Weaning off formula

[Anonymous]

Please walk me through how you weaned your baby off formula. Did you do it right at 12 months? What if they aren’t the best eater - did you still supplement with formula or switch to milk? I’m feeling a little overwhelmed at the thought of navigating this.

[Anonymous]

There is nothing magical about 12 months. If you run out of formula a couple weeks early, it’s ok to transition. If your child doesn’t like milk, they don’t have to drink it. There are many other ways to get calcium/ nutrients. I always just go cold turkey. Baby one day gets milk in their bottle instead of formula. 2 of mine like milk, 2 don’t. We make sure it’s just one piece of their diet.

You can always mix it with the formula and ween them off it and onto milk. Honestly it smelled really gross and it’s why we just switch over.

Toddler formula is unnecessary unless medically indicated. It is important to start consuming more solids and the formula will fill them up too much.

[Anonymous]

We moved on to warm milk. Started with one part milk and four parts formula and gradually increased the milk in the ratio. We took about a month since she was only getting two bottles a day at that point.

And she started eating more once she was off formula.

[Anonymous]

We mixed formula and milk and gradually increased the ratio of milk, but never heated the milk up bc we didn't want DD to only drink warm milk.

[Anonymous]

Same as others. A few weeks before first birthday I did 75% formula and 25% cows milk. After a few days, I changed the ratio to 50/50 then a few days later to 25/75. By the end of a week she was taking 100% cows milk without incident. After a month on cows milk we went from bottles to sippy cups (save for a bedtime bottle). That was a harder transition for mine but it worked.

Mine was not really interested in table foods either, but it evened out just fine. My pediatrician said at age one kids should be offered three meals a day plus snacks and you should decrease the volume (and dependency) on formula/milk in favor of food. It’s not and overnight switch for every kid so do what works well and is healthiest for your child. For us this meant providing meals and snacks as recommended, and also providing a sippy cup of milk first thing at the morning, before naps, before bedtime, and at meals. Don’t be surprised if your child naturally decreases the volume of milk they consume in favor of food. He also should be offering water in a sippy cup.

[Anonymous]

I started at 11 months. Someone told me to take it slow because they won't like the taste of cow milk, but I just gave her a whole bottle/sippy cup of it one day and she liked it just fine. I think the only thing she noticed was that it was cold (I prepared room-temp formula bottles for the most part).

[Anonymous]

With my first, morning after his first birthday, I just gave him a bottle of whole milk (warmed, like his formula was) and he drank it down no problem. If he’s balked, I would have done increasing ratios as other suggested.

After two weeks of that, we started dropping bottles, one every 2 weeks or so, replacing them with sippy cups of cold milk with meals. He was totally off bottles and drinking while milk from a sippy at meals by 14-15 months.

[Anonymous]

OP here - thanks for sharing your experiences. If your baby was in daycare, did you send cow's milk with them? Or just offer cow's milk at home (in the morning/evening)?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here - thanks for sharing your experiences. If your baby was in daycare, did you send cow's milk with them? Or just offer cow's milk at home (in the morning/evening)?

Not a daycare parent but it depends on how much cows milk they drink at home in the morning and evening. My kids love milk so in order not to exceed 16 to 20 ounces a day, neither drank milk during the day. Plus more than 16 ounces would constipate my youngest.