DD refusing switch to cows milk from formula..any advice please?

[Bababoo]

My DD is one next week - have started what I thought would be an easy switch to cows milk in a beaker (easy as I've been making her porridge on cows milk for months and she is great to eat anything I make her, plus she's been drinking water out of a sippy cup herself for months).

She is having none of it though - tried it in the beaker cold, warm and then in a bottle but she doesn't want it at all.

Anyone any suggestions on how to ease the transition? As soon as she gets a mouthful she turns her head away and clams her mouth shut. She loves cheese and natural yogurt so it's not a dislike of dairy...thanks!

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

Why not try mixing it gradually in with the formula (bottle I assume?) and then work on transitioning to the sippy cup after she is fully on milk? It isn't really an issue to have the bottle past one year unless they are constantly sucking on it or taking it to bed.

[Bababoo]

Is it safe to mix cows milk and formula in the same bottle? Sounds like a good plan if so...could gradually reduce the formula and up the milk.
 
She sits down and has her bottles in one sitting (per bottle!) and never has it in bed but I feel we might as well make the move while it can be done gradually..and I'm eager to be done with formula and sterilising to be honest.

[okinawamama]

Our pediatrician was fine mixing milk and formula ( made separately, and then mixed with the milk). Having said that, if your LO never really learns to love cows milk, I wouldn't sweat it. Cows milk isn't a necessary part of a child's diet. There are many other ways to fill a child's diet with calcium, vitamin D and fat. My little guys usually only drink 8oz of milk a week, but we are conscious of finding other sources of the nutrients they need

[Lolly]

Mixing is totally fine providing you make the formula first to ensure the powder/water ratio is correct and then top up with cow's milk. We weaned my two off reflux formula this way. We started with 7oz formula plus 1oz of cow's milk for 3 days then dropped 1oz of formula and increased the cow's milk by 1oz and so on.

It works well to leave the mix for 3 days before you change again as they are gradually getting used to the change in flavour and really don't notice it.

Laura

[Bababoo]

Brilliant...thanks for that...she'll be due her small mid-morning bottle shortly - usually has @4oz so I'll do 3 of formula and 1 of milk and see how we get on!

[Bababoo]

So that worked out fine...she knew something was different but not enough to refuse it! Probably a good idea to do it with all her bottles from now on..she has 7oz first thing in the morning and before bed and 4 oz mid-morning so I think I'll drop 1oz of formula from each and add 1oz of milk for the next few days and slowly adjust the amounts until she's happy to accept just milk.

Thanks again!

[Lolly]

Good luck!

Actually though, if you are swapping 1oz from a 4oz bottle that is a quarter of the amount so in a bigger bottle I would  do more than 1oz as the ratio is bigger IYSWIM! I would do 2oz in a 7oz bottle, then after a couple of days do 2oz in the 4oz bottle and 3-4oz in the 7oz bottle.

Laura

[Bababoo]

Ah yes...good thinking! The 1oz in a 7oz bottle would make no difference taste-wise....she's had her 7oz already this morning so I'll do that with her bedtime bottle...thanks again!

[Bababoo]

Back for more advice please!!

The switch to milk now going well...I'm doing it very slowly (probably more than necessary) so in a 7oz bottle she now has 3 of formula and 4 of milk....will be moving to 2 and 5 this week....

...but...

...baba is still resisting drinking it from a cup rather than the bottle. With her meals she drinks water from a lidded sippy cup with handles....holds it herself and takes a drink whenever she wants...I bought a beaker (no handles) that looks the same but she was having none of it and I tried then with her water cup as it's the most familiar but once she took a sip she wanted nothing more to do with it. Put the contents in a bottle and she demolished the lot!

Wondering if anyone has any suggestions from their own experiences....thanks!

[Lolly]

I wouldn't worry about it too much. From 12 months they only need about 12oz of dairy a day to get their needs met and that doesn't have to be liquid milk, all the dairy in her food counts. Milk is a drink for her now, not a food so if she doesn't drink as much it doesn't matter if you increase the dairy in her food.

I found with my DD that once I stopped the morning bottle and offered her a sippy of milk as a mid-morning snack with toast although she pretty much ignored it at first after a couple of weeks she was drinking it all. I would just stick to the cup she is most comfortable with and keep offering small amounts in that.

The issue with bottles after 1 is that it's bad for their teeth, but if they drink the milk quickly and you clean teeth after (especially at bedtime) then it really isn't a big deal if they have bottles for a while longer. I stopped the morning bottle for my two, but DS had a bedtime bottle until about 2.5 and DD until 18 months.

Laura

[lolsyb1982]

Have you tried a straw cup? My dd will drink a full one of those of milk but give her a sippy cup and probably only a couple of oz.
Worth a shot but like pp said it's not a big deal if they still have a bottle.

[Bababoo]

Thanks for that folks....yea, it's for her teeth that I'm eager to get her off the bottles - that said, she does drink it in one sitting, and quickly - and her teeth are brushed after breakfast and dinner so it's not too urgent - am just aware that I need a plan as she is obviously attached to the bottle as the source of milk...happy out to drink the water out of her cup - and is very independent when it comes to minding it herself but obviously an emotional attachment to the boc!

She's great for eating cheese and yogurts - and I make her porridge on milk..and add it to scrambled eggs so she does get a good bit of dairy apart from drinking milk...maybe I'll leave the bedtime bottle for a little while longer as it's part of the routine..and keep the first one as she is up very early (5-6am) and I don't want breakfast over at 6am...by starting the day on a bottle I can make breakfast a little later.

I'll leave the first and last bottle for the next little while and keep trying the cup mid-morning - if I've no success I'll try the straw cup - if I do it gradually enough one or other of them should work!

[Bababoo]

Just an update in case anyone is in the same situation - the advice here worked perfectly...in a 7oz bottle I started making 5 of formula and topping up with milk and then gradually reducing the formula over a good few weeks and now she only has milk...delighted to be finished with the formula (me that is!).

As the mid-morning bottle was a small one (4oz or so, mostly a post-nap snack) that was just milk within a couple of weeks and she was fine with it...and I've started giving that to her in a beaker and she's been fine. I'll try switch the am and pm bottles to beakers soon.

My mistake at the start was trying to make the change (both to milk and beaker) too quickly - made the change gradually and she adapted fine  - she did sometimes notice a change in taste when I adjusted the levels but as it was so gradual it wasn't enough to put her off!

Thanks again for the advice.