When can I introduce whole milk?

[Leah's Mommy]

My daughter is 10 months old. Should I make the switch gradually to whole milk? Do I offer it in a bottle or a sippy cup? And do I replace her 4 formula bottles a day with whole milk ones when she turns 1?

 

[McHobbit]

No, you don't replace her four formula bottles with whole milk once she turns one. You can introduce milk by one but it's not formula and they shouldn't drink that much of it. I'd offer milk in a sippy.

 

[Leah <3s Ari]

You can start making the transition now. I would start with just a few ounces of whole milk at a time. Give it to her as a "topper" after she has her formula. Gradually give her more until 1 bottle of formula is completely replaced and so on and so forth. I introduced whole milk to Ari when she was about 9 1/2 months old (because of her weight gain issues) and she has always done fine with it.

 

[luvmy4boyz]

Ask your doctor if you do it before age one but usually it's fine to start the gradual switch by 10 months as long as your baby's iron level is good.

Personally what we did was only use sippy cups for milk and bottles for formula that way your baby associates the bottle only with formula and a cup with all other drinks (milk, water etc...) so when you are done with formula it's easier to also be done with bottles. That last night time bottle is usually the last to go.

Don't listen to the person who said to use regular cups and not sippy cups. A sippy cup is not a glorified bottle, it's a transition cup that allows your child to learn to drink from a cup without spills. At 10 months or even one year it is rare for a child to have the ability to drink from a regular cup. Just make sure to get the right sippy cup...Playtex makes the best ones for non spill and just get the ones that say for 12 months old on them so the flow is less.

We never did a gradual switch. My older two were premature so we waited until 12 months to switch them but my younger two switched at 10 months. Our doctor told us they could switch because their iron level was very good. We just started giving milk right away in cups except the last night bottle. If your child doesn't seem to like milk at first keep trying and you can try to warm it a little at first also.

 

[linedancer563]

I started giving C a bit of milk at 10mo. Not in a bottle and not mixed with formula. Just a sippy cup of it for one meal a day. By 11mo, he had milk with every meal and 3 bottles of formula in-between them. A week before he turned 1, we stopped the formula and he was on milk entirely.

He still gets a bottle of warmed up milk before bed, but other than that, he is fully on sippy cups (and transitioning to an open cup).

 

[highnlow]

you give her milk in a cup, not a sippy cup that's just a glorified bottle, you TEACH her how to drink from a CUP, sitting at the table so she won't spill it as easy!

 

[Zorro]

We started by mixing milk in 1/4 then 1/2 and so on.

We also used rice cearal (for babies) and mixed in yogurt to thicken the formula up and then the baby will want to eat less. 10 months is fine to start doing this.

***
See Mommy of 5 is on the badwagon. We parents with lots of kids know how to make things work...

 

[Mommy of 5]

AHHH Zorro I'm telling the parenting/baby police on you!!!! You are now going to get some nasty nasty e-mails.

For us we started whole milk in a bottle with 1oz of milk to the 7oz of formula and slowly increased it. Once it hit 50/50 we started putting into a cup and offering the bottle less. My kids were 100% off of formula by 12 months.

For me that stuff is too darn expensive to keep going longer than necessary.

 

[Melissa27Uk]

I started giving my lil boy foods with whole milk in first then by 12 months he changed completely to whole milk in a sippy cup. Get rid of bottles and get rid of formula at same time so much better.

 

[Ends meet]

I didn't formula feed, so I don't know about the mixing, but I did give my son whole milk at 10 months. He is now 2 with no allergy or digestive issues. He used a sippy cup until he was 18 months old.

 

[Cadence Jade's Mommy]

My daughter has been on whole milk since 9 months old...no more formula at all. This is for a particular reason so I'm not saying make a total switch but offering some whole milk at 10 months is perfectly fine. I never mixed it with her formula...just gave her a bottle of it and she took it. You can do bottle or sippy...whatever you want.

 

[ladybountyhunter17]

Wait until the doctor says its ok, Not all babies are ready for whole milk at 1.