milk in bottles or sippies to transition?

We're trying to get one of our twins onto milk now. They've both had dairy issues and have been on Alimentum for most of their lives. I finally got Joel on 100% regular formula a few weeks ago, so now I think I'm ready to try him on milk (and get rid of at least part of that terrible formula bill!) I started for the first time yesterday by giving him a tiny bit of milk in a sippy, and he did really well. I tried again this morning- he didn't want anything to do with it! I was wondering, should I try mixing it w/ formula in his bottle, or is it best to keep the two tastes separate and keep the milk in the sippy with formula still in the bottle? OR keep the tastes separate, but put milk in his familiar bottle? Also, do I need to replace their formula feeding w/ milk- by giving them just milk at certain times a day? Or do I just make milk a part of their meals?

Thanks so much!

 

I can only say what worked for us.

We only ever put whole milk in sippies, straight, no mixing. At first I did do half/half with BM in a bottle to make sure there were no major dairy issues. But after that once a week we eliminated one nursing/bottle session with a sippy of milk.

We didn't have any issues.

 

We went cold turkey, milk in sippies and never looked back. There was a short period of time (about a week) in the beginning where their intake decreased dramatically while they were getting used to it, but within about a month they were up to about 12-16 oz. per day.

 

We did it a little differently. I didn't want to make too many changes at once (scared first time mom here!)

We starting mixing to start ... 1/2 formula and 1/2 milk ... then slowly starting upping the milk until they were getting full bottles of milk.

So, on their first birthday they were doing 8 oz bottles of full milk ... we did that for about 2 weeks. Then we started dropping bottles and told daycare to give sippies with milk instead of water with meals and snacks ... we still kept the single 8oz bottle before bed. Then a couple of days ago we gave them a sippy with milk before bed instead of a bottle. They were fine. So we are officially bottle free!

For us baby steps worked ... I know a lot of people have done cold turkey and that worked as well. Good luck!

 

We did almost the exact same - switched from formula to milk while still doing bottles (half formula, half milk, then upped the milk over 3 weeks), and did water only in sippies for a few months before the transition (so I KNEW they could drink out of the sippies). Once all milk was well-established, we switched to milk in sippies and ditched all bottles cold turkey one day. They did fine. BTW my pedi said it was fine if they were off the bottle by 15 mos, so don't stress it if it takes you longer than 12 months.
They preferred to drink water out of their sippies for a while, but I kept offering milk at all meals, and now they are finally drinking a good amount of milk at all meals. We still do a milk sippy first thing in the morning and last thing at night (replaced their morning and night bottles).
To save you some trouble and waste: many of us at TS use the same milk sippy all day - wipe it and return it to fridge if it hasn't been out too long, so it's ready for the next meal. If it has been out for an hour, I dump it, rinse it in cold water and put the empty one in the fridge. (Otherwise I would be washing sippies for an hour at night! ) They also get water between meals in a different sippy (we live in Hawaii). That stays out all day.

QUOTE(caba @ May 7 2008, 05:52 PM) [snapback]760879[/snapback]
We did it a little differently. I didn't want to make too many changes at once (scared first time mom here!)

We starting mixing to start ... 1/2 formula and 1/2 milk ... then slowly starting upping the milk until they were getting full bottles of milk.

So, on their first birthday they were doing 8 oz bottles of full milk ... we did that for about 2 weeks. Then we started dropping bottles and told daycare to give sippies with milk instead of water with meals and snacks ... we still kept the single 8oz bottle before bed. Then a couple of days ago we gave them a sippy with milk before bed instead of a bottle. They were fine. So we are officially bottle free!

For us baby steps worked ... I know a lot of people have done cold turkey and that worked as well. Good luck!

 

Different things work for different children. I always kept the two separate. Formula in bottles and milk or water in sippies. It may just be that he needs to get used to the sippy or that the new taste is odd for him. Are you doing the two different liquids at the same temp??

 

I transitioned by replacing a bottle of formula with a sippy of milk. When we transitioned, just past one year, the boys were getting 3 bottles of formula right before meals. So...we started off replacing the dinner bottle with a sippy of milk given with dinner. Did that for a week, then replaced the breakfast bottle with a sippy of milk with breakfast. AFter a week of that, replaced the lunch bottle with a sippy of milk offered with lunch. Between meals they are offered a sippy of water if they are thirsty or for snack time. I did not mix formula with milk, and I tried to put milk in a bottle and they refused to drink it...but would drink a little from a sippy.