If you formula fed your baby....

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Baby is just about to turn 1 this week. She was formula bottle fed after I couldn't breast feed. We have successfully weaned to cows milk already but she is still having 3 bottles a day before 2 naps and bed.

Just a question for parents of FF babies... once they've switched to cows milk what happens when you travel? Ie we hope to go away in august on a short haul - what would we do about milk? Cows milk needs to be kept cold but ready made formula cartons are easy to cart around and I understand airports will let you bring those onto a plane.

Or what if we do a long journey to visit grandparents..?

Keen to keep her in cows milk and to reduce the dependency on milk.

Any advice from those who FF would be appreciated. Thanks.

I just bought cows milk when I got to wherever I needed to go.

But tbh, once they stopped taking formula, apart from ds who needed cows milk protein free formula, so had alpro soya growing up milk, dd never really wanted to drink cows milk.

She would have it in cereal but that was it. So I upped things like yoghurt to make sure she got her calcium.

For flights - take an empty flask and when you get through to departures hut cows milk in the departure lounge and fill up the flask.

Or skip milk for the flight and just give foody snacks and water.

Long drives - flask of cows milk, snacks and water for the journey.

Buy it from a coffee shop in the departure lounge? Virtually every airport will have one and I doubt would decline to sell you some if you said it was for a baby. Even dairy milk can stay out of the fridge for a couple of hours, but take a cool pack if you’re worried.

If driving, what about cartons of UHT? Can acclimatise the taste by mixing with fresh for a few drinks ahead.

Ok, reading these responses I feel like the issue is her dependency on milk. She definitely loves cows milk just as much as formula. She guzzles 3 bottles a day. I feel Ike she wouldn't nap without it. I feed her 3 good healthy meals and a snack and she eats loads of food too! She is in the top centile so I don't know if that makes a difference. Sorry no health visitors at the moment due to COVID.

We haven’t swapped yet but DD is down to two bottles first thing in the morning and just before bed - she would still happily take a middle of the day one but I’m trying t do without it as we get closer to 12 months. I’m thinking I might switch the morning milk to a cup next to try and get used to that.

I agree with pp I think I’ll just go with buying cows milk when I get to where I’m going. My changing bag/ rucksack thing does have a cool bad section for bottles though and I have some mini cool blocks - that might be a short term solution? Would last for the journey to grandparents or at least half of it and you could feed her halfway - you could always stop at a services and buy some there too.

I’m not sure how it would work with the flight though, but its another month and a half away depending on when in august you go - you might find she’s dropped at least one bottle by then and can last the duration of the flight - I’m sure you could get cows milk in the airport for a feed just before you boarded if necessary?

I just gave other drinks for the journey if required and bought what I needed on arrival.

One day out of routine and off usual diet doesn't hurt.

At that age we cut down to a morning bottle and a bed time bottle so we were able to get milk for those wherever we happened to be. She had water from a sippy cup in the day.

My Ds is 17 months now and has been on cows milk since he was a year old. He only has one bottle a day before bed. Most of the time it is cows milk but we still do give him formula every now and then, especially when he is eating as much. We are going away next week and I've bought a few bottles of ready made for him as a comfort seeing as we will be in a strange place (and it's a lot easier)

It’s easy enough to get cows milk anywhere. If there’s a Boots after security at the airport they often have it in the fridge with the meal deals. Not sure if you’re allowed to take non-formula milk through security. You might find by August she’s stopped drinking as much anyway. Going on a plane will be a new and different situation so could be a good opportunity to just give her food snacks and water to drink instead.

My DS was on cow's milk free formula so then went on to oat milk. Some oat milks have added calcium and vitamins (we use oatily barrista) and can be kept in the cupboard until opened. Would your DC have oat milk as a one off, seeing as you can carry it around in your bag?

You can call health visitors to make an appointment ... just in case you didn't know that. They are still seeing people, just not for the open door sessions.

If you don’t like the idea of buying cows milk on the journey, what about the alpro soya 1-3 years growing up milk for the journey.

