what to wean first - formula or bottle???

[oliversmommy]

Hello!  My DS will be turning one in a few weeks, and I'm not sure how to transition him to cow's milk as well as wean him off bottles.  Currently he nurses morning and BT, and takes formula or EBM via bottle after the nursing sessions and 2x during the day.  He also drinks water from a straw sippy cup (and uses a regular plastic cup w/ a little help).  I'm thinking about gradually adding cow's milk to his bottles after he turns one; do you think it's okay to also drop the bottles or is it better to make one change at a time?  I was also thinking about keeping the morning/BT bottles at first and trying the cow's milk/formula or EBM mixture in the straw sippy during the day . . . then weaning the rest of the bottles later.  Any thoughts/suggestions would be greatly appreciated!  TIA!

[Hserry]

Hey:) I was wondering the same thing. My dd is now 15 mths old and was wondering when she hold switch to cow milk.

[creations]

You can switch straight to cow milk at 12 months (unless you know of an allergy/intolerance).  There isn't a need to go slow on the switch unless your LO takes so little milk that you are concerned about daily intake in which case you could then do a gradual change by mixing formula/bm with cows milk to get LO used to the change of taste.

Bottles, it's advised to ditch them at 12 months.  Many people the bottle longer of course.
Really at 12 months 2 milks is enough, morning and evening.  The day milks can be switched to water in a sippy cup, at this age solids take over the primary calorie intake and you don't want too much milk filling them up.

If you feel unsure of the switch to cows milk and ditching the bottle at the same time I'd switch the milk first and a week later (once cows milk is established) go for the bottle wean.
I kept the morning milk bottle the longest (until 13 months).  The evening milk I switched to sippy cup milk with last solids feed of the day.  The morning milk he wouldn't take in a sippy but I found he would take it from a straw.  We still use a cup and straw now at 19 months for the morning milk, water in a sippy (and open cup practice) the rest of the day and a small sippy milk with the last solids meal.  After that he is offered a sippy water if he is thirsty before bed, which he rarely wants.
For me the evneing milk was more important to bring earlier than BT so that I could brush his teeth and take milk out of the BT wind down routine.

hth x

[oliversmommy]

Creations - thanks so much - this is EXTREMELY helpful!  That totally makes sense to switch the day milks to water, to limit the total amount of milk intake per day. 

So did you do a morning milk bottle at 12-13 mos, then breakfast?  Or AM milk w/ breakfast?

Also, how close to BT was your last solids meal of the day?  I'm having trouble wrapping my head around the fact that they can go a full night w/o a BT milk feed to keep them full until morning.  Do LOs ever wake up early or have NW due to hunger after switching to solids only???

If we decide to keep a bottle at BT for a while, how hard is it to wean when they are a little older?

Thanks again for your help!

[creations]

At 12-13 months I did the same as I do now.

Morning milk on WU (when I say on WU it's more like 30min or more after WU.  My LO wakes early so he plays in his cot a while then we go the bathroom for him to use the potty and eventually downstairs and I prep his milk - it all takes time).  The morning milk is his big milk drink of the day (180ml, about 6oz) and given in a cup with straw (with me holding/helping).

Breakfast is around 1 hr later. Water in sippy.
morning snack and water
early lunch and water (pre nap, he was on 1 nap at 12 months and still is)
late lunch and water (after nap) - yes two lunches!
afternoon snack
dinner with sippy milk (about 1 - 2 oz of milk, he is always offered more than this but doesn't take)
pre BT sippy water

We just recently made dinner a bit later because I'm tweaking BT but right up to now last solids has been 5.15pm with 7pm BT.  I found any later than this and he would have difficulty sleeping due to digestion, wind, needing a poo, etc
Like I say he has always been an early riser in the morning but having his last meal at 5.15 (and milk) didn't effect this at all.  He also had a marvellous phase of sleeping 12-13 hrs at night so went something like 15 hours between one meal and the next.

