Getting baby off of formula

Jennifer - posted on 02/11/2011

Well my son no longer uses formula but when i weaned him off of it i basically went half and half in his bottles and he adjusted well then eventually as the days went by i used less formula and eventually straight to milk....and then a couple days ago i finally switched him to a sippy cup and off the bottle and he fussed for a bit....looked at me like what the heck is this mom lol....anyways he adjusted well....better than i thought.....i still give him a bottle at night tho but within a few days he should be completely off of it

Terin - posted on 01/31/2011

I had no choice but to switch Blake to milk. The formula started giving him really bad diarrhea. I put his milk in a sippy cup (which he hates using) but he adjusted really well...now we're down to one bottle of formula at night.

Sarah - posted on 01/30/2011

you have to kind of experiment and see what works for your child. You can either start cutting his formula with whole milk an ounce at a time until he is drinking just milk, or you can add a tiny bit of chocolate syrup to the milk and let them figure out that cows milk comes in chocolate, but formula does not. When I say a TINY bit of chocolate syrup, I mean just barely enough to see. I think I added like 1/4-1/2 tsp per sippy cup for my son.

Joy - posted on 01/17/2011

Aaron James does not take other foods sufficiently to satisfy his nutritional needs. Therefore we are still giving him formula and will not add milk or anything else until he is eating better. He only has 4 teeth and sometimes he chokes on his food because he will not take it crushed or pureed and so we have to give him bite size. So formula with cereal and fruits and veggies until he is ready. He is doing quite well on his present diet and weighs 21 lbs at 1. He was 1 on the first.

ANA - posted on 01/16/2011

My daugther Adriana just turned 1 year old on the 8th of January, she still drinks 3 bottles of formula (210 ml, 8 oz) 1 before going to bed at 8:30 one in the middle of the night after 8 hours sleep around 4:30 or 5 and then another one for breakfast, she loves her bottle, why should we stop this? I heard that milk is bad for us, they have discover that it is the main reason why we adults have obesity, my friend is a doctor and does blood test to see what food or drink are not compatible with our blood type and she says that mostly milk and banana are the reason because many of us have obesity since our blood is not compatible with them, why then do we want to get our babies use to drinking milk?cow milk, is it necesary? can they get the calcium in other products?

Tiffany - posted on 01/16/2011

Hey Malorie!! My son turned 1 on the 12th. And HAPPY BIRTHDAY to yours yesterday!!! Personally, I just cut his formula all together. He didnt have any issues with taking the milk. It seems, (maybe) if their hungry enough and know thats what they get, they'll take it. My son has always been open to trying new things. Dont get stuck on feeding him the same things over and over. I think he will start to reject what he doesnt know. Always sample new things!! Best of luck!!!
Tiffany

Sara - posted on 01/16/2011

Jeanie, when I stopped giving my daughter as much milk she started to eat more foods. Some babies take to certain things differently. As long as you can get him to eat more food and give him 3 different meal portions and healthy snacks like fruits and stuff he will get the correct nutritions. When my daughter had gotten sick it took me forever to get her back on schedule, that can be what your going through with him since he had gotten sick. Also its normal for him to do a repeat which is where he starts to do what he use to do when he was younger. It also can be a growth spurt it is hard to know. I hope that he gets better and back to his regular schedule.

Jeanie - posted on 01/16/2011

My son will be 1 at the end of Jan. but he hardly eats and still has about 4-5x9oz bottles of formula a day!!!! I want to get him off the formula but wont he not get enough nutrition??? Or does giving him less formula get them to eat more? He was recently extremely sick with a bad flu and ended up 3 days in the hospital so now he's got from 12hrs/night straight sleeping to 1-2x7oz feedings a night.. is this a growth spurt?

Nicolette - posted on 01/15/2011

Mixing milk with the formula is the best way to get him/her off the formula. Start ounce by ounce every week and see how they do. It can cause diarrhea and some constipation at first because whole milk can be tough on their tiny tummies. But it will go away once they start getting used to it. My daughter turned 1 on the 14th and now she barley drinks the formula. =] Happy 1st birthdays too all those kiddos out there!

Sarah - posted on 01/14/2011

I have heard mixing the formula with milk. Also it might depend on what you are putting the drinks in. Are you putting it in a bottle or a sippy cup. When I started giving my daughter milk and juice I put it in a sippy cup. I had to buy a couple different one to find one that she would actually drink out of. I have a 5 year old and a four year and they were never as picky. She was picky with bottle to though. She is going o be a year old on the 23rd. Good Luck!

