Transitioning over to whole milk

We started giving the boys whole milk at lunch instead of formula (per pedi). The one DS does okay with it; he doesn't really seem to "miss" his formula but doesn't always drink a whole bunch of the milk either. The other DS HATES it. He cries and whines ... and cries and whines. So today I gave it to them in a sippy (they don't do really well with those yet - they will drink from the ones that have really rubbery nipples if I hold it for them but won't hold it up themselves) and the one who hates it didn't whine/cry as much. How long did it take your LO's to start liking milk ... do any of you have a LO that won't take milk??? If so, what did you do? Should I try 2% milk?? I don't want to offer it/take away another bottle until I see that they are drinking the milk better ... could take awhile. Who knew that this whole starting table foods and switching to whole milk has to be rocket science!! :laughing:

 

I only gave milk in sippy cups. I wanted them to know that bottles were for formula so they knew what to expect. We had to add Carnation Instant Breakfast to their milk to increase calorie intake and I really think the vanilla flavor helped with the transition.

 

I second the Carnation Instant Breakfast, we also had to add that to both of our twins milk to up their calories and that was big aid in the transition to milk. Also you could try adding a tiny bit of flavored syrup to the milk.
Keep in mind too that you can also supplement their milk intake with yogurt, cheese, pudding, cottage cheese. On days where my kids did not drink a lot of milk, I would give them more dairy foods. Good luck!

 

[quote name='Izak&Aaden's_mommy' date='10 October 2009 - 01:56 PM' timestamp='1255197369' post='1475681']
We started giving the boys whole milk at lunch instead of formula (per pedi). The one DS does okay with it; he doesn't really seem to "miss" his formula but doesn't always drink a whole bunch of the milk either. The other DS HATES it. He cries and whines ... and cries and whines. So today I gave it to them in a sippy (they don't do really well with those yet - they will drink from the ones that have really rubbery nipples if I hold it for them but won't hold it up themselves) and the one who hates it didn't whine/cry as much. How long did it take your LO's to start liking milk ... do any of you have a LO that won't take milk??? If so, what did you do? Should I try 2% milk?? I don't want to offer it/take away another bottle until I see that they are drinking the milk better ... could take awhile. Who knew that this whole starting table foods and switching to whole milk has to be rocket science!! :laughing:
[/quote]

 

Have you tried the honey bear with a straw cup? from talkingchild.com
Mine only played with the other sippies until I ordered this one. Within a week, they were sipping away
and now use the munckin straw. No more bottles!
DS who use to hate bottles and only drank a little bit at time now LOVES his sippies and walks around with them all day long (with water), the ones with milk they drink in 5 minutes or less!

 

My kids couldnt do the tip up sippy cups until closer to 13-14 months. Prior to that we used the straw cups.
They also didnt like Plain whole milk so we would:

mix plain whole milk with vanilla silk
or
mix plain whole milk with carnation instant breakfast
or
mix plain whole milk with nesquick

 

I mixed formula with the whole milk and each week I would add 1oz more milk and take away 1oz formula. By the time it was all whole milk they didn't even know the difference, or didn't seem to care. They are getting better and better at sippies, but still have the bedtime bottle. It took them a while to get anything from the sippy cups and when they fussed I would break down and give them a bottle. They have an easier time with the cups with two handles. My pedi said to keep them on whole milk because they still need the more fat. My friends pedi told her to switch to 2% on her daughters 2nd year appt. Her daughter is 45% on chart for weight. Hope this helps!

 

if you do some research, you'll find that cows milk is not required for your kids to drink. my kids have laways had yogurt shakes (yogurt and milk/or soy) and cheese... but never drunk milk in the glass. I wouldn't get that upset about it. cows milk can cause alot of issues for kids anyway.

Teri