Almost 12 month's old...milk/fomula sippy/bottle question

[Grace's Mom]

I would like DD to be on whole make right around her 1st birthday, one month from today.  I would also like her to use her sippy cup full time (except maybe the night time bottle, but if I can get rid of that too than that would be great as well).  My problem is she will only take a few sips from her sippy and I have to be holding it. 

1.  How do I get her to use her sippy more and on her own?
Below is a link to the sippy that we have had most success with.  I have tried the straw ones and she just bites the straw and doesn't understand she needs to suck.

http://www.babybungalow.com/nunosp10ozgr.html

2.  How do I transition to milk?  She is on 3 bottles a day (6:30, 12:30 and 6).  She drinks about 6oz at each bottle (that is good for her as she isn't a big eater).  She isn't refusing her bottles so I thought I would start with the morning one.  What do you think? 

3.  How much extra food do I give her in order to supplement for not having the formula?  We have 3 solid meals a day (7am, 11am and 4pm).  We don't do snacks as she isn't a big eater and if she had a snack (at this point, with the bottles in the mix) she wouldn't be able to eat her actual meals. 

Any suggestions would be great.  Thanks.
Melissa

[Lola]

Hi Melissa-

We started giving Madelaine a sippy around 6 months and she sort of got it. I went to a straw sippy and she figured it out in a day. Here's a tip for a straw sippy (which I understand are actually better for them as their tongues are used more as they would be for speech development!)
I filled the straw with liquid (ie sucked some up)-put it into her mouth-when she started to suck on it, I let go and seh got the liquid. After a few times, she figured out really quick that sucking gives her water adn we were off! Never looked back. We are now using sippys for 3 year olds as she can use any type now! It's nice bc she can drink wherever we are now and I dont' have to bring a "sippy" cup. kwim?

Milk-make a slow transition. You can start her around a year or so and use it intermittently with formula/breast until she gets the taste for it. Morning start is good as sometimes at first their poops can change as they get used to it. You could also add it into the formula etc but I'd try giving it to her on it's own.  It took M about a month or so for the transition and she gets a bottle still at night LOL.

I wouldn't give her any extra food but if there are long delays between her meals, you might want to give her a bit of a snack of yogurt, fruit, veg etc. Its good for them to have little healthy snacks to keep them going. 11-4 is a bit of a haul between meals for a lo.

HTH
Lauraxx

[* Paula *]

Hi Melissa,

With regards to transitioning to a sippy, I would just put a few oz of milk into it at meal times and just let her play with it herself, she will eventually get the hang of it.

When we transitioned to Cows Milk we went cold turkey.  We changed over his morning bottle and he did not notice the difference, and kept him on formula for his night bottle.  He had his night bottle of formula for about 3 days and then ran out so we transitioned completely onto Cows milk.

He did not notice the difference at all, and did not wake up hungry in the night either.  He seemed to adjust his appetite accordingly.

Here is a like that you can read from when we wanted to transition.

https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=65759.0

Hope this helps.

Paula

[Grace's Mom]

Thanks.

Paula, when switching over to milk, you kept it in the bottle in the beginning for all 3 bottles?  Just wanted to make sure I understood 

Is it ok for me to give her the milk in a sippy with me holding it like a bottle for her until she gets to hang of the sippy?

Mel

[* Paula *]

Hi,

Yes, kept it in a bottle.  We only transitioned over to a sippy cup at around 17 months.

[Grace's Mom]

That may be what we'll need to do.  I don't think she is really ready for a sippy just yet.  I'll keep trying but now there won't be any pressure.  Thanks.

[* Paula *]

There is no pressure,

They say that some lo's want their bottle until theya re about 2.  1 is still very young, you still have time to get her interested in the sippy.

[Canadian Chrissy]

My little one would not take a sippy cup (didn't know how to use them?) and the straws she would just play and blow bubbles in her drink... what I found worked was just a regular cup.  At first I had to hold it and be there but now she can do it well on her own - I still need to be there for those sudden moments when she wants to shake the cup up and down, but the regular cup is working really well.

I too am thinking about switching to whole milk now - and debating on going right to cups and no more bottles (I feel a little sad about loosing the cuddle time - I exclusively breast fed until 9 mos and did formula now for almost 2 mos, so the loss of the cuddle seems so strange, anyway...).  It just seems like switching to milk and cup is a nice natural time to drop the bottle, but I am still unsure. Maybe I should do the milk in a bottle.... Anyone have any experience of switching to only a cup/sippy at the same time as going to milk and how did it go?

[Grace's Mom]

Well, we switched the morning feed to whole milk.  She is only taking 1-2 oz from her bottle but I'm sure with time she'll get use to it (I hope).  I have been adding 1-2 oz of whole milk with her oatmeal.  Next week I'll change her 2nd bottle to whole milk and then by her 1st birthday all bottles will be whole milk.  I did get her a smaller sippy the other day and she is actually doing well with it.  She won't drink milk out of it just yet but had got a good 2-3 oz of juice out of it today  .  After she gets use to the whole milk, I'll switch it into a sippy and see how it goes. 

Canadian Chrissy....I know what you mean about the cuddles.  It makes me want to keep the night time bottle for awhile especially since my lo isn't a snuggler.  They are growing up way too fast!

Mel

[Canadian Chrissy]

My little one isn't a cuddler either and that nighttime bottle is the calmest, closest thing I get to a little cuddle.  It is so hard to loose that.  It really is amazing how fast they grow and change. 

Has your little one shown any reactions to the milk?  and have you given milk before?  any other food allergies?  my husbands family has a history of food allergies and I am nervous about the milk.  She has a reaction to peas already but that is supposed to fade by 3 years they say.