Janielle - posted on 01/14/2011

about 2 weeks ago, i started wweaning Dominic, from formula to whole milk, started with 1 oz in a cup with breakfast, hes up to 4 oz milk with breakfast, and 6 oz formula, and and 8 oz formula bottle late afternoon. other than that hes offered water and occasionally, watered down juice! he eats plenty of foods, so im not worried about him not gettig enough food, but is this enough fluids? and choco syrup, good luck, agianst what i said to daddy, he insisted, n gave Dom that the 3rd day he was trying milk, and it took the 4,5, and 6th day to get him back to drinking the regular milk!! good luck! thank you!

Amanda - posted on 01/13/2011

my mom gave me the advice of putting a little choco syrup in the milk, just enough to sweeten it

Barbara - posted on 01/12/2011

Hi my opinion is to continue the formula cause is got more vitamins than the normal milk. My doctor told me that i was giving to my son till the age of 4. I know is more expensive but is more good for your baby. Im going to make the same thing and with my daughter..!!!

Malorie - posted on 01/11/2011

Thank you all for the help. We are still giving him his formula at night but mostly milk in the day but he will not take it cold so we have to warm it a little bit. So far so good though. Next tough thing is the bottle but I figured I would try one thing at a time instead of taking everything away at once. He likes a sippy cup but will not take milk out of one so I think we are going to have a tough road ahead of us.

Amy - posted on 01/10/2011

I have an 8 year old daughter and my little one will be 1 on the 27th. My older daughter was very easy to wean off of formula, but I'm running into the same problem that my younger daughter just won't drink any thing BUT formula. I spoke to the doctor about it and he said that 1 year is just a general rule. Not all children are ready to go off formula then. He said that some babies may be ready to wean as early as 10 months, while others may not be ready to wean until 15 months. So, his advice was to continue with the formula and offer whole milk in a cup regularly.

Sara - posted on 01/08/2011

try weining him like 1/4 milk to 3/4 formula for a couple days, then go half and half for a couple of days, then 3/4 milk to 1/4 formula, and then all milk. thats what my dr was telling me to do and it was working. But turns out my daughter is allergic to the milk. I hope it works for you!

Anna - posted on 01/08/2011

I just weaned my son, and I did it cold turkey. I discovered the first day that he does not like his milk cold, so I've been putting it in his bottles and nuking it for a few seconds, which helps tremendously. My goal is to have him taking it from his sippy cups by the end of the month (he drinks everything else from a cup).

Fyonna - posted on 01/08/2011

My son is breastfed with formula from time to time. I've taken out his daytime feed and replaced it with rice milk and formula alternativing, and he seems to enjoy it, we also supplement with vitamins to ensure he's got all he needs, the rice milk is a wee sweet naturally, digests super easy and has a similarity to breastmilk, though for his last feeding, he loves his formula before bed.

Kasey - posted on 01/07/2011

I have a question ladies!! My son will be 1 on the 28th and I am still giving him just his formula. I wasn't told at his last appt to change anything yet so I'm waiting for his 1 year w/c appt. When I do switch him, can I just give him whole milk or do they usually recommend weaning or cutting it with the formula??

Bridgette - posted on 01/07/2011

My son is also attached to his formula. Today is his first birthday and I'm not stressing about it. He is already drinking enfamils next step formula for toddlers and I'm planning on giving him that for a little while longer. He's my 3rd child and the other 2 had no problem switching to regular milk so hopefully it will go well. So maybe the toddler formula could be an option for you.

Tabby - posted on 01/05/2011

My daughter will only drink milk if it's cold, like right out of the fridge cold. She's the same way with water but not with formula so it took me a couple days to realize what was going on. I have a friend though who's daughter only drinks milk if it's room temperature.

Brittany - posted on 01/05/2011

my son will be one on the 16th we have started mixing his formula(4oz) with whole milk(4oz.) so he gets use to the taste then we will slowly make it less and less formula and more and more milk!

Sarah - posted on 01/04/2011

I really agree with Erin, that is what i was told to do with My Son, although Turned out that He didnt need that Some Babies do very much so need that that has been a big sense of comfort since birth if You bottle fed from birth, so in a way Your trying to give them a new form of "comfort" but Your Baby wolnt understand that right away cutting it with Milk is Your best option if You are able to cut a little more with each bottle/ and or cuppie to where by day 2 He should be on straight milk...mind You it might upset His stomache as well So if He starts to be bothered by it too awful much i would talk to His Doc about possibly introducing Him to Soy Milk? Good Luck Hun...

Erin - posted on 01/03/2011

Try cutting it with milk. Maybe start with a tiny bit and slowly increase the milk and decrease the formula. My friends son took about 6 months to get off it completely and all she did was slowly cut back. Good luck!