When to Switch to Milk Rather than Formula

We switched at a year and gradually mixed the cow's milk in with the formula... I think we started with 1/3 milk to 2/3 formula and kept increasing every few weeks until they did 100% milk.

I am doing it right now and my baby is 10 months old. We have been doing it gradually--started with just one bottle of milk per day and are now at 3 out of 5. We are actually going from breast milk to cow's milk and the cow's milk is raw (which makes it easier to digest and better for her body, but can be hard to find), but I think it is still the same idea.

Hi!

I think most doctors recommend waiting until 12 mos. You're probaby close enough, but if you have an appointment then anyway, you could wait and talk to your doctor about it.

We did it kind of gradually, but my son didn't like cow's milk and I hated to waste the breastmilk when he wouldn't drink it mixed with cow's milk!

We added baby food bananas to help him start to drink it, then gradually weaned him off of the bananas with no trouble.

Good luck:)

Hi there,

I started to switch my son to whole milk right after he turned 11 months. I did it very gradually. I started out with 2 oz of whole milk to 6 oz of formula for one week, then I did 4 oz whole to 4 oz formula for week, so on and so forth until he was on straight whole milk at exactly 12 months.

Hi C.! I don't think I did it gradually. If I remember right I just gave my daughter a cup of whole milk to see if she liked it. She did and there was no need to mix formula with the milk to disguise the taste.
We did goat's milk for our daughter. The milk proteins are much smaller than cow's milk and thus easier to digest.
Contrary to a previous post, whole milk is not bad for your child and I would NEVER recommend soy milk.....the risks far outweigh the supposed benefits.
I hope it goes well for you! You can start today if you like....one is not a magic age as you well know. You will know what to do based on your son's reaction to the taste.
Happy birthday to your little one! :)

Hi C.,
I actually just did the same with my 1 year old son. I started when he was 11 months old with putting a quarter cow's whole milk mixed with his formula. Then, after a week or two, I halfed it and then when it was the week of his birthday, I did quarter of his formula and 3/4 cow's milk until the formula was done, then I switched him completely. It was pretty easy and he didn't fuss or seem to realize it was different. It doesn't hurt for your son to be on formula longer either, so if you want to do it gradual (which I reccommend), you can start mixing it in now and then slowly increase until the formula was gone. I always thinks it easier on the child's system if you do it more gradual, so they have time to adjust to the taste and his system has time to adjust to the different milk. Hope it goes well for you.

i switched my boys at 1 year. I went half formula half milk for a week or so then went to all milk but had to warm it a little cuz they wouldn't drink it cold. after almost 2 weeks of warming it less and less we went from cold milk in a bottle and now they are done with bottles and do cold milk in a cup.

We started switching with my daughter the week of her first birthday. She was drinking 8 oz bottles, so we mixed 2 oz milk/6 oz formula, then 4 oz milk/4 oz formula, then 6 oz milk/2 oz formula, then finally all milk from cup or bottle.
The whole transition only took us about 2 weeks.

I remember with my first one I did it right around a year. I started by mixing formula and whole milk and slowly added less fomula.

I started mixing bottles with 1/2 breast milk and 1/2 whole milk at about 12 months. I did that for a week or two and if my kids did fine I just made the switch to whole milk. Hope that helps!

Most pediatricians say to switch to whole milk around 12 months.

My daughter was 1 on April 1st and we had her birthday party on April 4th, so we waited until the day after her party to switch in case she had any allergic reations to the milk! Then we found out from our pediatrician that we could have switched at 11 1/2 months old...

We did it all at once, and started with whole milk since she is in the 30th percentile for weight. If they are above the 50th percentile, then our doc said to go right to 2%.

We switched our son around 10 months. He had a reaction to the milk so we were told to try soy. That gave him diareaha so now he is on lactoid and does great on it. You want to switch him because I guess the formula has too much sugar in it and can ruin their teeth.
Hope that helps.

Hi C.,
I didn't read all the posters, but rather than repeat... I will just say I agree with the last one (Jody's). We did it gradual with both my kids. It's not such a shock to them then.
Good luck and Happy birthday to your little one :)
~SR

We started to switch to whole milk shortly before our daughter's first birthday. She didn't care for the taste, so we mixed whole milk with breast milk. I gradually increased the amount of whole milk until she was drinking all whole milk. We also started using a sippy cup around that same time. She seemed to drink the whole milk better from a sippy cup than from a bottle. I would suggest taking it slow and not pushing the whole milk if your son doesn't seem ready. Like was mentioned by someone else, watch for allergies. Good luck!

We were told to start giving whole milk at 1 year.

C.,

I can't remember with my older 2 (11 & 5), but with my youngest we started the transition between 11 1/2 - 12 months. I only gave milk in the sippy cup and she got formula in the bottle. We took the bottle completly away before she was 13 months old. At first she didn't want anything to do with milk, I would try to even warm it up, since she was use to warm formula. When feeding her meals I would just have the cup sitting there and she would take a drink or two. Eventually she got use to the taste and would drink drink drink..... My daughter was the 96th percentile, so we went to 2% milk instead of Whole Milk, she didn't need the extra fat. We did the same thing with my now 5yr old.

I did it gradually, started a little after 1st brithday and by 13 months my daughter was on only cow milk. I am sure you can do wht switch quicker then that, my daughter was sensitive to milk while brestfed so swtiched to formula so we decided to make the change really slow to make sure she could handle it.

Doctors say you can switch to whole milk when they are one year old. My 1-yr-old is just converting now too.

When my son turned 1 I tried to give him a bottle of only milk and he refused it. What worked best for him was mixing formula prepared with water and milk together. At first 1/3 milk (respectively) and gradually to majority of milk than formula. He is alomst 2 now but I believe it only took 1 1/2 - 2 weeks for him to transition to milk. I hope it goes well for you!

I switched my daughter right at one year; I started to slowly (about 4 weeks out from her birthday) to mix formula with whole milk, starting with 1/4 milk and 3/4 formula until I worked my way up to all whole milk. Hope this helps.

With my pediatrician's knowledge, both my girls were switched to cow's milk, 2%, at 6 months old. My oldest child suffered severely from acid reflux, and we had tried everything we could possibly think of to get rid of it, or even to make it not as harsh, and the cow's milk was the only thing we could think of, and it worked perfectly!!!

around a year is good. start slow and watch for any allergy signs. its perfectly fine to use skim milk if you serve a lot of fruits, veggies, whole wheat breads and LEGUMES (you know, those dried beans, split peas, etc). or whatever milk your family drinks. though there is high recommendations for kids 1-2 to drink whole milk, fats are a lot more dangerous than they are helpful, and if you serve a lot of healthy fat foods, nuts and etc, its no big deal. also soy or almond milks are EXTREMELY healthy! :D

if you have to add a bit of chocolate or something, that is fine. it might help make the switch a little easier! :D