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How to wean my 13 month old to cows milk before bed?

8 replies

rose555 · 21/03/2021 17:50

Hi,
I’m hoping someone might be able to help. I have a 13 month old son (our first child) who I breast fed exclusively until 6 months when we introduced solids. From that point, he drank water from a munchkin sipping cup, but never had a bottle. As we were in lockdown most of his life, I always just fed him from my breast. He’s now down to just one breast milk feed which I do before bed, about 2 hours after his dinner. He has small sips of cows milk from his cup at mealtimes (I introduced this when he turned 1 a month ago) but isn’t very keen on it. He’s gradually getting more used to it, but doesn’t drink significant quantities of it.
I’m now 8 weeks pregnant with our second child and would like to think about weaning him onto cows milk entirely. He’s a big strong boy with a varied diet and healthy appetite, and I’d like to give my boobs a rest before the next one comes along!!
I just don’t know how to do this. He doesn’t accept much milk from his cup and I know he’d be taking on a lot less milk overall if I stopped the breast feed before bed. Has anyone had a similar transition to make? If i’d bottle fed him it would have made this much easier, but there doesn’t seem any point introducing a bottle now. I’m also loathed to start expressing and mixing cows milk with breast - I just can’t bear the hassle! Any advice on how I might make this transition would be so appreciated. Any brilliant beakers / tricks to try?!? Or do I just have to wait until he drinks more cows milk at meal times of his own accord?
Thank you so much in advance for any advice you can share!

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Bunnybigears · 21/03/2021 17:54

Neither of my kids liked drinking cows milk, have you tried him with formula if you are keen to keep his milk intake up? Or you could just make sure he has lots of dairy in his meals. Cereal with milk (wheatabix soak up a lot of milk), yogurts and cheese, use milk and butter to make mash etc.

rose555 · 21/03/2021 18:01

@Bunnybigears thank you. I haven’t tried formula but I suppose I could. I do try to make sure he has a lot of calcium throughout the day. Luckily he LOVES yoghurt and cheese, and he always has porridge for breakfast made with whole milk. I just never know if that’s enough and I suppose I just feel like he should be having the traditional ‘milk before bedtime’... but maybe that’s wrong and old fashioned?! I suppose it’s also helpful in helping to get him calm and sleepy so I’m nervous of losing that effect...

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CoffeeandCakeEqualsLove · 21/03/2021 18:04

My DS was BF until 13mo - and is 26mo now - never has really drunk cows milk except for in cereal at nursery. At home we only use almond milk. He eats SO MUCH yogurt and cheese, I have never worried about his calcium levels.

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modgepodge · 21/03/2021 18:06

I think at 1 year they need about 350ml milk to get their calcium - but yogurt, cheese etc count towards that.

My nearly 2 year old still has a bottle 🙄 the transition to a different milk was never an issue (we did BM, then 2 different formulas, then cows) but she’s fussy what it comes out of. Definitely wouldn’t recommend introducing a bottle now as you may struggle to get him off it.

rose555 · 21/03/2021 18:06

@CoffeeandCakeEqualsLove thank you. So do you feed your DS a bedtime almond milk (or did you when he was 13 months?) or did you just stop the bedtime breast feed and not replace it?

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FusionChefGeoff · 21/03/2021 18:14

Try warming it up? Breast milk is really quite warm so he might drink more of the cows milk if it's warmed up.

And how about a toddler bottle - so more like a sports drink bottle than a baby bottle?

Tommee Tippee Active Sports Bottle, 12 Months Plus, Blue, 3-Piece https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07VPJXSNN/ref=cmswwrcppapifabccXF6XNB1ZCBEHW2H1V75J?encoding=UTF8&psc=1

ElspethFlashman · 21/03/2021 18:17

Put a few drops of vanilla essence into it. Makes it into a milkshake.

Obviously the idea is to put less in as they get used to drinking good quantities of it so that eventually they don't need it at all.

CoffeeandCakeEqualsLove · 21/03/2021 18:22

I didn't really replace the final BF. If he's eating enough during the day, he didn't need anything else. Some days if he didn't eat at much, or seems a bit extra hungry, I'd give him a small weetabix before bed

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