Remind me - what do I do when DS turns 1year old?

[Holymoly321]

DS2 turns one next month. He currently has 3 bottles of 7oz formula a day. He has cows milk in his cereal for breakfast. Anyway, I can't remember for the life of me what I did with DS1 when he turned one - do I still give 3 bottles a day but cows milk instead of formula?

You can if you like but I never gave any of mine cow's milk as a drink after weaning (or indeed before as they were bf) and they are all fine with perfect teeth at ages 14, 12 and 8. Milk contains many valuable nutrients, but children can get these from other dairy products and other foods. The downside of milk is that it can fill a toddler up and make him/her less keen to eat solid food, can make them constipated if drunk instead of water, and can cause more mucus to form, leading to more colds, coughs etc.

so am i meant to stop giving milk altogether then? I really can\t remember

I offered my dc the odd drink of milk in a lidded cup; dd1 would take it, dd2 would not. Can't remember with ds but he still bf-ed till 4 or 5 years old. If your child likes milk and wants to drink it, no harm in continuing to give some but I don't see the point in measuring it by the fl oz. It's not their whole diet any more, so no more reason to measure milk, than any other part of their diet. If not interested, no reason to force a child to drink milk, imo.

Many children continue having milk from a bottle for years after weaning. My dd1's first cm said she could remember having a bottle when she was 6!

It's your decision, Holymoly. I know I'm in a minority of mothers who never ever used a bottle.

One drink of cow's milk in the morning, one at bedtime is all my 18month old has had for many months now... Never measure the amount, just a small mug's worth I reckon.

Might be an idea to introduce it gradually rather than switching overnight. Maybe mix it with formula for a bit, making the ratio of cow's milk stronger each time

Ok, will give that a go. I know DS1 who is 3 now still has a drink of milk before bed but not in the morning now.

With ds I switched a day feed (of formula) into a lidded cup and then when he was ok taking milk from a cup I switched the other feeds to the cup too. He was off bottles by 10 1/2 months doing this. By the time he was 1 he only had two drinks of milk per day and I switched them one at a time to cows milk e.g. gave the morning one as cows milk for a few days with formula at night and when he was ok with that gave the night one as cows milk too. Ds who is now 2 likes a drink of milk in the morning but is not so fussed about a drink at bedtime - he will sometimes have it but not all the time.