Converting from Formula to cows milk???????

[Oooggs]

How do you do it???? Do you just stop formula and give bottle of cows milk or do you mix them?

DS will be 11 months when we do it, as at 11.5 months we are off to America for two weeks and it seems better than trying to take formula with us.

Now a really silly question - do that have cows milk in Florida? You know the stuff we give our children? Now I feel really stupid

[PicadillyCircus]

Can't help as DS is still on formula but will be interested in replies - he's 10 and a bit months now and I am wondering about changing.

When I was in America, there was definitely cow's milk there

[alison222]

As formula and cows milk taste very different, I mixed them over a few weeks gradually increasing the cows milk until it was all milk and no formula. I still had trouble with DD though (ds no such problem) until I discovered she much preferred it cold - but she had been drinking formula warmed

[emmatmg]

With all 3 Ds's I just swapped from one to the other once the last tin of formula was finished.

Didn't have a problem with any of them.

[prefernot]

I started giving dd some cow's milk on her cereal instead of formula. Then I gave her little cups of it as a treat so that a few days in when I gave it her in her bottle it wasn't such a new taste. She took to it no problem. I don't blame her. Have you ever tasted formula ... euchh ...

[PicadillyCircus]

DS has cow's milk on his cereal - has done since he was 6 months so at least I know he doesn't hate it. Think I'll probably leave it for a while - and will buy at least one more tin!

It's a bit like my sterilising continuing - I will stop one day

[KateandtheGirls]

My oldest never noticed when we switched cold turkey from formula to cow's milk, but I have heard the advice to do it gradually.

Yep, we have cows here!

Just look at the bottle carefully, because over here full fat milk (which will probably just be labeled Vitamin D milk or whole milk) has a red lid, and skim milk has a blue lid. It's the other way round in England, isn't it?

[Oooggs]

Thanks for all your advise and help. Kate - Glad you have cows in the US

[edam]

We switched ds overnight and he didn't seem to notice. We had used a little cow's milk on cereal/porridge and in cooking though.

But we still warm his bottles (OK, he's 14 months but bottles thread made me much happier about admitting this); might try cold and see how he does...

[ChicPea]

I have been told by dermatologist that when I change DS of 11mths to cows milk, it should be done gradually over a period of 2wks. Was told that if it changed over too quickly that babies find it too heavy and they can bring the lot up.

[almost40]

Hi Oooggs, There have been a bunch of old threads on this. We mixed half formula with half cow's milk until I ran out of formula when DD1 was 11.5 months. No problems. I'm sure we could have done cold turkey and it would have been fine as well. We have cow's milk here of course, but most Europeans prefer to buy 'Organic' cow's milk, which is significantly more expensive in the U.S. than regular 'pasteurized homogenized' cow's milk. You may also prefer to give 'organic', as it supposedly doesn't come from the cows which have been pumped up with steroids etc. If you do not want to pay for the organic milk, I'm sure the regular milk is fine. You should be careful to always check the expiration date of the milk you buy in the U.S. though, as the regular pasteurized milk expires usually within a few days. Hope this helps.