12 months old, how and when to drop formula? !

[MYA2016]

Ds issue 12 months old next week.

I am aware that he should go onto cows milk soon but I have no idea where to start?

He currently has
6oz and 7am
6oz at 2.30pm
6oz at 7.30pm

He always drinks all of his milk. He refuses point blank to drink water we've even tried baby squash. Bought every single cup under the sun. Just is not bothered by fluids so am very nervous about dropping formula.

How and where to i start please? !

You dont have to change to cows milk. If he prefers formula you can just move into toddler milk (which is formula)

My tip from experience is use UHT milk at first. It's more processed and so can be easier for their systems to deal with. I found this out when my DS became very constipated after being moved from formula onto cow's milk at 12 months. In the end it took about another 12 months for him to be fine with 100% cow's milk, but UHT was great for him straight away. It's the same nutritional value. Good luck!

Mine all moved happily onto cows milk at 12 months. Don't think they even noticed.

I switched each dc onto cow's milk at 12 months, pretty much cold turkey. Dd1 & 2 were absolutely fine and didn't seem to notice, however ds's arse exploded, so we put him back onto formula for an extra couple of months and then switched to oat milk.

Just go for it! I would probably switch the 2.30pm bottle just in case you need to spend some time persuading him!

If all is good you can swap the others over, or not if you're all happy with formula.

We've done the same without DD recently and found the cows milk doesn't seem to make her as sleepy as the formula so she still has that at night but cows milk in the day.

Okay fab thanks for the advice!

Heymammy the "arse exploded" comment made me lol!

Do/did any of you warm the cows milk? And does it have to be full fat?

Swap the middle bottle first, then morning, then evening for milk in bottles first then sippy cups. Don't stress about weaning him off bottles, just make sure his teeth are brushed at night.

It should be full fat milk, lots more nutrients.

Thanks LittleBear.

I always brush his teeth just before his last bottle, is that really bad?

And also I only do his teeth once a day. Slightly off topic but is that okay too? I asked my dentist who believe it or not said he wasn't sure as he doesnt have kids!

We swopped the middle bottle for a cup of cows milk with lunch first. So the bottle was kind of replaced with a snack. Then a week or so later the morning bottle went and became a cup of milk with an earlier breakfast and mid morning snack, then the bedtime one we kept for a few months but did teeth afterwards. The actual transition from different milks didn't seem to bother him, it was more the bottle v the cup that he wasn't that happy about. Still I think it would be a lot to go straight to 21 oz of cows milk a day so would introduce gradually. Either mixing them in the bottle or one cows milk bottle 2 formula bottles.