TTMA going from formula & bottles to milk & sippy cups

[lindy04aggie]

At their 12 month well check yesterday, the pediatrician gave us a raise told us that we can stop buying formula.  Now she wants them to have 12-18 ounces of whole milk a day, three times a day with breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  I'm not as much worried about them drinking milk as I am them not having their night time bottle... which usually helps to put them to sleep at night.

How did you change your routine?  I'm thinking that maybe instead of a bottle, we will do PJs, nighttime lotion, and sit with the lights dimmed in their room and read a book in the big chair...  

Suggestions welcome.  TIA  

[MellyKnu]

Our situation was a little different since I was nursing morning and bedtime rather than giving bottles, but I think it still just comes down to changing routines. I cut out the bedtime nursing first, but still rocked her in the dark with her sound machine. She fussed when no boob immediately presented itself, but it only lasted maybe a minute before she snuggled into me and it only happened for a few days. Then we cut out the morning nurse and it was NBD because she was so distracted by all of the things that a brand new day brings.

We had been giving her sippies with water for a few months, so adding sippies of milk to her repertoir was NBD. She was pretty excited about it, actually. We give her milk with meals and water in between. We don't really measure her milk intake, though. We go through a half gallon a week, but she goes to DC so she's getting it there, too.

One thing for you to be aware of: when you cut out the formula, THEY WILL ALWAYS BE HUNGRY! Between her three meals she demands lots of snacks. And she makes sure you know she's unhappy otherwise.

[shytimes]

We do it a bit differently . We essentially made the switch from formula to whole milk cold turkey, but she still gets them in bottles.... she still gets water from a straw cup at mealtime. Her bedtime bottle is between 6:45 and 7 and then she plays and we do pjs a bit of play and then bed.

I'm wondering if you can start moving milk to earlier in the process? It does seem like it will be hard to get 12-18oz in at meals .... because then bellies will be super full. You might still be able to do a post dinner bottle that isn't directly before bed.

[lindy04aggie]

I'm worried about going back to rocking to put them to sleep. We cut that out when we did sleep training, and I'd hate to go backwards. But I realize that things might have to change too... so who the hell knows.

Th good thing about our daycare is snacks... they get three. Once between breakfast and lunch and two between lunch and dinner.

[emmuffy]

We haven't quit the nighttime bottle. Our 12 month appt is next week so I will see what the dr says, but I'm not too inclined to give it up yet. We switched from formula to milk gradually (3/4 then 1/2 then 1/4 formula to milk ratios). This was in part in case she demonstrated any adverse reaction to cow's milk and in part to get her used to the new flavour

[supermorena]

Following this because we'll be headed that direction soon. Anyone else's LO have a hard time figuring out sippy cups? We have a bunch of different ones and he loves the water, so that's not the issue. But he can't seem to figure out how to hold and drink to get more than a few sips, even with lots of help. I don't picture being able to cut out bottles for quite some time... Any suggestions?

[lindy04aggie]

supermorena - we use these and they took to them right way.

Nuby No Spill Sippy Cups


emmuffy - gradual introduction is a good idea, thank you!

[MellyKnu]

Mar 3, 2017 12:41:42 GMT -5 supermorena said:

Following this because we'll be headed that direction soon. Anyone else's LO have a hard time figuring out sippy cups? We have a bunch of different ones and he loves the water, so that's not the issue. But he can't seem to figure out how to hold and drink to get more than a few sips, even with lots of help. I don't picture being able to cut out bottles for quite some time... Any suggestions?

We tried a few different ones. We gave her a couple weeks with them before trying another, to make sure we weren't just confusing her with musical sippies. The one we landed on was the Munchkin Miracle 360. They have a trainer one with big handles, then a bigger one without handles for later on. After she mastered that sippy, we offered her rejects from before and she was able to drink from them with no problem. It's really about finding the right one for your kid. Results vary, but I know a lot of other mom's who had success with the 360.

ETA: FWIW, she still hasn't figured out that once it gets low she can tilt her head back for better flow.

[lindy04aggie]

Mar 3, 2017 13:41:00 GMT -5 MellyKnu said:

Mar 3, 2017 12:41:42 GMT -5 supermorena said:

ETA: FWIW, she still hasn't figured out that once it gets low she can tilt her head back for better flow.

My kids tip it back like college kids at a frat party...   

[meggo]

We just started this transition last week! We started mixing 50/50 formula and WCM (until the formula is gone) in bottles first, then introduced sippy cups. N has been fine with it all. We give the sippy of milk like we are giving him a bottle, though. He dribbles a little, but not much gets wasted. The pedi didn't give an ounce goal, so he still gets 20-24 ozs BM/formula/WCM combo.
ETA: We still rock him to sleep, so the transition hasn't affected bedtime.

[meggo]

Mar 3, 2017 13:10:41 GMT -5 lindy04aggie said:

supermorena - we use these and they took to them right way.

Nuby No Spill Sippy Cups


emmuffy - gradual introduction is a good idea, thank you!

I'm glad someone else uses spout cups! He gets a 360 cup for water, but we wanted to try something else for milk. He can't figure out the straw cups yet, so spout is the only option, but I was paranoid because all I ever hear is how bad they are for tooth development.

[luvboston]

Your pedi makes no sense, to give milk at meal times he is negating the goal of eating real food.

I would give 3 bottles a day between meals one of which is bedtime.
supermorena ds1 has a horrible time with sippys doesn't matter what kind. Sometime thickening the liquid helps teach them. The best thing we did was Rubbermaid juice boxes as you can squeeze them and teach how to use a straw.

[richzep]

I agree with luv. You want them to be hungry for solids. Not milk.
Also, I was a cold turkey girl. Swapped the formula for the whole milk and the bottle for the sippy cup all in one day. It was a quick one or two day struggle and then that was that. I've done this with all 3 kids and it was never an issue. I could be wrong, but dragging it out by only dropping one bottle not the other, swap milk first bottle later, etc makes the process much longer. But I don't have any experience in doing that, so don't quote me. For all I know, your kids are better adjusted for it. I don't know. But cold turkey worked for us.

[mrsrodgersaz]

Lots of good advice already. I just wanted to chime in and say that C isn't a big WCM drinker so we make sure we get dairy and calories in other ways. Our pediatrician was totally fine with no milk so don't stress if they don't drink the 12-18 oz.

[olenka]

We just switched around her first bday. She was curious about using cups anyway, so it was fine. She still used bottles at DC for a bit longer since we forgot to let them know about the sippy cup, but maybe that helped with the transition.

[lindy04aggie]

so... they're fine with drinking milk... just not from a sippy cup. They won't drink continuously from the sippy cup... and we don't have time for them to take an hour to drink... so we're back on bottles. We do sippy cups for water and juice with snacks.

[kensie5226]

FWIW don't worry if takes a little time. E wouldn't drink much milk for about the first 3 weeks tried it with her, but eventually it clicked and now she drinks it throughout the day.

[Deleted]

We switched cold turkey and the girls never noticed the difference. We still gave it to them in their bottles because we didn't want to change too much at one time. It actually took them a while before they would take to the sippy cups, and even then, they didn't love them. We did better with straw cups when they were a little over 2 years old.