please talk to me about milk after first birthday

[meadowwalker]

My DS is nearly 1. We have been cutting down breastfeeding and I hope to stop by his birthday. As a FTM I am a bit clueless about what his milk intake should be after that, so please MNers, could you tell me: how much milk did you give after first birthday and when in the day? did you use a bottle or a cup? did you go straight to cow's milk or transition gradually from breast/formula milk? did you warm the milk? if so, how? I realise I sound daft, but TIA!

I continued breastfeeding morning and evening past a year but I never gave cow's milk - well, I offered it but DS1 had no interest in it! It's not absolutely essential for a toddler if LO is getting enough of the relevant nutrition and hydration. DS1 would happily eat his own bodyweight in yoghurt and cheese, and drank loads of water, so I wasn't worried - I mean, there are plenty of parts of the world where people can't even digest cow's milk after weaning so it's not like all children absolutely need it.

Obviously it's still a very nutritious food if your LO likes it, and I'm sure others with less milk-hating children will be along to make suggestions!

If you've stopped bfing altogether the minimum is 300ml of full fat cows milk, this can include milk in foods like cereal and custard though.

Both of mine had a clear break between stopping bfing and accepting cows milk, and I can't really blame them

Oh and bottles are recommended after 12 months anyway. If you bf morning and evening like leedy there is no need to offer cows milk as a drink at all. If you want to stop completely the 300ml a day is enough. Most people offer it in a cup morning and evening and maybe before the afternoon nap. At 12 months you can offer the milk after the food instead of before.

I carried on BFing but have low supply so wanted my daughter to drink milk too. She wasn't prepared to! She also loves cheese and yoghurt so I just gave her water and didn't worry about it. She's 22 months now and about two months ago decided she does like milk, but I've never measured how much she has.

I went straight to a cup (with meals) when I stopped breast feeding, personally I hate bottles - realise that is my snobby opinion though. I never warmed the milk and I never got into the 'bedtime' drink as that can then become a habit that is hard to break. I also used plenty of dairy foods in meal times so that drinking lots of milk wasnt necessary.

Don't forget all the other calcium rich foods like salmon, sardines, eggs, dried apricots and dried figs. Does Lo have the daily recommended vitamins too?

DD is 13 months, she still bf's quite a lot but when I'm not around she has cows' milk in a sippy cup. We usually offer a cup half full with breakfast and again with afternoon snack. From experience that's what she will drink. If she finishes it and "asks" for more she can have more.

Not sure how that stacks up with the recommended quantities, I just assume she makes up the difference in breastmilk and other foods.

No need to worry cat, the recommended amounts are there for children who aren't bf at all. If you are bfing there is no need to worry

My dd 1 and 2 went from breast milk to formula as babies then to goat milk at one yr ( easier to digest) then cow milk. At about one yr they had some first thing in am from a bottle warmed up then cold in a cup with am and pm snack and then some warm in a bottle before bath and bed . I guess we all just muddle along and do what seems to suit us and our little ones!

Thank you for all the information, 300ml seems very manageable when I think of milk in cereal, yogurt etc. Noggin, could I ask how you warm the milk? I quite like the idea of warm milk before bed, I guess I may regret that in years to come if I create a bad habit though!

sorry, Noggie, not Noggin, that was a character in a children's book iirc!

My dd sometimes likes her milk warm too, especially if she is poorly or tired. I just warm it in the microwave.

Yes just microwave or in a pan x