Switching to milk at a year

Channelle · Dec 11, 2010

My 11 1/2 month old doesn't breastfeed. She gets formula and pumped breast milk (that is frozen, I stopped pumping months ago), and she drinks A LOT. Like she goes through around 35 ozs a day (sometimes less, often way more). She loves her bottle, and shows barely any interest in food, she'll graze on cheerios or cheddar bunnies, but spits out every meat, veggie, fruit, and noodle. She doesn't like anything! (I do sit her down to eat with us three times a day and try a wide variety of foods, and keep introducing the same foods over and over, and we regularly snack as well) We get formula through WIC, but they won't give us any more formula after this month. So I either have to give her regular milk, or buy my own formula (or maybe toddler formula). I guess it's not such a big deal to buy my own, but still it's pretty expensive! I don't like the idea of giving her regular milk, when her bottle/sippy cup is the only real source of calories and vitamins she gets. As much as I hate it, the formula has a lot of vitamins, and if I stop it, she won't get her vitamins through any other source, all she'll get is a lot of milk....I'm under a lot of pressure to switch her to milk (from my mother and from the ped.-who also wants me to stop the bottle at a year.
 
If I do switch to milk, should I go away with bottles? (They are like her security blanket, she carries them everywhere, she asks for it all the time, she sleeps with it though it's either empty or has water in it) And do you recommend a specific milk? We buy organic cows milk, just to cook with, dh and I don't really like drinking milk. Should I try to buy some locally? Goats milk? Almond milk? (That's what I drink and eat cereal with).
 
Thanks!

cristeen · Dec 11, 2010

My 14 mo is still getting formula for these reasons. Cows milk is the perfect food for baby cows. It does not have everything that a baby human needs. If the baby is not eating sufficient other foods to make up the nutrients, i would absolutely not switch. At this point i expect we have enough formula and donor milk to get us to 18 mos, and at that point i will reassess his eating habits. If you need to make a partial switch, id be sourcing goat milk over cows. Its probaly cheaper than formula, but not as cheap as cows milk. Nutritionally though it is closer to human.

Knitting Mama · Dec 11, 2010

I'm with Cristeen on this one. Until she is eating a lot of solids, I would stick with formula. Another option would be to get on <a href="http://www.milkshare.com" target="_blank">www.milkshare.com</a> or on Facebook find your local Eats on Feets and see if you can get donated milk. That is what I use to augment my low supply.

Shanesmom · Dec 11, 2010

I'm with you on not being too thrilled about cows milk. If I had my way, Shane would never taste the stuff. But I don't have it only my way. <img alt="smile.gif" class="bbcode_smiley" src="http://files.mothering.com/images/smilies/smile.gif"> 
I would go with a good quality organic toddler formula and possibly consider some benefical supplements as well to put in that bottle she loves so much. That way you can be sure she is getting all her nutrional requirements. 
ETA: of course doner milk would be the very best thing if you can swing that. If not, organic formula

Asiago · Dec 11, 2010

I agree with the others about formula or donated milk. The more I learn about cows milk the more I see the obvious, cow breast milk truly is the perfect food for baby cows. It's composition is so different than human milk.

SeattleRain · Dec 12, 2010

I agree that you should stick with formula... with a caveat. You should start thinking of finding some substitutes to that bottle. It sounds like she has a very attached relationship to the bottle, and unfortunately that's a relationship that will eventually have to end, sooner than later for her dental development. If she's carrying it around with her and sleeping with it, these are signs that the bottle means more to her than what is inside. Have you tried introducing a sippy cup or a regular cup? Put the formula in the sippy cup to get her used to it. It's also possible that she's not hungry at mealtimes because she's snacking all day on the bottle. It's good for kids to get used to eating at regular times, even if they're not eating a lot of solids. Breastfed babies don't get to just carry around a boob wherever they go and have a sip, bottlefed babies shouldn't either. 
 
At night, you might try introducing a new lovey and then start acclimating her to getting away from the bottle. It's going to be hard though, like taking away a paci. Good luck!

Abraisme · Dec 12, 2010

I also think you should stick with formula. I might consider raw goats milk if it's available as well (probably way more $$ than formula though).

NevadaMama · Dec 12, 2010

Great post, I am wondering the same since DD turns one in a couple weeks <img alt="greensad.gif" src="http://files.mothering.com/images/smilies/greensad.gif"> I am not thrilled with the idea of giving her cow's milk either - I was just re-reading good ol' Dr. Sears and even he recommends cow's milk after one year. Have any other mamas tried those new toddler formulas? I am thinking about maybe giving DD some kind of combo of toddler formula and cow's milk - like formula at one feeding, milk at the next - to try to get her used to milk. I am concerned because lactose intolerance runs rampant in both my family and DH's - DH only drinks almond milk, and lucky me I'm just about the only person left in both of our families who doesn't have a problem with milk. DD does fine with yogurt and cheese, so I think she'll be ok, but I don't want to just start loading up her system with lactose when she turns 1. 
 
