Can't get my 12 mo off breast and onto Pepti Junior

[Weta]

I'm getting really down as I'm struggling to get my 12mo off the breast and onto Pepti Junior (cow's milk seems to give him eczema and his older brother has a serious dairy allergy).

We stopped the afternoon feed a month ago but mostly he only takes about 50ml of the Pepti Junior. He also has a fromage frais (made of cow's milk) so I feel ok about the calcium.

But now I'm trying to stop the evening feed and it's a nightmare. I've been expressing to try and mix it with Pepti Junior but he won't even take much of the expressed milk on its own, let alone mixing it in.

I don't know whether this means he just doesn't want that much in the evening, but I'm finding the expressing exhausting and am inclined to just stop and try not to worry if he's not taking "enough". Is that really bad?! and is he likely to up his intake? He still has the morning breastfeed but I think once I'm down to one a day the milk will soon dry up, so I am quite concerned about him getting enough calcium.

Thanks and sorry this is so long...
Weta

Who is giving him the bottle feed?

It needs to be someone other than you. Then your LO knows the breast milk isn't an option. Stay out of the room whilst the bottle feed is being offerred.

Can your dh/dp help?

Am a bit confused. If he can tolerate cow's milk in the form of yogurt then why not give him this (and cheese, I guess, if he is OK w. yogurt) and forget about the Pepti altogether?

Oat milk/rice milk and soya milk are also good sources of calcium.

It's actually a cup rather than a bottle, and my DH does do it when he's home (and I stay out of the room) but often just gets point-blank refusal.

The thing with the yoghurt is that his skin is already looking a bit rough on one little fromage frais a day - we will try to up the amount he has to see how much he can take, but it may well set off the eczema. We're not keen on soy at this age, and haven't had any luck getting him to take rice milk so far either

hmm well a quick google suggests that it is often disliked by children due to it';s smell and taste.

perhaps a different formula would work better?
ds2 is intolerant to dairy and loves oat milk, which actually tastes quite nice.
oatly make an enriched one that has calcium and other vits in it

one or two breastfeeds a day at this stage will keep your supply going.

I had the same problem, i had to stop breastfeeding altogether at 10 months as my dd was all or nothing! she reused a cup for milk so dh gave her bottles, it was hard but they won't go hungry! don't feel bad about giving up BF you've done really well to last this long! BTW pepti-junior is more pallatable than nutrimagen if they offer you that. make sure any milk alternative you give has got calcium in it. we also give dd soya yoghurts with calcium. Your dietician will be able to tell you how much calcium your LO needs, i've got the info if you want it x

Why not just continue breastfeeding morning and night?

I'd cut out the fromage frais totally too - daft to give him something that you know he's allergic to.

Plenty of ways to get calcium without dairy - sesame seeds, dried figs, sardines etc.

Am not unsympathetic btw - dd was also milk intolerant and refused all milk substitutes, so I just carried on with bf until she outgrew the problem (well, I still bf, but she has cows milk too now).

erm, you give a special and possibly expensive formula, whilst you possibly could still bf but than give a fromage fraise that is dairy? tbh, that does not make sense to me...
you do know that calcium is really badly absorped in the dairy form, and that bf would give a better source and also green vegetables sre very good, etc...

weta i stopped feeding my ds at 13mths and he didnt take any milk, didnt like it, he got it via his food. its no big deal, honestly. i have a friend whos kids dont like milk either. all breastfeed til 12mths maybe more.
honestly the pressure to get milk into them is as bad as the pressure to be size 10.

dont fret, get the recommended daily amt in via his food.
let the excezma lie, my ds seemed slightly reactionary to milk too, but now he's 4 and takes milk on his cereal and cheese and there no reactions.
hth
dont fret!

actually in weta's defense, yoghurts are often better tolerated than "raw" milk, by allergy sufferers. can't remember why thoubh

BUT WETA IS SAYING THAT EVEN THAT ONE FROMAGE FRAIS IS CAUSING IRITATION, SO SURELY IT IS BETTER TO WAIT TO INTRODUCE IT... sorry caps lock was on, wasn't shouting

my ds didnt like yogurt eitherbut i got dairy in via food, he loved his food so it wasnt hard , it might be for weta....i dont know her baby's appetite

Hi

I would keep trying - it's not just the calcium that's important in formula milk. And, I understand avoiding irritation at this age is really important.

So: my ds had to have nutramigen milk - which is disgusting!!! I got him to take it in the end by mixing a teeny bit of the formula into expressed milk and gradually increasing the amount of formula until he was fully on it. The process took about 2 weeks and I increased the amounts by about 5ml a day. Good luck - it's not fun.