pediatrician. They need to check his weight and all that and they'll let you know how to transition. Good luck!

at one he should be off the bottle anyway... has he used a sippy at all??? nows the time to start replacing bottle feedings with table food or baby food what ever he can handle. most day cares serve breakfast... check with them on that. as for getting him off the bottle i have one thing to say i wasnt ready at one to do it with my daughter and man i regret it!! it took her til 2 1/2 to get off of it with my youngest i said nope your done and there were no problems. just start giving him whole milk in a sippy each time he eats. it may take some getting used to esp if your just now giving him a sippy (but at a year im sure hes already using one). have fun!!

Hi K.,
Yes, you can start giving him whole milk at age 1. If it were me, I would just offer him a bowl of cereal with whole milk and some fruit for breakfast around 7ish. At age 2 is when they should begin 2% is what I've been told by the Pediatrician.
Hope this helps!
T.