Weaning Baby off of the Bottle and Switching to Whole Milk

I started mixing my milk with the formula 2oz at a time until the switch was made. first week 6 oz formula 2 oz Milk 2nd week 4 oz formula 4 oz milk etc.

Start mixing formula with the milk. Start with half formula and half milk. After a week or so, use 1/4 formula and the rest milk. In about 3 weeks, you should be able to give straight milk. You might have to heat is up a bit like you did with formula to take the chill off eventually she'll get used to it. As far as getting her onto the sippy, just try different cups. My one year old does not like the sippy cup but will drink from the sippy with the straw. He still is picky and most of the time I give in and give him his bottle anyway(with 3 boys and one more due any day now, I try not to hear the whining and give in to calm him down).

You might try mixing the milk with formula, a little at a time. Maybe give her 1/4 milk and 3/4 formula for a few days, then 1/2 milk and 1/2 formula for a few days, etc., until she gets used to the taste - then gradually use more milk and less formula. It worked with mine - good luck!

Combine formula with milk will you are only giving her milk.
Give her milk in a sippy when she is a little extra hungry,usually they are les resistent.
I used to tell my son when i gave him water or milk from a sippy which one it was so he started to figure out sippys were for anything,not only water.

Hi!
Here is what I did. When we went to his 1 yr. appt. and the Dr. said no more bottles, we just went home and packed them up and that was that. No more bottles. We offered him his formula in the sippy cups that were most similar to the bottle...the kinds with the silicone tops. He did just fine with those. Then eventually we started putting the formula/milk in regular sippy cups and he did just fine. Hopefully if you do that, your baby will be ok with it too.
For switching to milk, our Dr. said the same thing about it as she did for the bottles. No more formula. Well, he didn't take to that one as well so what we did was mixed up formula and then did a 75/25 mix of formula to milk. After a day or two doing that we changed it to 50/50 for a day or two and then 25/75 and then went to 100% milk only. He wouldn't ever finish all that was offered to him though so we ended up adding a bit of Carnation Instant Breakfast- No Sugar Added French Vanilla powder to the milk. Problem solved. Drinks it all gone every time. And I am ok with having to add is because it adds protein, vitamins, etc... When we decide to stop adding the instant breakfast powder to his milk we will just eventually wean it out.
Hope this helps and best of luck with the transition!

I always have to warn of kids like my stuborn little OCD. We followed the same advice that worked for my older child like a charm, but for my little one it backfired. I offered a bottle of water or a cup of milk for a few days until we woke up and the bottle was still full. I figured she had switched to the cup. NO, the little stinker quit drinking all together. She would take her full sippy cup from one adult to another, the adult would empty out the "bad" milk and refill it. An hour later we would repeat. By 4 am three days later, she woke up completly dehydrated. We were out of town and took no bottles with us, my dear sister made a mad run to WalMart at 4 am to bring us back a bottle. I told her I would never take it away from her again. Finally at 3 she decided she was a big girl and didnt want it anymore. Personally I was shocked, I though she was going to take the dang thing to Kindergarten with her and I was fine and dandy with that as long as she stayed hydarated!

I am right there with you, my little girl will be one on the 22nd:) However, my advice is a little different. I did not want her to associate a bottle with whole milk, she has to learn that it will only be in her sippy cup, you know. So, for me, I never put milk into their bottles. (She is my 4th, so I have done this a few times:) So, for me, I started putting formula in a sippy cup first, and then, started mixing it with milk. I usually start out with half of each, and work my way up. Really, she may resist, 2 of mine did, one did not, but she will get it at some point. I tend to supplement with other dairy during the process too, lots of cheese, yougurt etc. As far as the bottles, we start dropping one at a time, the morning one is first, followed by the nap time bottle, and then the before bed bottle (our hardest one to give up for sure!) She does not have to be totally done by her 1st birthday, just be sure you are working toward the goal..some of mine took until 14 months to give up that last bottle!! I wish us all luck!! ~A.~

We added the milk slowly to the formula until it was nothing but milk. Each week we would add like 2 oz of whole milk to the formula as well as made the cereal with milk. My daughter was easier to transition since her formula was milk-based already. My son was a soy formula baby due to his intolerance of the extra iron in the milk-based ones, so he was a bit harder to transition since we had to be careful about allergies. Both kids are doing very well, ages 5 and 8.

As for the transition from bottle to cup, if the child gets thirsty enough they will drink from the cup. You just have to be strong and persistent. It was hard for me too, but they did eventually go to a sippy.

J. S.

cold turkey. my son had his last bottle of formula at night and the next morning he was on 2% milk. i was told to put him on 2% first, not whole milk. i put it in his bottle and he seemed ok with it. he doesn't care for whole milk yet so i'm keeping him on 2% for now. the only time i give him a bottle is in the morning with his milk before he goes to daycare with my husband. and i'll give him another bottle at night. that is the only time he gets a bottle. try getting a different sippy cup and using that one during the day for milk only. my son seems to know what sippy cup his drinks go in. that wasn't intentional but it seems to work. good luck. oh, be sure not to get milk that has growth hormones in it. borden, schepps, and oak farms don't have growth hormones.