I don't know how well your LO has taken to solids but at 12 months the aim is to get the calorie intake from solids rather than milk (of course they still need milk too though) and become a more grown up eater like an older child or adult, we don't wake at night for feeds, we take all our calories during the day.  LOs tend to need snacks between meals to keep them going as their tummies are too small to hold the amount of solids needed to get all their calories.  When you remove the day milks replace with a healthy snack and water in a sippy (or your choice, open cup, straw cup, doidy cup).
Many LOs don't eat a lot in that last solids meal of the day, they're more likely to eat larger portions for breakfast and lunch, less towards the evening and then really once they go to bed shouldn't need any more food until morning.
If you found that your LO wanted more BT milk than usual (after replacing day milks with snacks) then I would take that as an indication to increase the meals or snacks in the day.  Generally you'd offer food until they are full any way.

A lot of people keep the BT bottle.  I suppose it's fear of LO being hungry, fear of 'ruining' a lovely BT routine and ending up with a crying LO at BT - no one wants those things.  I don't know if it is harder for LO later on, maybe harder for you?  Half the time these things we are scared of moving on are harder for us than our LOs.  I wouldn't feel bad about keeping a BT bottle, it is so common.
My reason for removing it (bringing the milk to dinner time with solids) was personal choice, based on the guidelines to get rid of the bottles but also my own feelings.
Our BT routine was brush teeth, bath, nappy, pjs, then into bedroom, milk and snuggle, a song and cuddle then into his bed (awake) and leave.  It worked, it was lovely.  I didn't really want it to change but I felt it had to because I've heard (seen pics etc) of 2yr olds with cavities and tooth loss
So I knew I had to change the routine and give the milk before brushing teeth and I thought if I am disturbing our BT routine anyway I may as well also get rid of the bottle.  I was scared of the change but in all honesty my LO never noticed the difference.  For a short while I did the milk at dinner and still took a bottle of milk up to bed with us in case he wouldn't settle without.  Then after a short while I had the courage to just take a sippy of water in case he was thirsty.  For a while he took a little, now he doesn't take any unless he has a cold.
We still had our cuddle and song and he continued to go to sleep as normal.  I was really glad in the end that I'd had the courage to try it and ditch the bottle. This all happened when he was 12 months, the BT bottle was gone before 13 months.

The morning bottle I kept another month or two.  I did try to move it to a sippy cup but he was really annoyed at that.  I spent a bit of time in the day teaching him to use a straw and also snipped his bottle teats so they were a rapid flow and he drank them sitting upright (still cuddling on me) then one day replaced the morning bottle with a straw.  I had a bottle on stand-by in case he was unhappy but he was fine and from then on never had another bottle.

Maybe our story helps you decide what to do but in the end it's your choice.
xx

[oliversmommy]

Creations - thanks SO much for posting your story and your routine - again, HUGELY helpful to me!  I like the idea of keeping a morning milk and then giving breakfast later - that would work well w/ our schedule as currently DS eats breakfast about 1-1.5 hrs after his morning milkfeed, which is after I leave for work during the week.  That also makes sense about toddlers eating like adults (and not needing food at BT or during the night) - and I totally agree that it seems DS is more ready for these changes than I am!  In fact, the day I read your post, DS only drank 1.5 oz at BT - I was so worried he would be awake and hungry at 4 am, but he actually slept in that morning!  Go figure!  I find that anticipating these changes is actually much more anxiety-producing for me than actually going through them.

DS is a good eater, loves his solid foods, so I think dropping the milkfeeds will go smoothly.  I'm just a little nervous about having to completely rely on solids/cow's milk for all of his nutrition.  Typical FTM stuff I'm sure!

I totally understand your choice to brush teeth after giving milk - I have the same concerns and so DS's BT routine has been bottle then brush teeth ever since we introduced the toothbrush to his routine.  I do think the bottle helps calm him before bed, but he may not need it as much as I think he does.  I think I'm going to make the switch to cow's milk first, then work on dropping morning/BT bottles, and just see how things go.  I definitely feel much more comfortable going into it now that I am better informed, thanks to you!

[creations]

You're very welcome.  At some point you'll be sharing your experience with someone else and helping them feel brave enough to make a change

I find that anticipating these changes is actually much more anxiety-producing for me than actually going through them

I've found this with so many things that maybe one day I will realise I don't need to worry quite so much and just get on with changes.  There's absolutely nothing wrong with going back a step if LO isn't happy, reassessing the situation and changing the plan to accommodate.

Good on you for having introduced the teeth brushing after the evening milk.  It never occurred to me when I handed DS a toothbrush at 4 months old (just to get used to initially), I just wasn't seeing that far ahead.

