Switching to regular milk....

So in about two weeks I want to try and switch the kids to regular milk. I have heard to do it slowly. They are drinking 8oz, three times a day. Do I keep it at 8oz? Should I put 1oz milk, 7oz formula? And how long should I keep it like that before doing say 2oz milk, 6oz formula, etc. I couldn't wait to switch to milk and now I am finding myself extremely nervous and sad about it. <_< Go figure. So I asking you ladies who have btdt to help a me out! TIA! :help:

 

I will be making the switch in about 1.5 months. My pediatrician told me to introduce it slowly. So maybe throw in a snack drink with 4oz. Or do 4oz of milk and then give another with formula. Not sure if it's okay to mix with formula. I am curious though.... good luck!

 

Liz, when we switched, I did this...

2oz milk, 6oz form for 4 days
4oz milk, 4oz form for 4 days

and then by then I knew they were fine with it and I just switched them altogether. I am sure they will be fine, and you will love the extra $$!!! :hug99:

 

did you do whole milk?

 

My ped. said that you really didn't have to switch it slowly if they are on a milk based formula. Hmm. . . . what to do!?!

 

We switched from soy formula to soy milk at 9 months per peds recommendations.

Honestly, I have done it both ways with my kids. With the twins, I was a little more cautious, because they have had SO many issues with formula and reflux, so that's why I introduced it more slowly. With my other kids, I just did it all at once, and they did fine as well. I think as long as you are going from a milk-based to a whole milk, or a soy-based to a soy milk, then going at it all at once, you shouldn't have any problems.

 

We did it absolutely cold turkey. They were on 3 bottles a day (7 oz each) and one day we just filled them with milk instead of formula. They did not seem to even notice. It was such a relief to be done with formula! DH returned a whole case of it to Costco and came home with a few hundred $$$ cash.

FWIW, they were on milk-based formula and had no issues with allergies or reflux. We had been giving the formula cold from the fridge for several weeks by that point, which probably helped.

 

We are doing it cold turkey. I tried doing formula in a sippy in the same location that we do bottles - DID NOT WORK. DS just flipped out for two days. If I was going to put him in the bouncy, there better be a bottle coming his way with formula. So, lesson learned.

Now, I put them in their feeding chairs in the kitchen. They get whole milk in a sippy cup during lunch. Now, they aren't drinking as much as they would have getting that 8oz bottle yet, but I am guessing that will increase over time. They also get water in a different sippy.

They still get 2 bottles of formula (8 oz each). They are on 3 meals a day plus an afternoon snack. Their meals are substantial and well-rounded, so we're getting close.

I'm excited to get to the pedi in the next couple of weeks and tell her that we're almost done with bottles AND formula!!! I can't wait to save some money on that.

BTW - we buy organic whole milk and it doesn't have the long shelf life of other milk. So, cheaper, but I can see that for a while we'll be throwing some away.

 

QUOTE(Minette @ Apr 25 2007, 08:43 AM) [snapback]233384[/snapback]
We did it absolutely cold turkey. They were on 3 bottles a day (7 oz each) and one day we just filled them with milk instead of formula. They did not seem to even notice. It was such a relief to be done with formula! DH returned a whole case of it to Costco and came home with a few hundred $$$ cash.

FWIW, they were on milk-based formula and had no issues with allergies or reflux. We had been giving the formula cold from the fridge for several weeks by that point, which probably helped.



I was wondering when you started? cause my twins had no reflux issues either and we do milk based formula?

 

Thank you guys so much! :wub:

I can't wait to save that extra money...more cute clothes for them!

 

My doctor said not to worry about doing it slowly if they do not have a milk allergy (if you feed a milk based formula or bf and drink milk you would already know) and not to offer it in a bottle b/c it will be harder to break the bottle. So we started giving them milk in their sippy the day after we got the okay. They took to it just fine. They are offered whole milk 2x a day, breakfast and dinner and a juice/water sippy for lunch. They still get 3 bottles of formula throughout the day as well.

 

We went cold turkey too. Mine had mild reflux & were on soy formula, but once they got milk, you couldn't convince them to touch formula again. Oh, and for my babies, the reflux disappeared.