Transition to cows milk at 1 - your stories

[delilah88]

Hello,
DD, currently EBF + eats solids, is 8 months old and I am beginning to wonder about the process of transferring her to cows milk at 1.
Has anyone done this? Is it easy / do they like the cows milk?
Did anyone do it a little early, like 11 months?
Thanks

[MoaningMingeWhingesAgain]

I started to offer little bits around 11m while still BF. Went striaght to open beaker with a straw.

Carried on BF for a good while after that too. Never took to cows milk much as a drink but occasionally asks for some and has it on cereal etc.

[FanjoPaterson]

Hmm. I put DD on cows milk at around thirteen months when I realised there wasn't any formula at stupid o'clock in the morning. She sucked it down and hasn't looked back since.
I do know that some people start with a 70:30 mix bm to cm and work onto straight cows milk.

Hope that's vaguely useful

[noblegiraffe]

My DS was bfed, never had formula and decided he didn't like cows milk as a drink. He has it in cereal, and we make sure he has cheese and yoghurt which covers the calcium requirements.

Once you stop giving formula, remember it's recommended that children under 5 take a vitamin supplement.

[MewlingQuim]

I used to express breast milk for DD's porridge when she went onto solids at 6 months, but I started using cows milk in the porridge instead from about 8 months and she didn't notice the difference. I started giving her cows milk to drink instead of expressed breast milk at about 10 months when I went back to work, I didn't really want to use formula and hv said I didn't need to bother if she was having a good diet and bf in the morning and evenings. I then phased out bf after 1 year when DD was no longer interested

[MillyStar]

I started using it for cereal when i was weaning

Waited till 12 months and tried her with a warm bottle of it, she spat it out lol i tried 50/50 cows milk and formula for about 3 days then 3/4 cows 1/4 formula etc she was on 100% cows milk within about a week - it was a non event to be honest!

She's 14 months now and has a bottle when she wakes up and one before bed ;)

[wigglesrock]

I went straight from formula to cows milk with all 3 of mine with no bother at all. No phasing it in, just a straight swop. It may have 11.5 months with dd3.

[delilah88]

Thank you so much for these stories - v. helpful. Especially mewling starting at 10 months with no ill effects. I was kind of wondering on the odd occasion I leave DD with DH at 10-11 months if she could try cows instead of expressed milk. She does like it (sometimes has some from our cereal bowls) and also loves dairy in general.

[nextphase]

We did exactly what your proposing - as an occasional drink when I wasn't around for a short while from about 10mths - but BM kept as the main drink til well gone 12 months.

I figured that if I was giving them milk on cereal, and they were picking up the bowl and trying to drink it, out of a cup occasionally wasn't going to be an issue. I never expressed, or gave formula.

Diody cups here from 6 mths with water, and then milk from 12.