Switching from formula to milk -- HELP!

[Anonymous]

My daughter just turned one and I'm starting to try switching her from formula to milk. My ped told me to begin by replacing one of her bottles of formula with milk for a few days, see how it goes and gradually increase the milk as I decrease the formula. I tried this for the first time yesterday and offered her the milk in a sippy cup since I am also trying to get her off the bottles. She usually drinks water in a sippy cup at meals, so I put milk in it instead. She took a sip, made a gagging face and let it trickle out of her mouth. She did this several times and didn't drink any of it. So today before her nap (which is when she gets her bottles) I tried again to give her milk in the sippy cup -- no luck. I put milk in a bottle instead, she took one sip and wouldn't take anymore. Finally I just gave caved in and gave her formula, which she sucked right down. I know it's only been 1 day, but worred that she will never drink milk, and I don't know what approach to take at this point. My ped said it wasn't necessary to mix the milk in with formula to get her used to it and discouraged me from doing so (not sure why) but I"ve read a few websites that recommend that apporach for babies that have a hard time making the transition. It was suggested to mix 1/4 milk with 3/4 formula and gradually increase the milk while decreasing the formula. Can anyone tell me if you've had this issue, what you did to get your baby to drink milk and how it worked out?

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

absolutely mix the two and the ratios sound about right! This is what I did with both children...I didn't know I wasn't supposed to? also remember, this is just one day and your lovely little one is just getting used to something new. also, maybe, mix milk in with some of the food she eats??? maybe this will help her adjust?

[cmsmeade]

DS is 13 mos and does the same gagging thing you mentioned when he gets milk in the sippy -- he is getting better, now will take a sip or two before pushing it away. totally fine with water in the sippy though and sucks that right down.... i think you just have to keep offering it to her. Also-- we mixed the formula and milk in the bottle -- 4 oz forumla, 2 of milk, 3 and 3, etc over a period of a few weeks to get him used to it. now, will suck a bottle of whole milk right down! so, i know he isn't rejecting the milk per se -- just the milk in the cup! ARGH!

[Anonymous]

Just keep with it and baby will switch--took my dd about two weeks to get off formula. One word of advice--we did not heat up the milk so dd got used to drinking cold milk and it has made life a ton easier.

[Anonymous]

Don't stress too much about switching - it can wait. While our daughter swtiched with no difficulty, she has not done other things "on schedule" and thrived anyway (swtiching to sippy cup, potty training, etc.). You can try gradully mixing in milk with formula, as suggested. If that does not work, hold off and try again in another month...she will eventually switch. You may instead want to try switching to toddler formula during the transition - a more familiar taste, but more like milk in terms of nutrition (since food is a bigger part of the diet and nutritional intake). Also, since she is reluctant to give up the bottle, too, perhaps just do one thing at a time. I know that some do it all at once, cold turkey--sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. But I could not stand to see my daughter crying for her bottle because she did not want formula or milk in the sippy. She was "on the bottle" (with milk) until 2.5yo and has had no ill effects.

[Anonymous]

We tried milk alone, and that didn't work. So we mixed milk and formula for about 1-2 weeks, gradually increasing the amount of milk. That worked like a charm.

[Anonymous]

OP here -- thanks for all your replies. I'm happy to report that now (2 weeks later) my daughter is on 100% milk. She's still pretty much rejecting milk in a sippy cup, but will suck it all down from the bottle. So, now does anyone have an approach to weaning from bottle to sippy cup that has worked? I'm not quite sure how to handle this next transition.

[Anonymous]

we are having some success using this strange sippy cup made by Nuby (we bought it at BRU). the top is VERY soft and pliable - more like a bottle nipple. DS is fine with water from sippy == and whatever old sippy seems to work... but milk has been more of a challenge.

[Anonymous]

Bottle to Sippy - we kept the last bottle of the night as a bottle since this seemed to be the one my DD was most attached to but went "cold turkey" the rest of the day. We just offered her the sippy. You might need to take the "stopper" out of it at first until she gets the hang of it which is messy, but not too bad. She might not drink much milk at all the first couple days but just increase the yogurt, cheese, etc. for those days. The transition went well for us and we dropped the last bottle a week or so later.