transition to whole milk - and cup

huggybugboy wrote: I went to WIC yesterday and they told me that this was the last month that they will give me formula vouchers. So ok, I didnt know that whole milk was supposed to completely replace formula after a year. I would like to try and transition to whole milk and to a cup at the same time but, he doesnt like cups too well. I can get him to drink some juice sometimes from a sippy and I can get him to drink a little of anything from a regular open cup, but that makes a mess. I just dont know the best way to go about doing this. He seems to tolerate the milk ok but he isn't too fond of it being cold. I dont really want to get into the habit of warming it though. any suggestions??

1lilpeanut2love replied: my Kaylee loves to drink using a straw. I don't know if that will help. Yes starting at a year they can have whole milk. I know toddlers who are over a year who drank formula. It depends on what you want to do. Kaylee likes her milk warm. We have warmed her bottles since she was an infant. I have heard that you can do 1/2 and 1/2-- formula and whole milk to make the transition easier. Sorry I am not much help. I am a first time mom. LOL.

huggybugboy replied:
my mom just suggested that too. I have tried to give him a straw and he doesnt get it. Usually when he drinks from a sippy, he just lets the milk drip into his mouth. I just gave him some warmed milk in a bottle and he only drank an ounce. But when I gave him formula, he downed 4 oz. I think this may be harder than I thought...

Sarah&Mackenzie replied: I just finished up the formula I had and then put Mackenzie on the whole milk after that and she did fine with the transistion. I never heated up the milk, just her formula when she was smaller. I am no help either.

coasterqueen replied: That really stinks they won't let you go with formula past a year. Why wouldn't they? They have toddler formulas and I think they would be better for them than the whole milk, maybe?

We don't transition the girls to whole milk til much later, but when we transitioned Kylie from bottles to sippies we did it VERY slowly so she didn't even notice. We took a bottle away and replaced it with a sippy every 2 weeks. So I'd send 3 bottles and one sippy for 2 weeks, then 2 bottles and 2 sippies the next 2 weeks, and so on. Does that make sense?

Also with Kylie the only type of cup she'd take at first was the "juice boxes". Like rubbermaid juice boxes with the spout and straw. Then she finally got the handle on regular sippies later.

We are transitioning Megan from bottle to cup now slowly, but she's been much easier to do so as far as the type of sippy to use.

Edit to add that when we did transition Kylie from breastmilk to whole milk it was also done slowly so she didn't notice as much. We did it the same way as we transitioned from bottle to cup. It took a bit longer for her to go along with this, though.

~Roo'sMama~ replied: That's a bummer that WIC won't give it to you past a year if you're still using it. Do you warm his formula, or give it to him room temp? It might help the transition a bit to start giving him his formula room temp or even cold, and then maybe cold milk won't be such a big deal to him. Mixing it sounds like a good idea, too. Andrew likes drinking from a sippy cup, but he's not good at tipping it up yet, so he ends up just sucking in air. Good luck!

coasterqueen replied:

Sara, I still have to hold Megan's for her, most times she can't hold it up either, especially w/those tiny arms of hers.

~Roo'sMama~ replied:
Lol well good I feel better then. I don't really have a real reason to give Andrew a sippy yet anyways, I just want him to be used to them when it's time to wean him and start giving him milk. I don't even give him one every day - but I've been doing it more often lately, and he's starting to get better at it. If it's full he can hold it himself and drink but when it starts to get empty I have to hold it for him.

coasterqueen replied:
Even if you don't have a reason it's still good to get them used to them now. Doesn't do any harm, that's for sure .

Maddy'sMommy replied: My daughter is almost a year too. She drinks juice out of a sippy prefect, but the moment i put formula in there she spits it out. I think I too will have a problem with getting totally rid of the bottle by a year. As for whole milk she will not drink it unless I mix it with formula. I mix half and half right now. Anyways I am not much help either... it is harder than I thought it would be too. Good Luck!

mysweetpeasWil&Wes replied: I did the cold turkey method I guess! I may have mixed the formula and milk at first, but Wil switched to whole milk with no problem. I went directly to a sippy cup without even trying the milk in a bottle though. The bottles went out when the formula went out. I also warmed the milk and still do. Wil also didn't understand how to tip the sippy back, so I lay him down when he drinks. Someone told me this was bad because the milk may pool in their ears and cause an infection, but I talked to my ped about it and she said that as long as he hasn't had an ear infection yet, then it's unlikely it will happen.

Good luck! Everything takes time.

huggybugboy replied: Yeah, Miles cant tip his cup enough either.

I was pretty shocked when I went in there and they told me no more formula. Well, I got nine cans for this month so hopefully I will be able to transition slowly with that amount. I can't afford much formula.

I was thinking of putting his formula in a cup to try and get him more used to it.
Do you think its a bad idea to try and wean him from formula and a bottle all at once?? I just thought it might be a little easier. I just dont get this stuff, why dont babies come with an instruction manual?

edited to fix my horrible spelling!!!

mysweetpeasWil&Wes replied: I personally don't think there is a right or wrong way or good or bad way. You just have to do what you think will work best for your kiddo. Some may say to do it gradually and others, like myself, did it cold turkey. Sorry that's no help, but just wanted to let you know that IMO, it's all trial and error, that's why there isn't a manual out there. You won't hurt him whichever way you choose.

MyBrownEyedBoy replied: It took Logan what seemed like ages to understand the tipping part of cup drinking. He does it like a champ now, even drinking while walking sometimes. But I switched him slowly to milk, over the course of a month or so. I would suggest giving Miles the formula cold too, maybe that way it won't be such a shock for him. But I stopped warming bottles for Logan at about 6 months. So he was used to cold formula. I'd just make up a quart in one of those shakers and pour bottles as I needed them. I would try going quarter milk and 3/4 formula for a week, then increase the amounts of mild as you go. HTH.

ETA, I agree with Rae, there is no right or wrong way, you just muddle through parenthood.

coasterqueen replied:
I agree with Rae. It all depends on the child, really. He may do very well transitioning with both of them. Kylie was not that way and I also just like the gradual approach with anything (i.e. bottles, milk, weaning, etc) because I don't want to make it any more hard on her than it has to be.

So if you want to try the cold turkey approach then do it and see how it goes. Miles will let you know if it's not how he wants it done, I'm sure.