Switched from formula to regular milk

Hi! I'm posting over here even though the kids aren't quite one yet but I knew this is I could find some help. We switched the kids from bottles of formula to sippy cups of soy milk (they were on soy formula and doctor said to go to soy milk). The transition was pretty good. The only problem now is that they both have diaherra real bad. Now I don't know if this b/c of the milk change or if they are a bit sick (they don't act sick at all!). I have been feeding them milk products such as cheese and yogurt but I did this before with no problem when we were drinking formula. They drink water during the day, maybe only 4 ounces. I know they should drink more probably but unless I put a little juice in it they won't drink as much but I don't want to put juice in their drinks while they are having diaherra. We are doing pedilite right now so they have fluids. They drink about 24 ounces of milk daily. (8oz morning, 8oz afternoon, 8oz nighttime). Does this sound like a normal schedule? They eat good solids all day.

Sorry this really wasn't supposed to be so long but please share your experiences of the transition from formula to milk and let me know if this is normal to have some bowel problems. Nervous mom!! Thanks!!

 

My girls were on alimentum and when we switched I did it very gradually. I'd put part formula and part milk in the bottles and gradually increase the amount of milk and decrease the amount of formula. I took it slow, over almost a week. That seemed to help.

 

One of my girls had some problems transitioning to whole milk (from milk based formula). It gave her diarreah. We just introduced it really gradually. We started with the Enfamil Next Step Lipil which is like a hybrid between formula and regular milk (not sure if they make a soy version but they might). Then we introduced it mixed with milk, slowly at first, like 6oz formula to 2oz milk and then gradually increased the amount of milk. It wasn't until 13 months that they were on milk exclusively. I think some babies just need more time for their systems to develop and adjust to the new milk.

24 oz of milk also sounds like a lot to me. Your babies aren't one yet so formula is their primary source of nutrition, but after they turn one you may want to start cutting back to about 16 ozs. That's what my ped told us to do. She said too much milk can upset their stomachs. Also, too much milk can fill them up so they don't eat enough solid food or drink enough water.

HTH!

 

With regular milk, 16 oz a day is a good amount. More than that and you can get constipation. We dealt with that little side effect before I found out that they aren't supposed to drink as much milk as they did formula.

I don't know how this translates to soy milk though. What does your doctor say about the kids tolerating other dairy products? Is he going to have you try transitioning them onto real milk after they turn one?

 

We had one twin that had that problem. We put her on 2% milk for a while, and it helped. She's back on whole milk now - we just did it gradually. Not sure how that works with soy, though.