Sounds like your LO is ready to drop that BT milk already, I doubt you're going to get any fussing over it.
I'm sure it will all go more smoothly than you anticipate.  Good luck xx

[*Kara*]

Watch for upset tummy   My DD is on cow's milk based formula, is fine with cheese, yogurt, and all other dairy... cannot drink cow's milk though   I learned this the hard way... over and over!  She still has formula at 22 months because of this....  only 10ozs a day...

[oliversmommy]

Kara,
Thanks for the warning - I was a little nervous about this so I started today with half cow's milk/half formula.  (DS turned one yesterday - today is the first day on cow's milk.)  I figured that way he can ease into drinking cow's milk and I can use up the rest of his formula.  He did spit up this morning but was fine the rest of the day - we'll see how the next few days go!

I do have a question - once DS is done w/ formula and only drinking cow's milk (I guess this question is for you Creations) - if he has a bottle or sippy of cow's milk and only drinks a little bit, can I put it back in the fridge and give it to him again later, or do I have to throw it out since he drank from it (like you do w/ formula)? 

[*Kara*]

I would toss the milk if he has had a drink of it... but it's fine to have it out for 30-45 mins.. it's just gonna be kinda warm

A bit of spitting up is fairly common, as is a bit of gas/constipation... it shouldn't disrupt sleep or cause any crying though...

I would transition a touch slower personally... go in 1/4 increments... so 3/4 formula and 1/4 milk for a few days then increase to half/half for a few more days, the increase again.. etc.

[creations]

I didn't do any transition from formula to cow's milk.  Basically didn't have much choice but to give cow's milk a couple of weeks early as every shop in the town was out of our formula.

Any sippy/straw cup/cup you use for milk would breed bacteria in the same way as formula so should be discarded.  If you're concerned about the amount being thrown out keep it in a separate bottle and decant into the drinking cup a couple of oz at a time.
Think of it as the same as solid food, once LO has eaten from it it should be thrown out.

Hope it goes well for you x

[*Kara*]

Basically didn't have much choice but to give cow's milk a couple of weeks early as every shop in the town was out of our formula.

We would have been without milk for sure...

[oliversmommy]

So we have successfully transitioned to cow's milk, and DS is drinking milk out of a straw sippy cup during the day.  I decided to try the sippy instead of the bottle this morning (he still gets a bottle upon wu and at BT) however DS would have nothing to do w/ it - so I gave him his milk in the bottle.  Should I just keep offering the sippy before the bottle and hopefully he will eventually accept it?  TIA for your advice!

[~Sara~]

Personally, we kept the WU and BT bottles until my son was 18mo.  He did not drink milk any other way besides out of the bottle (still doesn't drink milk to this day), but since he used sippy cups--in any variety--extremely well the rest of the time, I let it be.  By the time they were gone, he didn't need either of those feeds for calorie reasons, and it was really just out of habit (and for cuddles .  Honestly, there's no HUGE rush to get rid of the bottle, so go at your LO's pace.  Sounds like he's doing splendidly overall!  If you'd really like to make the full switch pretty soon, then, yes, keep offering the sippy before the bottle.

[creations]

DS is drinking milk out of a straw sippy cup during the day.  I decided to try the sippy instead of the bottle this morning (he still gets a bottle upon wu and at BT) however DS would have nothing to do w/ it - so I gave him his milk in the bottle.

This is very similar to our experience.  Our BT bottle was gone (sippy at dinner time instead) but the morning WU one remained.  It was another month or two before he agreed to switch to the straw.  I didn't try the straw every day because it was pretty obvious he didn't want it so I just waited a couple of weeks and tried again, then another couple and tried again and he took it at one of the tries.  I used to put the milk in the cup and take a sterile bottle into the living room (where he had his bottle) with me so I could pour it in if he was upset.  Just quicker and less upset.

We still have that morning milk with a straw at 20 months and he still sits on my knee for it, cuddling.  He doesn't need the calories but I do like him getting some milk each day.
Like pp said, you don't need to be a in a huge rush.  You aren't going to get teeth problems with just 2 quick bottles in the day (it isn't the same as bottles all day, sucking on a paci all day, juice in a bottle all day etc - these things can effect teeth badly).  I wanted rid of our bottles but even so I still waited until he was happy to switch from the bottle to the straw.