When is it time to transition from formula/breastmilk to cow's milk? I've read on babycentre.ca that after baby's first birthday, it's fine to start introducing Homo (full fat) milk and transition off the iron-rich formulas/breastmilk.
Right now, Jane usually has four feedings of milk per day. Two (breakfast, bedtime) are formula and two are breastmilk. Any nighttime feedings are breastmilk because I don't have the energy to go make a bottle at 3am. :p Even with only half-formula (and I'm using powdered Nestle Goodstart) it's not cheap (in all fairness, I'm used to spending $0 on baby milk). Typically, I go through one large can every three week-ish, and it costs about $30-ish CDN. Once I am working again, Jane will be on 100% formula... or cow's milk? This is my question. I was thinking, instead of switching the two breastmilk feedings to formula feedings, could I transition those from breastmilk to cow's milk? Then, I could move the formula feedings to cow's milk. This would be a whole lot cheaper - I think? What's everyone's experience with this? What do you recommend if you've done it? Did you also switch to using only the sippy cup or are you using a bottle still? Or, are you using something else altogether? What brand are you using? HELP! :p
"Weaning" is going a lot easier than I expected. I thought it would be harder on me but I've been doing it so gradually that, both physically and emotionally, it's not been a challenge. My boobs are hilariously smaller than 6-8 months and I'm pretty sure they haven't kept up their end of the bargain (see here) and I'm going to need some serious help from Victoria's Secret once this is all said and done. I will say that the smaller tah-tahs are making me feel skinnier... bigger bosoms definitely don't work on me (although Dan would disagree).
Your tips-n-tricks, as always, are appreciated. Who needs "experts" and books when I have you guys!
Two things - did you see Oprah yesterday? Yes, I know, I'm one of those embarrassing "Twi-Moms"... every time I start to forget about my love for those novels, a new movie comes out and I get crazy again. Oprah is really speakin' my language this week - Tommy Boy's on Friday (I know he's crazy but I've loved him since I was 10 in Top Gun, you never forget your first love) and Will Smith next week! :)
Having a Date Night this weekend? Check out Date Night... Literally. Movie with Steve Carrell and Tina Fey. Aside from several minutes of Marky Mark shirtless, there's a scene in that movie (involving a strip club) that almost made me lose control of my weak-post-baby-bladder. I have not laughed like that in a long time, uncontrollable. It may have been the glass of wine beforehand but, regardless, priceless.
Two things - did you see Oprah yesterday? Yes, I know, I'm one of those embarrassing "Twi-Moms"... every time I start to forget about my love for those novels, a new movie comes out and I get crazy again. Oprah is really speakin' my language this week - Tommy Boy's on Friday (I know he's crazy but I've loved him since I was 10 in Top Gun, you never forget your first love) and Will Smith next week! :)
Having a Date Night this weekend? Check out Date Night... Literally. Movie with Steve Carrell and Tina Fey. Aside from several minutes of Marky Mark shirtless, there's a scene in that movie (involving a strip club) that almost made me lose control of my weak-post-baby-bladder. I have not laughed like that in a long time, uncontrollable. It may have been the glass of wine beforehand but, regardless, priceless.
8 comments:
jenn, i've been giving jack homo milk for 3 weeks now, transitioning of course. the loving care books that we got at prenatal class say 9 months is when you can start.
he drinks it at breakfast, lunch and supper, just out of a class and i make him smoothies as an afternoon snack, with full fat plain yogurt, homo milk and whatever fruit, he loves it and laps it up
I agree, 9 months is when everything says you can start. Quincy is still stuck to the boob more then not these days (damn needle on Friday brought us back about 6 months and hes nursing every 15 minutes..errrr) But he does have cows milk in the AM on all bran sometimes just a little glass to wash lunch or supper down =)
I transitioned my little guy from formula to milk the week of his first birthday. On formula, he was barely drinking and we had to coax him to have anything at all. The day we switched him to milk (pediatrician said to do it cold turkey) he started guzzling it back and crying when the bottle was finished. Who knew? Wish I had done it a month or two sooner...
We gave him milk in the bottle so at least one thing would be familiar to him, and then switched to straw cups at about 14 months. Honestly, it was easier than I could imagine. You and Jane will be just fine.
I started giving Andrew homo milk a couple of weeks ago. He started gulping it back like it was water, had no reaction and seems to love it!
We are still BFing 4 times a day but I also give him milk in a sippy cup at lunch and dinner. He drinks probably about 4-5oz total over the day.
