How Do I Transition My 1Yr Old to Cows Milk?

I have two daughters (22 1/2 and 6 1/2 mths old). My oldest is all I have to offer...I started transitioning her by mising formaula and milk so the taste becomes familiar to her and then one day she asked for milk and I just gave her regular milk in a sippy cup and that was it no problem. I only mixed the two for a day or two. Pretty easy transition...my todller now prefers cows milk over formula and will not take formula unless extremely tired. Good luck!

Hello Christina,
I use organic milk for my girls. For both of them, I tried the whole milk straight and they did not care for it-- so I started like other moms- 75% formula, 25% whole milk. Then after a day or two, I went to 50/50 and then changed it up after a few days- it works! Also, don't start with the evening milk-- they want comfort. Start in the day. I believe in organic milk. Publix sells a gallon for a good price. It is worth it- and I am not an all organic type of person. I read somewhere that anything that does not have a shell/skin (veggie,fruit) that you should try to get organic-- like celery,etc... Hope it goes well. great for the soy drinker. Don't stop that either. Good protein. My daughters love edamame. I used to love tofu,etc... Have not tried that.

Check with your doctor at her next checkup, but when my kids where switched over to cow's milk I was told to use "whole" milk not "2%" milk. I believe the baby's brain needs the extra fats for correct development. No my children aren't overweight from drinking whole milk and yes, they are both advanced kids for their grades. (I'm not saying that the milk did that, but obviously it didn't hurt them.)

I didn't change them to 2% until they were 3 or so.

Just do 1/2 whole milk and 1/2 formula for a few days and see how her tummy responds. If it's fine, increase milk gradually until it's all whole milk. If her tummy gets upset, start with 1/4 milk and 3/4 formula and increase slowly from there. My daughter has the most sensitive tummy in the world, so it took us a couple of months to transition, but almost all of my friends' kids had no problem making a complete switch within a couple of days or weeks. Make sure you use whole milk though and not 2%. They need the fat for their little growing brains!

If your daughter has been on soy then transitioning to regular dairy can be a bit more difficult. I would start out in small quantities. When moving to milk go with whole milk first. Chose yogurts wih live bacteria as this will help with the digestion as well. Do this in small quantities. Otherwise you may find a child with a terrible tummy ache and diaria. Most pediatricians do not recommend introducing dairy into a childs diet until they are at least 12 months old. If you introduce it earlier then that then you are running a risk of your child growing an allergy to it. Their little bodies cannot process dairy until they are at least a year old and when you begin introducing it do it one at a time and let them have that one item for a few days before introducing something different. This way you can make sure they don't have any adverse reaction to it and if they do then you will know exactly what food item triggered the event. I would really sit down with your daughters pediatrician and work out a plan for this. My son had to be moved to Soy at 7 months because he grew an allergy to the lactaid in his formula. Later I found out that my husbands sister had been giving him ice cream which ultimately caused him to grow an allergy to dairy products. I slowly started reintroducing dairy into his diet when he was 3 years old and again chose items with live bacteria and whole milk first. He now does well and has almost outgrown this dairy allergy however we have to monitor his daily intake otherwise he'll end up with fits of diaria and a gassy tummy.

What I did with both of my kiddoes is started with 2oz milk/6oz (a 25/75 ratio) formula in a bottle 1 time a day for 2 or 3 days to see how it went. If that went ok, the I uped it to 2 or 3 bottles for 2 or 3 days. Still going good, then 50/50 for a few days, then 75/25 and so forth. And I mostly gave those bottles at meals since that's when they would be drinking milk the most, breakfast, sometimes lunch and dinner. Both of my kids never had a problem.

Good luck!!
S.

Hi, I can not be much help w/ how to trasition...I do not remember what we did and our little girl is 3, it just happened naturally. I would like to suggest that you start her on organic milk, it is a little more exspensive but worth it to avoid all the chemicals and hormones that are included in typical store milk and it just tastes better. We are not strictly health nuts (my daughter has probably eaten her weight in m&ms) but dairy has been our biggest organic staple from the begining.....Good luck, happy mothering!

