Swithing formula to milk/bottle to sippy

My twins will be 13 months in a few days. Since they are on a lower weight pedi said I don't have to switch to whole milk yet and continue with formula for the next few months. I started to add 1 oz of milk into their bottles just to see how they tolerate, seems they are doing OK.

So here is the 1st question-should I continue gradually increasing milk in their bottles vs formula, and for how long I do that?

2nd question-I want them to start drinking from sippy cup their formula/milk -DS is drinking from the bottle very well.DD is another story-she is spoon fed fer formula for the last few months. I don't know how to start, i red dozen articles on weaning baby from the bottle, but it does not say if baby refuses am bottle, then what you just don't give him anything?
DD drink water from sippy very well, but when I try formula in there she pushes away. DS is doing OK with sippy, I think he just not into drinking water much.

Please help me with any advice.
Thanks.

 

My babies arent quite 1 yet-but I had to spoon feed my dd her formula starting around 6 months and it SUCKS,lol. But I was so afraid that the transition would be so so difficult, we were seeing an OT at the time and she had some worries about it to. But one day I just offered the twins some water in a sippy (nubby) and they BOTH drank it, now my dd hadnt drunk anything in MONTHS so this was huge. One day I just bought some whole milk and put it in a sippy and she started drinking it. Now she gets spoon fed 8oz formula before bed but the rest of the day its whole milk from a sippy. So maybe just try offering her some whole milk instead of water in the sippy cup?

 

Here's what I did with my youngest when getting her onto a sippy.

I put milk into her sippy and gave it to her. Whatever she didn't drink went into her cereal so she was getting the milk in some form. It took patience but eventually she would drink all of her milk from the sippy.

 

My guys are low weight too; we won't have our 12 month well baby visit until they're 13 months old (long story), but I made the decision to gradually switch to milk because I was feeding Nate formula by spoon as well and got sick of it! He really does NOT like formula, and having tasted it accidentally myself I can totally see why. I started making the bottles 70/30 formula/milk when they hit 12 months, then started gradually increasing the milk and decreasing the formula. I also have been adding 1 oz or so of half-and-half to the bottles to make it higher calorie. Nate *loves* the whole milk so much more, and Jack enjoys it too. As of 2 days ago, I stopped making formula and they're completely on milk.

At the same time I started adding the milk, I also started replacing 1 of their bottles with a sippy instead. Now we're down to 1 bottle per day (plus nursing at night). They mostly "get" the sippies, but I sometimes have to hold it for them or tip it up while they hold it. I've had more luck getting them to drink milk when I serve it with meals, because I think they get thirsty while eating. They're less interested in the sippies when there's no food around.

I hope this helps. Hopefully your DD will like the taste of milk more than formula and will take to the sippy well.

Good luck!

 

Great advice, this is what kept ME sane because a few days of not drinking their milk/formula isn't the worst thing ever but in my mind it was horrible. ardon:

I did the switch to milk first (did it gradual... 2oz milk/6 formula for a couple of days, then half and half, etc. ) and then after that went to sippys. My dd took to it immediately but I just had to get the right sippy. I got her the soft spout Nuby one. :good: Great for her. My ds was a different story and was on the bottle until 18 months. When I did do the switch with him it was cold turkey. It does take about a week or so for them to get that the bottles are not coming back, so stick with it and keep strong. Have you tried a straw cup? Maybe he'd like that better?

 

Hey again! :wavey:

I offer milk at every meal, plus at snacks (twice a day), and the night time bottle (for Jack; nursing for Nate). As a PP suggested, I also add milk to their morning cereal if I don't feel like they've gotten enough.

Right now, I'm focusing on solid foods for nutrition, and milk for hydration. I do milk instead of water because it has more calories (I'm gonna fatten these guys up if it kills me!), but if your DD is eating well (lots of high fat, high calorie foods) and absolutely refuses the milk/formula, you could offer water and give things like yogurt/cheese for the calcium she needs. She seems like she likes water in her sippies, so you shouldn't have to worry about her getting dehydrated. Another idea is to add Carnation Instant Breakfast Mix to milk and see if it tempts her. I haven't resorted to this with my boys yet, but it's a nice option to boost calories and get them to drink.

I really hope that your DD likes milk better and the transition goes smoothly. For Nate, I think it was a combination of hating formula and a bottle-aversion. Switching to milk in sippies has eliminated both issues, and since he's getting most of his calories from food, I don't have to keep force feeding him formula to get his minimum daily intake.

As always, check with your ped, but this is what is working for me.

And DO NOT feel stupid!! Feeding (for me) is THE hardest thing about having babies (well, that and sleep issues, but that's another story :lol: ). I am always second-guessing myself and trying to figure out what works for my boys. I thought making the switch to milk would be a huge thing, but I'm finding that the boys love milk, and since I'm not forcing bottles on them all day long they have really gone to town with the solid foods. I can't feed these guys enough! It's very reassuring to see them eat so well, and I feel like as long as I offer them quality foods and enough liquids, they will really thrive.

We'll see what their WBV brings! Best of luck to you!!

 

You've gotten some great advice already, I'd also say keep in mind other dairy products that can also count as milk intake (yogurt, cheese, etc), especially when we first made the switch we had better luck getting the kids to eat yogurt then drink milk. We also had a lot of luck with straw cups, I don't what it is about them but when we switched to them our kids drank milk with no problem. We also started gradual first, mixing half formula and half milk and increasing the milk day by day. The kids were not bottle free until 16 months (they are also skinny minnies that needed to be fattened up) and when we dropped bottles, we dropped a bottle a week and replaced it with a sippy. Good luck!

 

My twins just Turned one on the 4th of August. And in July I started weaning them off the bottle and formula, I replaced 1 bottle of formula with a bottle of milk, alternating between, breakfast, lunch, snack, dinner and bedtime bottle. My son hated the milk at first. But then got use to it. When it seemed they liked the milk I started replacing the bottle with a sippie cup alternating the same way I did with the milk. My son would trow a fit and didn't want to hold the cup, we finally found that the nubby ones with the handles worked best for him, and my daughter uses any.. Mine are on a normal eating scdule, so they don"t drink as much milk with meals and get water or very diluted juice with snack, They won'T drink as much milk as they did formula. And if they threw a fit I just let them get it out, eventually if they were thirsty they would drink. So by their 1st bday they use a cup soley and hold it on their own, self feed with hands and are great eaters !