In my experience you can't just "replace" a feeding with milk right off the bat. You have to go slowly because not very many babies will just go to town and drink 6-8oz of homo milk and give up their formula or BM.
With Sarah I started around 10 months and by 12 months she was usually only nursing twice a day (by necessity since I was working two days a week).
I say go for it with Jane!! I bet she'll be fine ... and it'll be cheaper!!
This is another great post question! I have also been wondering about weaning, and I think you could do a another whole post about that in more detail... please? ;)
Abby seems to be losing interest in the boob during the day time feeds, but is all about it in the morning and at bedtime. We haven't given her milk or formula, and I'd like to avoid the formula purely as a cost decision.
As said above the Loving Care books say not to replace BM or formula with cow's milk until 12 months, but to intro c-milk at 9 months. We just had yogurt for the first time yesterday and that was fine. Abby will be 9 months on Monday! Oh my...
Great post!
Happy weekend!
I just started to introduce organic cow's milk to Parker this past week. I am starting off slow. 1oz at first - went well. I was freaking out inside while my boyfriend just gave it to him out of the blue, didn't even ask me or tell me he was giving it to him. Then he had about 2oz two days in a row. I am trying to get him to take it around his afternoon naptime. I will continue to bfeed him in the morning and bedtime when i return to work. i want him to have something during the day at daycare so i thought i would introduce the milk to him just before his afternoon nap so he has that 'comfort' and getting some more milk fat in the process. we are using sippy cups. He hasn't had a bottle for many months now. Straw cups are a major hit in our house - less spills and he drinks water out of them like crazy. My hope is that I will continue to bfeed am and bedtime for the next 3-6 months and then have him fully on milk by xmas. Never thought I would be doing that for this long but i've changed my mind. also the weaning process is harder for me emotionally than i ever thought it would be. During the day I am fine but I feel comforted by the fact that I have my bonding time with him at night before he goes to bed and when he wakes up in the morning.
I say, try the milk, I'm sure Jane will love it. If she likes yorgurt - she'll love the milk. just make sure its the full fat milk.
You've had some good advice here!! I'm in the belief of switching at one year. Being in the medical field both my husband I feel that you don't need to be to quick to introduce foods to kids. I waited until the full 6 months to start solids and 12 months for full fat (or homo or 3%) milk. We also decided since our little guy is very healthy but very active and not overweight we have stayed with the homo milk past 2 years.
We went pretty much cold turkey. I had been unable to breastfeed after the 9 month stage so we didn't have the issue with weaning straight to milk so I can't help there. We did mostly sippy cup except the bedtime bottle which we kept for another couple of months. Then he just gave it up on his own. I'm sure that Jane will do fine, she's pretty easy going I think it will be alright.
E self-weaned down to two feeds a day at 8 months. Then she gave up BF altogether at 10.5 months. Coincidentally, that's when she started sleeping 12 hour nights! I had her on soy formula to start (at 8 mos)...then switched to cow milk formula when she was off the boob completely. At 13 months, I switched to toddler supplement (she's super tiny--only 3lbs at birth and still only 16lbs at 15.5 mos)...as my dr told me it was higher in fat than homo milk. Much to my MILs dismay, I didn't put her on Carnation Condensed Milk...hahaha! In anycase...I just switched her 2 weeks ago (15mos) to homo milk...but she hates it!! So I just mix in a little Yop yogurt drink (only about 1/4 of the yop bottle) with the milk and she takes it fine. She's slowly being weaned off the Yop--that stuff is pretty sweet--and she doesn't even know it!
As for the vessel...well E wasn't big on the bottle to start. She was intro'd to it at 8 mos...then by 12 mos, I hated to look of her having a bottle hanging outta her mouth all the time that we started into soft sippy cups. Now she's onto straw cups...I say it doesn't really matter...as long as they're taking in what you want, who cares what they drink it from?
Oh! And, the bedtime bottle? Never introduced it AT ALL...I didn't want to have to wean that away either!! :)
Just remember that there's alot of hype that goes along with drinking milk. We're the only 'animal' that drinks another animals milk. AS long as Jane is eating yogurt, cheese of all kinds and green leafies, then she's getting her calcium!
I know all these decisions are filled with GUILT, trepidation and more guilt. There's really no right way to go about it other than what's right (financially and emotionally) for you guys! Every good mother puts way too much effort and worry into the smallest of decisons, only to find out 6 months later that regardless of what you would've done, it all works out in the end (for the most part).
Good luck to you!
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