When should I stop giving formula?

[SneakyNuts]

I'm not quite sure if this is the right place and it might seem like a really stupid question!

Should my 1yo still be drinking formula? She's a very good weight, eats what is put in front of her and has a healthy, varied diet, but it just dawned on me that I don't know when I should stop giving it to her
I use full-fat cows milk for cooking, but will eventually replace that with rice milk.

I kept her on the stage 1 infant milk as I was advised not to buy into the growing up and toddler milk.
She's always drunk a lot. Even with three meals a day she'll still have three 7oz bottles, and even that is a recent development!

At 1 they can be switched to full fat cow's milk. At 2 they should go to 2%.

You do not need to give formula past 1yr, you can switch to normal full fat cows milk. Then at 2yrs you can switch to semi-skimmed cows milk if you wish, although there is no real need to unless you think your child needs to reduce their calorie intake.

she shouldn't be on stage one at her age. that is for young babies. if you don't give her growing up milk then you should be giving her full fat milk.

she would have been fine to be on first milk until she was 1 (no need for follow on or growing up milk). She is now ok to have full fat cows milk up until the age of 2 at which point you have the option to switch to semi-skimmed. Rice milk is not recommended before the age of 5 due to its arsenic levels so I wouldnt advise giving it as a replacement for formula.

Stage 1 is from birth to weaning. Follow on milk is a con created by manufacturers because they aren't allowed to advertise Stage 1 formula.

Why Pendipidy? My HV dismissed it as a marketing ploy as the formula companies aren't allowed to advertise the stage 1 milk?

Do I have to give cows milk or would rice/almond/coconut milk be ok?

And should I gradually reduce the amount or just switch?

and by weaning I assume you mean at the age of 1 year when they can have cows milk? There are follow on milks suitable from 6 months but you wouldnt give cows milk at that point.

no, not rice milk as it not recommended before the age of 5 due to arsenic levels. Are the other milks fortified with calcium, have enough fat, etc? Do you give cows milk based formula?

Ah ok dishwasher, thank you. I was in the middle of researching when I thought of posting this thread.

Yes I do give cows milk based formula, I suppose if she's ok with that then actual cows milk will be fine?

I switched to cows milk a feed at a time e.g. give 1 bottle cows milk, the rest formula. If ok with that over a few days then switch another 1 to cows milk, leave the others as formula, etc, etc. My 2 never seemed to notice a difference but if yours does then try adding cows milk to the made up formula and gradually add more cows milk and less formula.

That's a good idea, hopefully she wont take issue with it!

I'm looking forward to the weekly shop reducing

Good luck sneaky. Neither of my kids seemed to notice when I switched them, I just did it cold turkey. Also agree with some of the posters, follow on milk is just a con to allow milk to be advertised. And don't go near the 1yr and 2yr plus milks, they really are just a money making scam, and they are sweeter and often flavoured (vanilla) so are quite difficult to get a child off once you start that route.

The true answer is as long as u choose. Toddler milk is for toddlers. Stage one is only for stage one.

U obviously can move to cows now at a year but its ur choice to do so. There's no 'should' here despite many opinions. Yes cows is cheaper and perfectly healthy but if u want to use toddler no one else's business.

She's been turning down her food this week (explosive nappies, teeth coming through) so I think I'll do the 2 bottles of formula and 1 of cows milk.

I just tried her with a couple of oz of cows milk and she drank it all with no problem. Thanks everyone