Transition from Formula to Milk.

no milk in bottles, in sippy cups only. if she can't handle the sippy then take the valve out until she gets it.
just start cutting back on amount of bottles and increase amount of milk in CUPS. really just don't put it in bottles- then you can't get rid of the bottle and that's a pain in the neck.
you should start her now, since she is already 1 year.
no bottles at bedtime!

hi, when i weaned by son form formula to milk i slowly added the whole milk to his formula bottles. one, so he could start getting use to the taste and two, b/c some kids can either get diarrhea or constipated for a quick change to whole milk. Like every 2 days or so i increased the amount of whole milk that i added to his bottle. he was neither constipated nor had diarrhea. the bottle i started weaning him fomr about 9 months. he was use a cup all day but a bottle all nite. it only took about a week to wean him off the bottle completely. hope this helps!

Hi katie,
i have 4 older children all in there 20's what i did was start given them a sippi cup during the day & you can even give the playtex ones @ night because they don't leak then evenually start when she gets potty trained you can just give her a couple of sips before she goes to bed so she won't be really wet in the morning. It takes alot of work & be consist. The milk issue you can start wheening i think right away i would ask your dr. I think the dr's want the children on whole milk so i would ask your dr. So anymore question feel free to ask god bless. B.

hi - i went through this 2mos ago too. i started gradually. i added an oz of organic milk to her formula then 2oz then 3 and so on until i got to 6oz. she was a bit constipated along the way so it took a little while, but i just added extra pears and prunes to her diet.
i am now trying to wean her down from 4 bottles a day!!

good luck!
chris

One way to trans from formula to milk is in the bottles you do half and half and then slowly cut out the formula. off the bottle. is a little harder. We have the cup during the day and bottle for naps and bed time. and when she justs needs that comfort.

i remember that age. i use 2 % milk in my house so it isnt as strong as whole milk. i still watered it down a little because milk can be a little strong for the belly for some kids. i put less and less water each week until i didnt need to. you just have to watch for reactions and upset bellies because of allergies. as far as the bottle i used a cup- spill and leak proof of course. and then got her off that for bed time. it just takes alittle time and sometimes a little to a lot of crying. you just have to be strong and stick with it. my daughter was swithed off at 1 yr. good luck

I just went through this with my son, he'll be 13 months tomorrow. I finished up his formula and then went straight to milk without looking back. We packed up his bottles as soon as the formula was done so we wouldn't be tempted to use them and gave him his milk in sippy cups. The only time he really gave us a hard time was first thing in the morning, but after a few days he realized that bottles were gone and if he wanted milk it was coming from a sippy cup.

When my daughter was ready to transition, my pediatrician suggested mixing regular mil with her formula, a little bit every few days. Check with her pediatrician on how much to mix each day. A good website for this info is thebabycenter.com, check it out.

I also transitioned her off of her bottle with the cups that had the straw attached instead of the sippy cup. She just didn't catch on with the sippy cup and I ended up with more of a mess when she tipped the cup over, but she caught on pretty easily with the cups that had the straw attached. Her pediatrician felt it was fine so that is what worked for me.

Good luck!

Hi K.,
When my daughter was about 9 months I tried formula in a cup and she wouldn't have anything to do with it. When she turned one year and her pediatrition gave the go-ahead for milk, I tried whole milk like he suggested, in a sippy cup, and she didn't like the whole milk. Then I tried skim milk in a Tupperware cup with a sippy lid and she loved it and has loved to drink lots of skim milk ever since. I tried various cups with sippy lids, most of which had several small holes, and she didn't like them. She liked the Tupperware lid with one larger hole--which wasn't leakproof but that never turned out to be any problem. I asked the pediatrician about giving her skim milk, since whole milk was what he recommended, and his answer was "If she doesn't like whole milk but likes skim, then give her skim. It's better that she drink skim than no milk at all." (and she had enough fat on her that she didn't seem to need the extra calories from whole milk) So, in summary, in our case my daughter was particular about the type of cup and I tried quite a few, and also about the type of milk and its consistency. Today she's 14 years old and still loves to drink lots of skim milk, but can't stand the consistency and flavor of 2% or whole milk. Good luck and hope this is helpful! L.

