DS about to turn 1 - how to stop bottles/switch to cow's milk in cup?

[Peevish]

I couldn't find this addressed elsewhere, sorry if I'm replicating.

My FF DS will be one in a few weeks. He currently drinks around 400 mls of formula a day in two bottles, one at naptime, one at bedtime. He fed to sleep until very recently but now usually goes down awake, but the bottles of milk are still a crucial sleep cue for him, and he's a baby who has difficulty 'letting go'. I know he needs to stop the formula and the bottles and start on full-fat cow's milk in cups with meals, but could anyone offer advice on how best to do it?

Is there a non-disruptive way of doing it gradually? He's only just become good at sleeping reasonably reliably, and I'm worried about the effect of taking away such a crucial sleep cue. Also, while he does drink water from a sippy cup with meals, he's not wildly enthusiastic about it, and doesn't take a lot in at a time.

Any thoughts v welcome.

[MoonlightandRoses]

The way we did it was to do up a FF bottle, tip out a couple of ounces and replace with cows milk, and continue to reduce the formula element every couple of days. In terms of getting rid of the bottle, we didn't bother with a sippy. We started by using a shot glass (ours isn't a 'chomper' so heavy glass was ok - otherwise improvise with the smallest plastic cup you can find (IKEA do a nice set of play glasses) so that any spills weren't too big and it was easier for small child to hold. It's also very much 'their' kit, which seems to make it more interesting.

Using the above, we moved completely away from bottles about two months after small child's first birthday, with no stress at all.

Don't know if the above will work for you, but might be worth a try.

[KnottedAnchorChief]

Watching with interest, Dd is just 12 mths and is still on 3 ff per day.
DS didn't give up his bedtime ff until he was 2, it was such a big deal for him.

I was considering trying to drop dds morning feed and offering cows milk in a cup but she really isn't keen!

[Peevish]

Thanks Moonlight - laughing at the idea of your baby swigging sophisticatedly from a shot glass, but it's a good idea! I've switched my boy's naptime bottle of formula for cow's milk since I posted the above, and while he definitely notices the difference, it doesn't seem to bother him much. He's still showing very little interest in drinking milk from a sippy cup, though, so I may adopt your idea of getting some small glasses. He loves drinking from adult glasses, but has a terrible habit of putting his hands in and swishing the liquid about...

Still doing the usual formula feed at bedtime for the moment.

Knotted, I dropped DS's morning feed a few months ago, and he didn't seem to miss it at all - we just got him out of bed, played with him and took him straight down to a breakfast of porridge (with cow's milk) and toast fingers, so he wasn't hungry.

Also, one question about your DS keeping his bedtime formula feed till he was two - was this in a bottle or cup, and what did you do about teeth-cleaning?

[Pootles2010]

He got a tummy upset around 1 yr old, and i had to take him off dairy totally for 2 days, then i just used that opportunity to put him onto cups and cows milk! Worked very well for few of my friends too.

Might it be worth waiting till his next one?

[Keznel]

Very helpful info on here DD turns 1 in a few weeks and am considering dropping her morning bottle. She too is reluctant to drink formula from a sippy cup. There are great little open plastic cups on babycup.co.uk, they are around £7 for 4 of them. Might give them a rattle following moonlight's advice.

[Flisspaps]

We ran out of formula yesterday, I'm not buying any more (DS is 11.5mo)

This morning he had cows milk in a beaker instead of a bottle, and a bottle at bedtime. In a couple of weeks, the bedtime bottle will become a beaker of milk and we'll have a story while he has his milk.

No mixing, no swapping one feed at a time. Get what you're given in my house

[Volare]

DD was on 2 bottles (first thing and evening) at 12mo.
We switched the morning FF to cow's milk in a beaker, and just stopped the evening bottle altogether. Surprisingly to me, she wasn't bothered about dropping the evening one, although had always had a bottle before bed. She wasn't happy about having a morning beaker, so we went back to bottles for a couple of weeks before trying again.
I remember that by 13mo she was on cow's milk (cows' milk?) only and having one beaker of it with her breakfast. No bottles and no formula.