So....what happens when they're 1 then?!?

[Poppins27]

Right, the milestone of my Dd's first birthday is coming up on Sunday and I'm a lil bit bewildered as to what I should then be doing, or indeed not doing.

My dd was extremely slow going on the weaning front, doing a combo of mashed up food and finger food, but she didn't really show interest in either until she was about 10 months. Which is fine, as they say 'food is fun until they're 1'.

And yeah, here we are!! So first of all, she has established 3 mealtimes,which I guess stay the same. But she still has 4 bottles a day. So do I now replace formula with cows milk?! And what are the practicalities of this I.e carrying around fresh milk to hive her if we have a day out?! And should this milk be in a beaker at all times immediately or should a wean my Dd off her bottles gradually?! Or indeed be reducing the amount of milk drinks I offer her in the day?!

This is a whole new world of confusion just at a time when I was starting to 'get it'!?

[TheNewStatesman]

I would keep her on formula for a few months longer while you work on getting her more established on food, and at the same time work on getting her used to a straw cup or beaker. Once she is drinking a lot less milk, you can work on switching from formula to cow's milk.

You don't want to exchange four bottles of formula for four bottles of cow's milk--too much cow's milk can cause anemia which isn't good for them.

I should think that when you're out and about and she's on cow's milk in a few months time, just water and solids should be fine. She can have cow's milk with her breakfast and maybe in the evening before going to bed. You can also buy a carton of cow's milk with a straw if you really want to give her cow's milk when you're out, but it's not really necessary once they're well established on food.

[Poppins27]

Thank you, I guess just like with everything else Ill let my Dd devise when she's ready to reduce her feeds . Think it's definitely worth trying her with a beaker of milk rather than water to start getting her used to this....plus I get the bottle feeding cuddles for longer

[cravingcake]

I would try to drop at least two milk feeds and replace these with snacks (one at a time though). I'm guessing she has milk first thing, mid morning, mid afternoon and bed time. Drop the mid morning and replace with a yoghurt/fruit/ricecakes etc. Then do the same with the afternoon bottle a week or two later.

My DS is 16 months and still has two bottles a day. I've just replaced his morning bottle with a beaker and he doesn't seem bothered. He still has a bottle before bed, I don't have a problem with this.

There's no reason at all why you cant just change immediately over to cows milk but most do it gradually. I waited until about a week after my DS 1st birthday and replaced his morning formula with cows milk, and then just used up the last tin of formula for his evening bottle and then swapped straight to cow milk.

Also, once they are over a year old their milk requirements drop and they should be getting most of what they need from food. Its something like 300 - 500 mls a day and this includes the milk/dairy that is used in food (cheese, yoghurt, custard, cereal).

[cravingcake]

Regarding taking milk out with you on a day out, I just put cows milk in his bottle ready and put this in the cool part of my change bag. I just offered it when it was milk time and it had never heated up too much. For you by the time the real warm weather starts you should be off 'day time' milk anyway so I wouldn't worry too much. Just make sure you take a water bottle out with you.

[Maebe]

We slowly dropped the number of oz in the milk feeds to reduce the amount of milk DD was having overall in a day, as she was still a big fan of a proper bottle of milk. So morning and evenings are only 6oz now - and at nearly 14m we're thinking of dropping them to 5oz soon - and afternoon's in just 4oz. We slowly introduced a snack and some milk, which has seemed to work. That might help you phase out a bottle or two.

Cow's milk the CM changed first for the afternoon bottle, and then one day a few week's ago we just thought 'sod it' and went to cow's milk (on a long weekend so we could easily manage if she refused it or it disagreed with her). Have had absolutely no reaction, she doesn't seem to have noticed!

Re beakers, I started a thread on this a few weeks ago as the HV banged on to me about how important it was to stop all the bottles and move to beakers. We tried every single bloody beaker under the sun and DD still refuses to drink milk from them! Turned out this was quite common. So to solve any potential meltdowns like we had, maybe try the beakers first for a daytime drink where she's not too hungry or tired to get hysterical if she doesn't like a beaker.

[Poppins27]

Thanks for the advice Since Monday we have dropped the morning bottle and replace with a snack and so far so good, she's definitely eating more food than she was which is great.

I have stuck with the bottle for now too as I feel that we are changing enough as it is. Introduced cows milk to her yesterday and she wolfed it down!! No fussing at all so I'm just using up the formula on her bedtime bottle.

I definitely think I was way more traumatised over the though if this than my Dd seems to be

[abbyfromoz]

DD is 22 months and i still give her formula at bed time. You will have your 1 year development assessment soon and they will advise you on diet etc. i would introduce a tippy cup, gradually reduce bottles to 2/3 a day for now and eventually just 1...If you go with cow's milk you will need to substitute vitamins by giving her a multivitamin. Congrats on your first year! It's goes SO fast. Enjoy x

[Poppins27]

Ah thank you, I had no idea about the multivitamins, any in particular that are recommended?!?

She's had a beaker for her water from about 7 months but still isn't that great with them, tried a few different types...but if I'm honest I think it's more due to laziness rather than ability!!

[Maebe]

I love the multivitamins malarkey. My HV told me to drop formula and go to cow's milk because the baby will just naturally get rid of all the extras in the formula that they don't need, and said it's a waste of money really, just move to cow's milk. But of course she then said you need to supplement with multivitamins. Am slight about this - if you need to replace what you're not getting from formula, why not stick with formula, or am I missing something?!

I've moved to cow's milk because it is easier than making up formula bottles and I assume it's cheaper (though my maths is shocking so I'm not sure on that!), and I'll happily give DD baby multivitamins as they've been recommended, but part of me wonders whether it is just the same to stick with age 1-2 formula?

[abbyfromoz]

Maebe- It's what I was told at her development assessment...I never questioned it. IMO if they are not eating right it can't do any harm to make sure they are getting extra?

[Maebe]

I don't think it does any harm at all, it was more the stop formula, but add multivitamins that confused me!