Thinking of replacing BF with cows milk, any tips

[TamaraNicolaou]

My DS is now 1 year old, I am still breast feeding, mainly first thing in the morning and last thing at night now and occasionally before his mid day nap.

I have read that, when replacing BF with cows milk, he will now need to drink 2 to 3 cups of milk a day, does this include the milk I put in his morning porridge and any foods such as cheese sauce?

Do you give milk with last meal or just before bed? also read that if given before bed might not be good for teeth?

Any tips on how to get him to sleep without the breast, or am I going to have to go through the screaming wars again?

Thank you in advance for your help :)

Do you breastfeed to sleep? I used o do this until around 6 months when I started o switch baby onto formula. At 7.5 month she was fully formula fed and I now put her down to bed awake and brush her tooth before bed, after bottle.

Think it's advised to brush teeth after milk whether it's breast, formula or cows.

Good luck with the change.

Well we're a bit different as we just carried on BF. Still am and he's 2 in September.

However, I did need him to go to sleep without BF for various reasons so we did the Gradual withdrawal method.

I started taking him off the breast just before he had fallen asleep and putting him down awake but sitting with him abd stroking his head/back until he fell sleep. After a week I moved on to sitting next to the bed and just stroking his hand, a week later just sitting by the bed not touching him, Then every week after that i just moved closer and closer to the door until I was standing outside the bedroom with the door open so he could see me and he was falling asleep himself.

Now I can feed him, read his story, brush his teeth then put him down, give him a kiss and say goodnight and leave him to it.

It took AGES but it was worth it for me as it was very gentle and he didn't cry at all through the whole process apart from the first few nights right at the beginning when I was with him anyway

As for switching to cows milk, well I can't really help but I would definietly try getting him to sleep without the breast first then you can concentrate on stopping BF. I would start with morning one first as you can distract distract distract with breakfast, getting washed, dressed etc.

Good Luck

he doesnt need to drink 2-3 cups of milk per day but 3 dairy portions are recommended e.g. drink of milk, some cheese, some yoghurt, etc. Cheese sauces, milk in cereal, etc will count towards their daily intake too. At that age my lo had a drink of milk downstairs and then went up to do teeth, have stories, etc before bed

Ok thanks all,

xminerva: the reason for weaning off BF now is that I am due to give birth at christmas so have decided to start weaning slowly slowly, much how you have done. I will definitely take note of your methods. My LO is now starting to fall asleep in his cot and not on the breast thankfully so I think it shouldn't be too much trouble.

I am trying to make it so it is his idea to self wean rather than force the issue. But would be ideal if he is fully weaned off it by the time the next LO arrives :) otherwise I really will feel like an overused cow LOL .

Seona: that is very helpful, I was starting to wonder how the hell I was going to get him to drink so much milk LOL... he is already eating all milk porridge, lots of natural greek yoghurt, cheese etc so I am pleased to see that I have him covered with his dairy intake. You have made my day .

re: teeth brushing I brush his tooth (only arrived last week :) ) in his bath so will have to think about changing his routine a little, I am sure it will work itself out LOL...

Thanks again