Keep posting mamas, I'm interested to see what everyone has to say! <img alt="orngbiggrin.gif" src="http://files.mothering.com/images/smilies/orngbiggrin.gif">

Baby~Braatens~Mama · Dec 13, 2010

Formula manufacturers aggressively promote the idea that today's "highly-scientific" breast milk substitutes have been "specially formulated" to be "like breast milk." One leading manufacturer's advertising campaign even equates its product to a "miracle." Yet, common commercial representations fail to reveal the rest of the story: researchers are increasingly convinced that despite advances, infant formulas cannot now or ever accurately imitate human breast milk. According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), pediatric-nutrition researchers at Abbott Laboratories, one of the largest manufacturers of commercial infant formula, recently conceded that creating infant formula to parallel human milk is "impossible." These scientists, writing in the March, 1994 issue of ENDOCRINE REGULATIONS, state, "[It is] increasingly apparent that infant formula can never duplicate human milk. Human milk contains living cells, hormones, active enzymes, immunoglobulins and compounds with unique structures that cannot be replicated in infant formula."
 
Content and quantities of nutrients vary widely between brands and types of formula (soy, cow's milk, and meat-based). As Marsha Walker notes, "Formula-fed infants depend on products which can be quite different from each other, but which are continually being found deficient in essential nutrients . . . These nutrients are then added, usually after damage has occurred in infants or overwhelming market pressure forces the issue." Marsha Walker notes, "Formula-fed infants depend on products which can be quite different from each other, but which are continually being found deficient in essential nutrients . . . These nutrients are then added, usually after damage has occurred in infants or overwhelming market pressure forces the issue." Many consumers are under the mistaken impression that the FDA closely and carefully monitors infant formula, perhaps more scrupulously than other foods, since infant-consumers are particularly vulnerable by virtue of their age and total dependence on this one product. In fact, the FDA sets forth only minimal standards regarding the production and sale of synthetic milks. The mandated nutrient requirements for formula are contained in the outdated Infant Formula Act of 1980, which the U.S. Congress passed in reaction to a formula-manufacturing error that flooded the market with chloride-deficient formula. Today, manufacturers are required simply to include an insignificant number of mandated ingredients and to list them on the package. 

When my child is weaned, he will be given milk, the same milk that I drink. I don't exactly know what is in cows milk, (it can not be artificially created any more than our living human milk) but I would rather my child get it from the source, not a chemically altered and falsely "perfected", mass produced, dead, and nutritionally deficient alternative. JMHO.

SeattleRain · Dec 13, 2010

I don't think that post was particularly helpful to OP, are you trying to make her feel guilty for giving her child formula already? Posts like this only serve to make lactavists seem uncaring and aggressive. You could have made the same point by saying that you prefer not to use formula and would rather wean directly to milk.

GoBecGo · Dec 13, 2010

I don't think she was trying to make the OP feel guilty, i think she was trying to say that cowsmilk is actually a whole product, though not human, and formula isn't, it's engineered and altered, and thus there probably aren't all that many benefits to giving formula past the age of weaning...? That's how i read it anyhow.
 
OP when i was in your situation (with DD1, BFing is going much better this time), i switched to cowsmilk in a cup. It was hard, but i went for a soft-spout sippy, then a firm-spout, then a hard one. It took a few months. DD also loved her bottle (though actually sucked her thumb) and i just removed the teat then glued the ring onto the bottle and the cap onto the ring (so it was one-piece and empty) and she carted it about for a few weeks then ditched it. XP (we were separated already) relied more heavily on the bottle as a comfort and HE chose to put a sippy top on the bottle instead of the normal teat (the avent ones we used) and in combination we both got her off bottles by 13months. She didn't eat great, but i gave her vitamin drops when we went to cows milk and she was eating really well within a few weeks of being on cowsmilk, which of course might have been coincidence. A friend has a "milk-lover" DD and she dealt with this by reducing how much milk her DD had. She would always fill the bottle to sip, but only gave 28oz/day of milk, the rest of the time she gave water. This seemed to work ok and her DD also began to eat well when not filling up on milk all day.

JudiAU · Dec 13, 2010

I continue giving her formula (either baby or toddler) for awhile with whatever bm you have left.. She needs the extra nutrients still. Cow's milk isn't nearly as nutritious, and it isn't a whole food for toddlers. I'd give it a couple of months and tell you ped and family that this is what she needs right now. If you can't get her more intersted in solids within a four month period, I'd probably meet with a feeding specialist.
 
There is very little scientific research about the benefits of limiting bottle using to a year. It is a relic of the 1950's formula/bottle/control push. It does sound like she has a relationship with her bottle, but so what? You said she doesn't nurse. It is reasonable to have a need to suck still. I would personally let it go until 18m.

just_lily · Dec 13, 2010

I introduced cow's milk at around one year of age, but didn't use it to replace formula. Once DD started having solids I introduced water in a sippy cup, and around her first birthday I started to give her milk in a cup. The first few times I gave it to her she just made a face and wouldn't drink it, but I kept offering and she quickly started to like it - just like any other food.
 
I never gave her milk in a bottle though. Bottles were only for formula. In my experience we also had an easier time weaning from the bottle outright than my friends who gave milk in the bottle.
 