I do not remember how I took my babies off the bottle, but switching to milk is easy (just a process).

First, mix 1/2 ounce of milk into 6 ounces of formula. Next, mix 1 ounce milk with 6 ounces formula (do this 2 times). Then, mix 2 ounce milk with 6 ounces formula (do this 3 times).

Now you have an 8 ounce bottle. Continue upping the milk an ounce at a time and reducing the formula an ounce at a time. Increase the times you give each ratio to give her more time to get used to each one.

It usually takes about 1 to 2 weeks, but in the long run it is a LOT cheaper. Even at $5 a gallon for milk.

Be patient and good luck!

Blessings,

P. <><

This may sound really silly, but it worked...

When I was little, our house was broken into and we had a few things stolen. So my mom told my little sister that the burglar stole all her bottles. Any time she asked for a bottle, my mom said, "Oh, I'm sorry honey, but the burglar took all the bottles. We'll have to drink out of a big girl cup instead." And it worked. :)

Also, I have heard of having a "Bottle Give Away" party. You pack up all the bottles with your daughter, put them in a gift bag, and hang them somewhere outside (on a tree, etc.). Then tell her that a special fairy is coming to take the bottles and give them to kids who don't have bottles. The next day, take her out and show her that the bag of bottles is gone and there's a new bag hanging up with a special toy in it. I didn't do this because I heard about it after we had already weaned, but I think we'll try it with the next one.

Good luck! Let us know what works!

I agree I added 1/4 milk to her formula then after a 4 days I would increase it until she was just drinking milk. As far as the bottle I just packed them all in a bag and put them in the garbage. She didn't even mind I think I was the one who had the hardest time with it :).

I would start mixing milk a little at a time, maybe 1/4 at 1st then 1/2 & 1/2 and so on until she's used to only milk. As for bottle to sippy, try giving only a sippy at mealtimes and work your way to bottles only before sleeping then maybe just at night then not at all. We went cold turkey no bottles at 11mths (he's been taking a sippy cup since 6mths as well as bottles) and it didn't even phase my son.

Happy early birthday to your daughter :)

Hey A.,
I am in the same boat. My daughter is turning 1 on 3 weeks and she has just started refusing formula. My dr. said to slowly mix part whole milk, part formula until they get slowly adjusted to the idea. Guess I will be starting that today myself. Good luck

My daughter will be 1 on the 21st. We just gave up the bottle! I started with the mid-day bottle; I put her formula in a sippy cup and she never complained. After 3 days, I did the morning bottle the same way and 3 days later I did the evening bottle. It was easy; she didn't complain at all. Now we're working on the milk part. As soon as she was done with the bottle, I started adding a little bit of whole milk to her cup of formula; she hasn't even noticed but her poops are harder. After a few days, I plan to add more milk less formula until we get to the end of the can and then we are done.

Good luck!

If she is already using a sippy cup for water; and is pretty good at using then I would just stop giving her the bottle. I did that with my daughter at around 1 year of age and she started using a sippy cup exclusively b/c there were no other options. They prefer the bottle; however, if you just provide no bottle option then they don't have a choice. It will probably take a few days and she won't look back :) Have you tried mixing formula and whole milk together? Maybe you can just add a little more whole milk everyday until the only thing in the sippy cup is whole milk.

I mixed milk w/ formula until the formula was gone. On the week my daughter turned one I just stopped giving her a bottle- we just decided to switch and that was that. She didn't have any problem with it. My daughter doesn't really like milk much though but I can get her to drink some and I give her yogurt smoothies, string cheese, and cottage cheese to make sure she gets enough calcium.

HI! Congratulations on your little girl! I just have to tell you with my first daughter, I changed her from formula to milk at one year (happy to do so as soon as she turned one) but now, she's 9 and I wish I had not done that! I have a little boy who is two now and I still give him the Formula for Older Babies rather than switch to milk. If you do switch to milk, I suggest buying organic....the regular kind has so many hormones in it (because now days in order to get cows producing more milk and make more $$, the large dairy companies inject the cows with hormones so they make more milk) So my sweet NINE year old girl has hormone issues that when I was growing up you didn't see until puberty at around 12! You hear of girls going through puberty early now and its because of hormones in the milk (and they do the same with chicken, but it doesn't concern me as much) Just my two cents...but when I saw your email it reminded me of how I got my daughter onto milk as soon as I could and I just couldn't help but let you know I wish I hadn't. Many kids have allergies to milk & dairy now too. So I think the Formula for older babies is good...you can get the generic powder kind at Walmart, Kroger & Target for about $12/can, which is less expensive than milk. If you're sure you want to change her to milk, you just need to put 1/4 milk and 3/4 formula for a couple of days, then go to 1/2 & 1/2 and finally 3/4 milk and 1/4 formula. THen by the time you go to full milk bottles, she's ok with it. Good luck!

