When to Introduce Milk - Bottle/Sippy Cups?

Hi All -

Just wondering when you began introducing Milk. My son will turn 1 on May 11th, but we dont have his next doc appointment until May 17th. At the last visit she didnt mention anything about the switch to Milk....

I will call the doc but I'm curious of when and how others introduced.

Im also confused on how many bottles he should be getting a day, should I replace any with just sippy cup?

He currently gets an 8oz bottle when he wakes at 6:30, another 8oz bottle when he wakes from his morning nap between 11 & 12 and then another 8oz bottle at bedtime about 7pm. He used to get one at 3 or 4pm but I recently eliminated and replaced with a snack instead because he never really wanted it.

He will drink water from a sippy cup with each of his meals and Im thinking of getting one with a straw to see if he will drink from that??

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Re: When to Introduce Milk - Bottle/Sippy Cups?

We started the transition to milk around 11.5 months but there's really no set time to do it. Whenever you're ready around 1 year is fine. We did a slow transition, mostly just because I wanted to use up the formula we had in the house. We started by replacing 2 oz of formula per bottle with 2 oz of milk until he was up to a full bottle of milk.

DS drinks 3 bottles of milk a day, 6, 6, and 8 oz for a total of 20 oz a day. Once in a while he only takes 2 bottles a day. But every baby is different, so again, there's really no rule here.

As for changing to a sippy, that's really up to you/the baby. DS is 14 months and still will only take his milk from a bottle. We try to change his middle of the day bottle to a sippy every once in a while and he's just not ready yet. But he loves drinking water or juice from a sippy. So we will continue with bottles for a while longer.

Re: When to Introduce Milk - Bottle/Sippy Cups?

Milk was around one. I feel like straw cup was about 6-9 months? We never used sippy. Went straight to straw

Re: When to Introduce Milk - Bottle/Sippy Cups?

we started with the sippy but she really wont drink a significant amount of anything unless shes really thirsty. So we put it in the bottle.... we are down to 1 or 2 a day now.

Re: When to Introduce Milk - Bottle/Sippy Cups?

For DD, we were told to not think of milk as a formula replacement (i.e., they don't need __oz of milk a day) but just a part of a healthy diet once they turn one. So we ditched bottles completely and offer a sippy of milk, if DD didn't drink much of it I'd make sure she got cheese or yogurt later.

DS is 11 months and drinks water out of sippies with meals. In a few weeks I'll give him a cup of milk here and there to get used to it and on his bday I plan on stopping the formula completely and moving to meal/snacks with milk as a drink option.

Re: When to Introduce Milk - Bottle/Sippy Cups?

At 11 months we started the transition to milk. For 1 week we would do 2 oz milk, 6 oz formula, the next week we would do 4 oz milk, 4 oz formula and so on... By his first birthday it was straight milk.

I think once we transitioned to just milk, then we started with sippy cups and sometime after that straw cups. Now, he is 21 months and still drinks from sippy and straw cups... trying to transition to regular cups now.

When to Introduce Milk - Bottle/Sippy Cups?

dd turned 1 and we haven't switched yet. I have some formula t go through. When it's time I will replace 1 oz of formula with the milk. So in her 6 oz bottle it will be 5 oz formula 1 oz milk. I will increase the milk every few days until full milk. After that I plan to ditch bottle and be straw cups. She's already down to 1 -2 bottles a day so I don't forsee an issue. Maybe her night bottle before bed will be the toughest. My dr said 20-24 oz of milk a day

eta she's been using a straw cup for months now

Message edited 4/1/2014 6:29:18 PM.

Re: When to Introduce Milk - Bottle/Sippy Cups?

We switched at 10 months (he is 11 months now). Dr said to get him to 3 bottles (he was taking 4 bottles of formula). He still mostly takes 4 but ive been giving less oz. we give milk in a bottle.
He drinks water from a sippy cup

We did the same with our older son and switched him off bottles to sippy cups at 18 months.

Message edited 4/2/2014 7:14:33 AM.