This was so easy for me. I just started giving my child 1/2 formula and 1/2 milk. She didn't seem to notice, no change in bowel movement, etc. I have 3 kids and none of them had a problem. I just warmed it a little and gradually gave it colder till they perfered it cold which meant no more warming bottles..........whew!:)

At first I started doing the half and half with formula but he didn't like it. I gave my son regular milk and he loved it and didn't want anything to do with formula anymore. My son never drank whole milk. My pediatrician actually recomended 2%. Every doctor is different but ours didn't want him on whole milk because of the fat content.

Hope the transition goes well

B. M.

My son adapted to cow's milk very easily. I just gave him a sippy cup with it in it and he drank it, no problem. I have read that you should give your child whole milk at least until the age of 2, when you can then do the reduced fat milk. If she doesn't transition that well, then I have read that what you do is water down the formula, and give her that and a cup of milk. The formula will taste bad because it is watered down, and usually that is supposed to make the child go for the cup with milk in it.

on this matter, i say don't borrow trouble. i know some people have issues with it, but in our case i just sort of held my breath one day, threw out her bottles, and gave her regular milk. she wasn't nuts about it and so i warmed it up just a little bit (really just took the chill off) and everything was FINE. so as Nike says, just do it! ha ha! and cross any troubled bridges if you come to them later. :)

I guess my question is whether or not you've gotten her onto a sippy cup yet or not. I didn't give my children formula, so we went straight from the breast to a sippy cup and that seemed to work well. In other words, if you're still using a bottle, I'd put the milk in the sippy cup and the formula in the bottle. Make an association in her mind that the milk is in a big girl cup. I wouldn't go cold turkey, but start substituting the milk in a cup for the formula in a bottle and see how it goes from there. Remember WHOLE milk until the age of two!

Hi Christina- My daughter went from breastmilk to 2% at 11 months. I gave her 1/4 milk and 3/4 breastmilk (or formula) for a few days then went 1/2 & 1/2 for a few days and then 3/4 milk & 1/4 breastmilk and so on. She never had any problems. Her pediatrician advised she be on 2% because her dad has high cholesterol (I had never heard that but didn't argue!) That is when I also transitioned to a sippy cup as well. Also, I saw where you are entertaining the thought of going back to work. I currently work part-time from home and would love to talk with you about that if you are interested. You can visit my website www.stayathomeworkingmom.com and request information and I will give you a call to chat!

Good luck and I hope the transition goes smoothly!
S.

Hi Christina,

You have had good advice about the transition and I don't know whether you are planning 2% or whole but I wanted to throw a thought out. The difference between 2% milk and whole is not only the fat content. The biggest difference is that 2% milk is processed more. The less processing the better it is for the child. With that in mind, whole cream would even be safer. My thoughts since my daughter was diagnosed lactose intolerant and was in fact NOT, is that I would go with organic whole milk. Did you know that the fat content even depends on the type of cow that produced the milk?

I said my daughter was not lactose intolerant. She was not having problems with the natural lactose. She was actually having problems with the chemicals used in the processing. We should all have reactions to synthetic chemicals if our bodies are working the way they should...

God bless you and your little one!

M.

When my son turned one i just started giving him cows milk. My doctor told me to use whole milk and he loved it! I nursed him until he decided to quit on his own at 7 months and then we used the walmart brand formula. He had no problems and he still can't get enough of it!

I just switched and she liked it better. Every doctor is different in what they say to give your child whole vs. 2%. Our doctor said to use 2% b/c she will get enough fat in her diet, but she does get whole milk at our daycare. I would call your doctors office and just ask what do they prefer. I wish you the best and have a Blessed Day!

Hey Christina, You already know your baby is not allergic due to the milk she has already had. So, I think you can just give her milk instead of formula starting on her first bday. At least that is what I did with my first two kids and they never blinked or whined. It was a smooth transition. Hope it is for you too! Let me know! I will be going through this one more time as I have a 9 month old too!

I also wanted to add a response to your about me as my heart goes out to you wanting to stay home with your baby but needing to help out with the bills. I work from home about 15 hours a week so I can be with my kids but help out our family and I LOVE what I do and the products I represent and the simple business plan that works so well! Please e or call me ###-###-#### if you would like to find out more and see if this might be a good fit for you or not. It has helped our family out immensely in our finances and enabled me to have much more financial freedom and time freedom than going back to work at a regular job would have allowed.

Dearly,
G.