« previous next »
Pages: [1]   Go Down

Author Topic: Thinking about ending the BF and wondering how to move to cows milk  (Read 701 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline clarabella

  • New, But Posting Steadily!
  • **
  • Showing Appreciation 0
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 57
  • Learning - every day!
    • Location: Redhill, Surrey
Thinking about ending the BF and wondering how to move to cows milk
« on: May 05, 2010, 20:50:13 pm »
Not sure if this should be here or somewhere else. DD is 1 year old and i'm starting to ponder about dropping the bf business and moving onto cows milk.
I'm a bit confused (all my mummy friends are bottle feeders so not much help there!) about how much milk she should be getting if I do move over and whether i should continue with some sort of milk feed in the morning and evening as she currently gets from me now. I guess I"d drop the morning one first and then after a while, the evening one. I have mixed feelings about doing this but I know it's something I need to do fairly soon but that it will be a bit emotional, end of an era 

She's been having the odd bit of milk in a sippy cup but doesn't seem to like it terribly much, even if I warm it. This doesn't fill me with confidence! I read on another post that some mums have been adding a tiny bit of vanilla bean paste to warm milk. Reckon this might help?
Logged
<img src="http://lb3f.lilypie.com/TikiPic.php/jc0IUpl.jpg" width="100" height="80" border="0" alt="Lilypie - Personal picture" /><img src="http://lb3f.lilypie.com/jc0Ip1.png" width="400" height="80" border="0" alt="Lilypie Third Birthday tickers" />

Offline anna*

  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 900
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 28751
  • My two
    • Location: London, UK
Re: Thinking about ending the BF and wondering how to move to cows milk
« Reply #1 on: May 05, 2010, 21:36:32 pm »
Well first of all remember that you don't have to stop BFing just because she is a year old! I breastfed Stan until he was 26 months - from 12-20 months that was mostly just first thing in the morning and last thing before bed (occasional mid-afternoon too), and from 20 months on, just in the morning and a sippy of cows milk at bedtime.

BUT back to your question ;) Stan never wanted cows milk from a free-flow sippy, but would take it quite happily from a sippy cup with a valved spout so that he had to suck a bit harder for it. Breastmilk is really sweet, so another alternative is to try her with formula (also sweet) from a sippy, and if she likes that then to gradually reduce the amount of formula and top it up with cows milk. Or, as you've already thought, flavouring the milk in some way, although to be honest, she can get loads of calcium from yoghurt, cheese, green veggies if she really decides that milk isn't for her.
Logged




Offline kimbo613

  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 4
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 1114
  • Cait - 23 mo
    • Location: California
Re: Thinking about ending the BF and wondering how to move to cows milk
« Reply #2 on: May 06, 2010, 04:24:21 am »
I bf until about 13.5 months.  It took about 6 weeks to wean from all four feeds.  My plan was to replace bm with cows milk, but he had other ideas :)  Initially he didn't like cows milk at all.  He would actually spit it out and make a face like I was trying to poison him ::) 
I started with the daytime feeds and just replaced with a dairy snack.  The information I found said that after 1 year, 3 servings of dairy is recommended.  So eventually he was having two dairy snacks plus about 1/2 a serving at breakfast in his oatmeal and usually something at lunch.  Since he was getting enough, I gradually worked on the wake up and bedtime feeds...hard. 
I had to change little bits of our routine at a time.  Like, first thing in the morning, I used to nurse him directly out of his crib and then change him, he was so desperate for milk.  Then I changed to doing his diaper in between sides, then had two days of screaming while I changed him before milk.  Same kind of thing for bedtime, dropped to one side only, then had two nights of screaming at bedtime.  Bedtime was the hardest.  Best to do that on a weekend maybe.  Maybe dad can put her to bed?

He didn't start actually drinking a full serving of milk until about a month later, and only if I gave him something with it to make him thirsty (crackers, peanut butter, etc.).  Now he will drink it on it's own, but he only has one cup a day, the rest of his dairy is yogurt and cheese.
Logged
-Kim



I breastfed for a total of 2yrs, 3months, and 1week

Offline Tay

  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 79
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 3491
    • Location: Northern Ireland
Re: Thinking about ending the BF and wondering how to move to cows milk
« Reply #3 on: May 08, 2010, 01:29:11 am »
Clarabella - great advice from Anna and kimbo613, just wanted to add my experience with DD#1. I took it that from she turned one she was a big girl and was on big girl's food, that meant she had milk for breakfast with her cereal and a bottle at night (she never took milk on a sippy cup, had to be a bottle and now a regular cup) plus whatever servings of dairy throughout the day - a yogurt for an afternoon snack, cheese on toast for dinner etc.). Sometimes she would ask for more, but I started being less worried about the amounts as such iykwim.
 
Alinus -  ((hugs)) I think if we put your question on a different thread we might be able to get some more help and ideas from other mums. It would also be good to get some more info like what is his routine like, how many feeds is he getting, that kinda of stuff. Don't worry yourself too much, there's plenty of experience here to help you figure out what's going on.

xxx
Logged

Pages: [1]   Go Up
« previous next »