transition from no more formula and bottles to milk

When do you give the milk? Like with meals or with/as snacks? When do you do juice/water? What do you give them when they first wake up since they are used to a bottle of formula? Do you do it gradually or cold turkey? What would a typical snack be now?

I know we will be given to ok when they turn 1 in 2 weeks to make the switch and I have so many questions I figured I'd get a jump start on the preparations. Thanks in advance!

 

When we first started we did it like formula at the same times pretty much but only for a few weeks. We then transitioned so they get milk with their meals and then juice/water between meals to drink if they are thirsty. We didn't get rid of the last bottle with milk before bed, until about 13.5 months.

I didn't see the rest, we transistion slow. Mixed milk with the formula for a while til they got used to it. Started with 3/4 formula 1/4 milk, the 1/2 and 1/2 and then 1/4 formula and 3/4 milk and then all milk.

 

We gave the first bottle right after breakfast. So, when we switched, we just gave them a sippy of milk with the meal, and the rest of their meals for the day. If they didn't finish, the cup went into the fridge where they could get it when thirsty. We went from formula in bottles one day to milk in sippies the next. If they were thirsty between meals, they got water. We didn't give any juice until they were closer to two.

 

Ditto Sharon... I just switched them with no fanfare. I didn't mix formula with the milk, either. The first morning was rough because there was no bottle of milk and I had two sippies thrown right at me, but the next morning all was fine. We stopped the last one for the day at 13 months. Same thing, they got a sippy at dinner and not bottle. The natives were ANGRY with me, but were fine the next night.

alexis

 

I gradually started replacing the bottles with sippys and meals. First we gave up the lunch bottle, so they got lunch and a sippy instead of lunch then bottle. Then I gave up the snack bottle at 3:45 and replaced it with a snack. Then gave up the breakfast bottle, and they got breakfast and a sippy, then finally the last to go was the bedtime bottle. It took about 3 weeks to get rid of the lunch, snack, and breakfast bottle.

 

Around 11.5mos I started introducing sippies of milk with meals to see how they would respond to the milk. Once I knew they could handle it I started replacing bottles slowly. I think at the time they were still doing 3 bottles of formula a day. When the woke, before afternoon nap, and at bedtime. I first switched the afternoon bottle to straight milk. Then a few days later I switched the morning bottle to milk and finally the bedtime bottle. I didn't take away bottles at this time. Actually we still have a bedtime bottle of milk. I stayed on the same time schedule and just switched over slowly.

Good Luck!! It's a lot less expensive

 

We just switched them from formula in bottles to milk in sippies, we didn't really do a transition. So our routine was a bottle first thing, so when we switched we gave them a sippy of milk first thing in the morning. I will say that for us we ended up switching to straw sippies since they didn't like having to tip the sippy cups back to drink.

I also did milk with meals and in between meals we just give water. We still don't give any juice.

 

I tossed it all, cold turkey, the same day. Luckily, my girls took right to it and I've never looked back. In the beginning, I would offer their sippy of milk as soon as I went in to get them in the a.m. as we were changing diapers. They would then get it at every meal and I would also give them the sippy throughout the day between meals to get them used to drinking it.

 

I wanted a slow transition for the girls. We started offering milk in their sippies at 11 months. At that time they were on 3 bottles and the first week (at 11 months) I substituted 2 oz milk, the next week 4 oz, then 6, then finally all 8 oz were milk. I never heated the milk, but added it after warming the formula so they wouldn't get used to warm milk. They took to it fine and seem to really like the milk. We are just about to drop their morning bottle which would leave us with the nighttime one. Good luck!

 

So once you make the switch to milk & only offer it at mealtimes, do they really drink enough of it? Isn't 16oz or so what they're supposed to drink? I have a hard time imagining my girls drinking 5-6oz or anything while they're eating.

 

We started gradually switching from bottles to sippies (but still using formula) at about 11 months. I think I switched one a week or something. By 1 year, we were down to 2 bottles a day, at morning and bedtime. I just kept those as bottles for another few weeks, but switched all the formula to milk. I did that cold turkey -- they didn't even seem to notice. We had also been giving the formula almost cold (we just nuked it for a few seconds), so we did that with the milk too, but only for a week or so. After that we gave it straight out of the fridge.

Once they were OK with cold milk, I switched the morning bottle to a sippy, and started giving them their breakfast right away (instead of 1/2 hr after they woke up and had a bottle). A couple of weeks after that, instead of offering them a bottle at bedtime, we just offered them their sippies from dinner again. They took them quite happily and never gave any sign that they missed the bottles.

It did take a little while for them to learn to drink a lot from the sippies. By a few weeks after we had completely given up bottles, they were doing much better. In the meantime, they didn't drink very much, but this is OK. (The 16 oz is a maximum, not a minimum. If they're drinking MORE than that, it means they're probably not getting enough calories from food. At least that's how I understand it. Mine drank barely 5 oz a DAY when we first switched to sippies. Now they drink maybe 10 oz a day, but they eat a lot of yogurt & cheese.)

As far as when to give them -- every time I switched a bottle to a sippy, I also switched to giving it with a meal or snack (in their high chairs) as opposed to by itself. This actually made things a lot easier -- more free time with no feeding!

Re: juice and water -- we still don't give juice. (I think they drink it at daycare occasionally.) When we first started giving them meals & snacks (at 7 months or so), we started offering water in a sippy that we held for them. So when we started giving up bottles, those water sippies got temporarily replaced with milk sippies. But in general, they have water with snacks, and milk with meals.

It sounds so complicated -- but really, it doesn't matter all that much what you do. Unless your kids are used to falling asleep with the bottle in their mouths at nap & bedtime (in which case you might have a small struggle), they will probably be remarkably adaptable. And if it takes till 15 months, that's fine too.

(Sorry so long... I wanted to cover everything.)