I wasn't convinced she had a balanced diet of solids at one year of age, and was particularly concerned about iron, so we kept with bottles of formula. Then we gradually cut down on the number of bottles in a day as she replaced that nutrition with food. When we were down to just one a day she was about 18mo, and then we stopped entirely. 
 
So my advice is to introduce milk, but do so in a cup, and keep with the formula for now, but with a mind to slowly weaning off the bottles over time.

BeagleMommy · Dec 13, 2010

I'll put in my vote for raw cow or goat milk. My kiddos are still breastfeeding, but dd had both raw cow's milk around a year (really more like 14 months) and I will offer it to ds when it's available again.

Knitting Mama · Dec 13, 2010

It's not the introducing of milk at a year that's the problem in this situation, it's that it's being proposed as a replacement for formula/pumped milk when the child in question does not eat much in the way of solids. So you're not looking at replacing a bottle or so a day, you're looking at replacing a lot. And there is just no way that cow's milk has the necessary nutrition to replace formula or breastmilk in that quantity.

lookatreestar · Dec 13, 2010

if for some reason i couldn't bf until 2, i would stick with formula (if i didn't have a good eater, which mine don't start *really* eating until 17ish months)
 
tough situation. i wouldn't worry about the bottle aspect, she is getting comfort from it. i look at it this way, my dd still nurses whenever she wants at 3.5 why can't my dn have her bottle/binky whenever she wants? they both still have the need to suck/comfort, it isn't my sisters fault she has to work why shouldn't her dd have that kind of comfort?

Baby~Braatens~Mama · Dec 14, 2010

<div class="quote-container">Quote:
<div class="quote-block">Originally Posted by SeattleRain <a href="/community/forum/thread/1284831/switching-to-milk-at-a-year#post_16113419"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/community/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style="border-bottom:0px solid;border-left:0px solid;border-top:0px solid;border-right:0px solid;"></a> I don't think that post was particularly helpful to OP, are you trying to make her feel guilty for giving her child formula already? Posts like this only serve to make lactavists seem uncaring and aggressive. You could have made the same point by saying that you prefer not to use formula and would rather wean directly to milk.
</div>
</div>
 
I would not want her to feel guilty for caring for her child in the best possible way she can in her position. My response was directed more at the people who seem to insist that formula is healthier, better or more beneficial for a child than living milk. Formula is advanced and nutritionally superior to cow milk only in so much as it uses specific acids designed to break the protein (derived from milk, soy or meat) down in a way that an undeveloped digestive system can handle, and at a year the child would be able to digest the "real" thing. I would prefer not to use formula and will wean directly to milk, if my little man wants to drink it. (If I could not nurse I would seek a donor or wet nurse or make my own formula because I do not trust mass marketed, commercially produced formula's.)
 
I wish I could have been more helpful in response to how she can introduce solids to her childs diet... but she sited the one source I had in mind, Dr. Sears. Since my child is only 3 months old we have not had experience with that yet.
 
I do wish you, OP, the very best of luck. I hope to hear from you soon. I am very impressed that you had so much frozen milk stored before 11.5 months! I can't seem to express and store any.

SeattleRain · Dec 14, 2010

My issue with a lot of toddler formulas is that they're flavored in vanilla and chocolate flavors and that doesn't rub me the right way. I don't like the idea of introducing young children to overtly sweet foods while they're developing their taste buds and palate. I know that breastmilk and formula are quite sweet, as is cows milk, sweet potatoes, and fruit, but at least those things are a somewhat natural sweetness whereas Enfagrow is designed to be like chocolate milk. The only person I ever knew who gave their toddler that [email protected] was someone who didn't really care that much about nutrition.
 
If you're going to feed your baby formula for an extended amount of time, I'd look at one like Baby's Only or you could make your own if you're particularly handy like that: <a href="http://www.cheeseslave.com/2008/09/29/how-to-make-homemade-baby-formula/" target="_blank">http://www.cheeseslave.com/2008/09/29/how-to-make-homemade-baby-formula/</a>.

lunarlady · Dec 14, 2010

I, personally, am not a big fan of most formulas. The ones I would give my child are organic, high quality, and pricy as all get out. For that reason I would encourage you to really try to push some baby foods, as well as do milk (cow or goat) and a high quality formula. I believe that variety is the key to a healthy diet. Maybe try some smoothies made with fruits and veggies. She might prefer a liquid over solid food. I know money is a factor, so limiting formula should help make ends meet. Maybe just two servings of formula daily, instead of all formula for every meal. Or a small serving at every meal, followed by water or milk. 
As for the bottle, I would switch it to water only and let her keep it until it becomes loved out (nipples worn down or cracking). If all food is coming in a cup, she should transition well, and she will stay well hydrated too. 
My DD had a hard time when I stopped pumping, because she wanted to "eat" from a bottle. But once that wasn't an option, she quickly started to eat a lot more solid foods. Hopefully you will find something similar happens with your little one. Good luck!

lunarlady · Dec 14, 2010

I just read the make your own formula recipe and I think I would do that. Big upfront investment for some items, but you use a small quantity and that should make it last. And WIC will cover the whole milk for you. Perfect!

Switching to milk at a year

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