My daughter never would drink milk after formula or breast milk. She also won't drink any drink cold now, she's weird :-) She does however eat a cup of yogurt and cheese sticks, etc. for calcium which is the only thing in cow's milk a human needs anyways and is found in many other foods. Plus the Vitamin D needed for our bodies to be able to absorb the calcium, which can also be received from sunlight.
I did read this online:
"Some kids don't like cows milk at first because it's different from the breast milk or formula they're used to. If that's the case, it's OK to mix whole milk with formula or breast milk and gradually adjust the mixture so that it eventually becomes 100% cow's milk."
I never did this with my other kids, but a friend of mine is doing it now with her son. My other children went from breast and/or formula in bottle- to milk in bottle-then milk in cup! Maybe why it was easier for me????

When we weaned our first daughter off of formula, we gradually began diluting her formula. Periodically, we would offer other things to drink. The time eventually came when her formula was diluted enough that she didn't want it anymore and she would take other liquids. As for weaning to the sippy cup, we offered formula in the bottle and other liquids in the sippy cup. So when she didn't want formula anymore, she just switched to the sippy cup. Since your daughter already drinks from a sippy cup, maybe this will work for her.

Hope this helps!

Meg

Just put the formula in the sippy cup and don't give her a bottle anymore. Then, do the same thing with the milk -- replace it for the formula. I know it sounds stupidly simple, but that really is all you have to do. She may not like it for awhile, but she eventually will start drinking it. Just make sure she is getting calcium through other foods if she resists the milk. My daughter accepted the milk pretty quickly. My son did not, so I flavored the milk. He still prefers strawberry milk over regular milk which my husband doesn't like, but I figure at least he's getting the calcium and Vitamin D from milk that he needs. Also, worthy of mentioning is that my pediatrician told me not to worry if my kids didn't drink milk because there are lots of kids who are allergic to dairy and get their calcium from other resources. Good luck!

I might get chastised for this. We didn't give her milk in a bottle ever. The bottles went away with the formula. She, too, would not drink the milk. At first, I just kept trying the milk and gave her juice mixed with water. But then she dropped some weight and the doctor was concerned. So, I started putting just a little bit of sugar in the milk and I heated it. She drank it like that, no problem. She is almost two now, and I still have to heat the milk because she just doesn't like cold milk. I mix it with ovaltine or malted milk, which is good for her anyway because it has vitamins, and the malted milk doesn't even have sugar in it. With the ovaltine I just use a tiny amount. It barely even turns the milk dark.

A.
www.greenbabydiaperservice.com

Hi, there is no rule you have to wean to milk. In fact, if you do a little research on pasteurized milk you might decide not to give her milk. I give my daughter green drinks and vitamins with calcium plus I make sure she gets outside in the sun with no sunscreen for vitamin D. Her doctors have no problem with it. We got the green drink from the chiropractor. NanoGreens or Berry Greens 8000 are two good ones that kids like. Good luck. This stage of transition is always fun. Enjoy every minute of it. They grow up so fast.

I always mixed the milk with formula a little at a time and slowly work the formula out. I know some of the rejection was that milk i usually served cold and the formula was warm. I warmed up the milk and formula mixture and late jus tthe milk and that made it a lot easier. I didn't worry so much about the sippy until the transition from formula to milk was settled. That part came easier later. Good luck!

I started mixing small amounts of milk with my daughter's formula in her bottle. Just a little at first, and then gradually more and more until it was almost all milk. She still balked a little when she had to drink it straight from the cup, but once she was thirsty enough from the food she was eating, she drank it. If she still doesn't like it, don't worry, just make sure she gets some calciom from other sources. She'll learn to like it. Good luck!

I weaned my daughter now 16 month from bottle to sippy cup by just throwing away all the bottles and only using sippy cups. I used the nuby soft sippy cups because they act like a nipple and are as soft. I hate those hard sippy cups and they do not contain that plastic poison that has been going on. That was the easiest. They are only a 1.50 at walmart and are in the baby section.
Formula to milk......When I first started my daughter on whole milk I would give my daughter half formula and half milk. So I would make 4oz of formula and pour the rest milk. After a few month I tried all milk and hooray she was on whole milk and we never had to buy formula again. Hope this helps.

HI A.! Don't sweat the little stuff... :-) There is no need to wean off her formula, if she doesn't want the whole milk it's probably because she is not ready for whole milk yet. Babies have a way of regulating themselves. You can try Carnation follow up formula first and then later the whole milk. You want to make sure that she does get formula or milk, not neither. Best wishes!

I haven't read your responses yet, but I always put milk/formula in a sippy cup, so my son didn't relate bottle to milk only. Then when we weaned him to whole milk only, I did a mixture...starting with more formula/less milk and gradually making it more milk and less formula.
Hope this works

Try 2%, you have all of the good stuff the child needs but with out all of the fat.