For general ease and also because they’re ideally not supposed to drink from a bottle after 1, I’d probably try to cut out the daytime milk before you go. We only did 1 bottle before bed at that age and when on holiday I’d just buy milk from anywhere like a corner shop or hotel room service. I remember asking the flight attendants to fill the bottle before landing once or twice so she could have it when we got to the hotel. That was long haul though, I’m not sure how much milk they are likely to have on a short haul flight. If you really think you need it to avoid a mid-air nap fighting melt down (do what you’ve got to do!) then I’d take an empty bottle through security and buy milk airside. Boots will have it. Any restaurant or coffee shop will sell you a glass that you can pour into a bottle. On a short haul flight it will stay fresh to still be drinkable when needed.

My DS is 16 months and still has 3 bottles; in the morning, mid afternoon and before bed. My DD is 4 and still has a cup of milk in the morning and before bed; I don’t see the issue as long as they’re eating a healthy diet too.
But to your main question - I just buy it where we go, cafes and restaurants will give you a cup of milk (like at airports or just at shops). I’d take long life milk on holiday in case it’s an issue but if you get a hotel room with a fridge then you can just buy it. I take it in a cool bag if it only needs to be kept cool for an hour or two.

I would just take those ready made bottles of formula with you. My now 16 month old has been on cows milk since turning 1 but we recently went to London for 2 nights in a hotel so I took the ready made formula as there was no fridge to keep cows milk cold.
Luckily she’s happy to drink either.

I think my baby only had a bottle when he woke in korning and one before bed once we moved to cows milk at 12mnths. But, it would be easy enough to just take a bottle with you out and about and order milk at cafe or buy a small carton of milk whilst out wouldn't it?

20 years ago so all a bit hazy but I'm sure we used follow on milk for travel and used those cartons for convenience.

I just used follow on milk in cartons for travelling and got him used to cold milk for before bed in a sippy cup.. so no probs with heating it up on the move.

Just make bottles more and more tepid as time goes on... they'll soon give them up if they don't like cold milk.

With the exception of being on a plane, I just stopped and bought milk. There is really only a very small window of time when they have milk during the day after 1. I think both of mine stopped all milk except before breakfast and bedtime by about 13-14 months.

For long-haul flights, we bought a small full fat milk in Boots in the airport. It's fine enough at room temp for a few hours, then flight attendents let us come back to the galley to submerge it in boiled water to heat before bedtime. For camping, we use UHT milk. This would also work on flights if you can get it post-security. I wasn't confident we'd be allowed through security with it though as it is not technically 'baby milk'.

For travelling we bought the ready made toddler formula for journey there and back and just bought cows milk when we got there. At about 14 months we dropped the afternoon bottle and ds only had milk first thing and at bedtime (at age 7 he still wants a cup of milk first thing every morning ) Can you work on replacing the pre nap bottles with a snack by August which could help a lot?

We went abroad when ds was 15 months old, he still had 3 bottles a day, I took cartons of ready made formula instead of cows milk.

Good idea about follow on milk. Not using that as a rule as it's generally not necessary and just a marketing ploy, but the cartons would be useful for flights to get through security and don't need chilling. I would like to be in a position where she doesn't need it at all but will take some just in case in the interests of avoiding a flight meltdown!

Worried about how to wean her off milk feeds before her two day naps as she's really hooked. She cuddles up to me and I feed her the bottle until she's drowsy. I know I've probably made a "rod" and all that. But she sleeps really well so I was nervous to change anything (we experienced sleep regression before and I know that that's like!). Should I just try offering water in the same way?

I would take some cartons of ready made formula (at the airport don't forget to buy after security for your hand luggage or you may be made to open them to 'test' which means they have to be used-you can order from boots to pick up). I always did this just so we had something familiar on hand, but would then get milk from the airport lounge and buy some when we got there. we often didn't really need the cartons although we did sometimes if there was a delay on the runway, long wait at security/picking up bags, longer than expected transfer to hotel etc. We flew quite a lot with DD1 and DD2 at this age.

We took cartons of follow on milk.