I started weaning my boys off of the milk at about 11 months. I would go ounce my ounce. say i had a nine ounce bottle I would put in 8 ounces if formula and 1 ounce of milk. a few days later I would up the milk to 2 ounces and so on until i had all milk. I had more trouble with the bottles i bought those sport bottle sippy cups by gerber and my boys loved them.

I went with only whole milk till 3 my girls have very little body fat and that is good for them to get whole milk. But only whole milk till at least 2 unless pediatrician tells you otherwise. Then I did in a 6 ounce bottle 4 formula, 2 milk for a week then half and half and then 2 formula and 4 milk then the final week I did all milk and never went back. They never moticed the difference and I always but the mix in a sippy cup. The only bottle we had after 13 months was the before bed bottle that I fed to my twins. One gave it up at 13 months the other needed it a bit longer and then she did not need the comfort of it at about 14 months.

But to get rid of the bottle do not put juice in it, if the kids wanted juice it went in a sippy. If they wanted water it went in a sippy. In the end I had two bottles left and then they were gone one night. I thought it would be rough on my girls but they really did not miss them. I was more afraid to do it.

Well... my daughter is approaching 11 months and is breastfed. It maybe wrong, but I started introducing her to whole milk during lunchtime. I only offer her whole milk during that time until she turns 1. I offer it to her in a sippy cup warmed. She loves it.

It is very important to remember that babies need WHOLE milk from 12 months to 2 years. Only whole milk is suggested unless your Doc tells you different. the fats that are in whole milk are very important for brain function. Children under the age of two need the "good" fats to support the brain development. My child had some constipation when we switched. So what we did was started adding the whole milk to the formula ( alittle at a time) after a week or two the cup was less formula and all milk this proved to be a very successful transition for us. www.livegreeneasy.com

At about 9mths we started introducing a sippy cup to my son. We only put water in it. By 10mths old he was very good with the sippy cup so we put his formula in it and he drank it down with no complaints. He was on a sippy cup from that point on except for his last bottle before he went to bed. When he turned 12 mths, I stopped formula and went to milk cold turkey ... he didn't even notice a difference. My son will eat anything, so that may be why he had a good transition. Today he is almost 14 months and he only uses a sippy cup except for his last bottle before he goes to bed around 8P. We haven't tried that as a sippy cup, but I think we will soon!

When my daughter turned 1 I just stopped the formula completely. I was giving her whole milk in her bottle and heating it like I would her formula and she began throwing up sometimes because I think her body was adjusting to the milk, especially when her formula was soy-based. Then I thought she was lactose intolerant, but turns out that I just switched the milkfat to 2% at the most and she was fine. My daughter is now 28 months and I am trying to ween her off her bottle still. It is very difficult! I give her a bottle when she goes to bed at night and if she should wake up in the middle of the night we simply give her water, but still in a bottle. Wheening has been pretty tough for me so far! As I go if I come across any tricks I will let you know.

When my son turned 1 (he is now 2 1/2) our pediatrician told me to stop giving him bottles all-together. She said that if I don't stop giving him bottles at that age, it will be very hard to get him to drink from cups when he is older.

When I ran out of formula, I started giving him whole milk in a sippy cup. (He had been drinking water out of a sippy cup for a while with no problems) The first time he was given milk in his sippy cup he handed it right back to me - it wasn't his formula. After a couple of days, he was drinking milk with no problems. But we did have a bit of a transition for those few days.

I have several friends who did not stop giving their children drinks in baby bottles at age 1. They are now struggling to get their kids to drink from a cup.

My advice is to just make a clean break at age 1. Give her milk in a sippy cup and don't go back to the bottles. Good Luck with it!

W.