Need Advise for Switching to Milk at 1 Year

I read that you should give a 1 year old about 24 ounces of milk day. Thats what I give my 16 month old son-I give him a glass of milk with each main meal of the day and then he has water or juice throughout the day and with snacks.

Every time you would have given her formula, give her whole milk instead. As your doctor will explain, it is important that it be whole milk as children's brains are still in very active growth mode and so they need the fat. That is why baby yoghurt is full fat rather than lower fat - the same goes for cheese. Most children self regulate and so they take what they need. By 1 a child is eating more food. Up until 1, formula or breast milk is the main nutrient but that changes so less milk is necessary. So at meal times, you may want to give the food first and then the milk. Some children will insist on getting the milk with the meal so they can swig as they eat. Also, she likely off a bottle now and on a sippy cup, so the milk is likely to be 4oz at a time in those cups. If she continues drinking 24 ozs a day that is fine but she will likely reduce a bit as she eats more. She doesn't need any juice in fact juice is not recommended. She can have some water but if she drinks 100% whole milk, that is great. At 2, she can move to a lower fat milk but not skim. Good luck.

I'm not a doctor, but I can share with you what our doctor recommended and worked well for our son. We did whole milk for the first year and no more than 24 ounces per day, so 6 ounces at each meal. At snacks and if he was thirsty, we gave water. We do not give juice in our house as it is empty calories and sugar that has no nutritional value whatsoever.

You would gradually change over so that your daughter doesn't even notice it. You would start off by giving her in a bottle 1/4 whole milk + 3/4 formula for about a week. If she is good with this, then the next week, give her 1/2 whole milk + 1/2 formula. If she is good with this, then go to 3/4 whole milk + 1/4 formula for one week. The final week, fill her entire bottle with whole milk. My daughter did not even notice the change at all. Also, on the amount, we gave her as much as she wanted. She is 2 years old now, and we primarily only give her milk & water (with very little watered-down juice & no pop).

We also weened her off her bottle at that time, too. She only got a bottle for the first morning wake up and at the last night "top off". All the others during the day were sippies. After two weeks of this, we dropped off the morning bottle and gave her a sippy. After another week, we stopped using the bottle altogether. She did not seem to mind at all. This was very easy to do at 1 year old versus hearing all of my friends horror stories about how it took them years of fighting to get their toddlers to stop using a bottle. I think the same goes for pacifiers. We didn't use them after 6 months old.

Hope this helps.

Sincerely,

T.

K.-I raised my kids and then Jan.02, the courts ordered paternal custody of my grandson, 7 months old and I had to go through it again. Today he is 7 1/2 and still wants milk over other drinks
Milk-as often and a much as they want. Instead of giving them soda or something other than water, let them have all the milk they will drink. 8 oz. is sometimes not enough, give them all they want.

Thanks and Good Luck

Judy W

My advice is similar to most already posted. Most Ped's advise no more that 24 oz of whole milk in a day when first switching. You will also notice if your baby, later on, prefers more or less. I care for an 18 month old and he LOVES his milk. He drinks milk all day if we would let him. Now he is taking more than the 24 oz.

Our pediatrician said we can go straight to milk if they'll take it, otherwise just go gradual. Also the best advice to get them off the bottle is to start cutting the nipple and put water in it. This also worked great for my daughter who was still getting up in the night for a bottle, in two days the bottles were done!

I would give her the same amount of milk as you do formula. By 1 year, my boys were only getting 2 bottles a day, morning and night, and sippy cups through the day. We also give them a vitamen every morning. We also onl used 2% milk, our doctor said they didnt need the extra fat. I hope this helps :)

what does her pediatrition say? They know best. Plus, they know your child. the dr. is more qualified than we moms.

Hi K., I work at a day care. Talk to your doctor at the 1 year check up. Vitamin D milk is great for her. She may prefer you warm it up a bit, and some kids like it cool not cold. A sippy cup works well, there is so many out there. She may refuse the sippy cup because she will be looking for the bottle. Do not give up on the sippy cup. Water is also great to give them. People forget they can have water too. Hope this helps you out. If you need any Adult time I am also a Marykay consultant that teaches skin care. I would love to get your opinion on our awsome products. Want a free facial? www.marykay.com/shelms62766

keep at the same amount

She will only need 4 servings of milk a day and that can be any type of dairy- yougurt, cheese or milk- you will know its to much when diapers are soft and yellow0 16 oz is plenty. Some people go to whole milk all together- other people start going half formula half milk. whatver works. Good luck!

I believe my doc said no more than 24 oz also. When i switched my 1 year over, we also switched her from bottle to sippy cup. The sippy cup was probably the hardest part, but it took a few days and all was good. My doc suggested slowing introducing whole milk, every couple days i would increase the milk by an ounce and decrease the formula. My daughter is now 21 months and she only gets milk with her 3 meals and water in between with a snack or if she's thirsty. She's not a big milk drinker, but we also give her cheese and yogurt to help supplement. Good luck...it's time to celebrate....you don't have to buy formula anymore and you can get rid of bottles....yah!!

Hello,

Fortunately, my sitter knows more about kids than I do so she handled this for me:) Starting at around 11 months she gave my child 1/2 whole milk and 1/2 formula in a mixture for 2 weeks and then gradually moved her into straight whole milk. So you could give your baby 4ounces of formula mixed with 4 ounces of whole milk for a couple of weeks.

It was a very smooth transition.

Hope this helps!
H.

We switched at 1 year also-and we did it all at once, to whole milk. I used the same quantity that he was receiving, but just used whole milk instead. We try to give him at least 3 sippy cups per day (we switched from the bottle to sippy cup at the same time-1 year). I remember it going well! good luck!

a child under age 8 should not have more then 20 oz of milk in a day, so if you give 3 bottles now, they should each be about 6 oz in order to be under the 20 oz. They don't need 24 oz of milk until they are around 8 yrs of age.

I have taken college classes on infant/child nutrition and the reason for that 20 oz is iron absorption. The calcium in milk makes calcium not be absorbed. When you get over 20 oz the iron is not sufficient and you risk anemia. Also with milk you don't want them filling up on liquids and you want them eating foods for the rest of the calories. Just wanted to give the reasons since some were saying 24 oz. which is too high.

I slowly took my kids off of formula and breastmilk by mixing them. So for the first week or two we did 3/4 formula and 1/4 milk and just stayed with that, then slowly did half and half. We did it until they were completely on milk all alone. This was suggested to me when I had my first child 18 years ago and I did it for all five of them. I was told doing it slowly would also help you watch out for allergies. I also did whole milk with the first two but 2% for the last 3 since our doctor said there really is no difference. Whole milk actually isn't all that great for you it has alot of fat so it wasn't that good for the babies (but that was just what I went by) I by no means think my way is the right way just the way for us. Good luck to you.

I am in the same situation. My daughhter is one and I askedthe dr at her last checkup. She said you can do it cold turkey with milk in a cup (no more tha 20 oz of milk per day-my dr's recommendation) I read in a few places 16 oz.) or you can give a bottle of formula at night and the milk in the cup during the day to do it slowly. My dr said if she does not like the milk, it may be a slower process with a little bit of milk with the formula in the bottle and then continuing to slowly increase the milk and decrease the formula until it is all milkIt seemed like it was a trial and error type of thing based on the child.

I did not start yet but plan to this weekend.

Good Luck