How to stop with formula

[roseswade]

Help desperately needed! I feel like I’m so lost with this and started to get really upset / feel like a failure.

My LO is 13 months and we have been trying to cut out formula. Initially I was waiting until we used up what we had left but it seems to be going past that point now. She is not having any during the day but night times have been a real issue for us.

She was never one to drink much formula during the day and has always liked a small bottle before bed, one at c. 2am and one at 6am. This seems to have become habit and now I am trying to bring her off formula we are having real trouble.

I had started to introduce cows milk and she’s fine with the taste and will happily drink it in the mornings if offered, however we seem to be having real trouble at night. I have tried re settling her overnight without a bottle and just cuddles etc but she gets herself so worked up and the only thing she will want is a bottle. I’ve tried replacing the nighttime bottles with cows milk or water and she will drink a little but not much and will continue to scream as if she is hungry. She eats breakfast, lunch, dinner and some snacks in the day. She has gotten a bit more fussy recently with her food but I’ve been trying to offer a variety to make sure she eats something.

The last few nights have been constant screaming and little sleep (teething related too) so I’m feeling very fragile and a bit like a failure really. I feel like info on moving away from formula is so limited and I’m so lost with it.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to wean LO off formula at night time?

Why do you need to stop? My DS had a bottle at bedtime until he was about 3. When we first transitioned to cows milk I did it slowly, mixing 3/4 formula to 1/4 cows milk, then half and half, and so on. At some stage, can’t remember exactly when, we moved from a bottle to a cup with a straw.

It sounds like it’s something else, like you say, teething maybe? Can be worse at night as there are less distractions to take away the discomfort.

We just switched straight to cows milk as soon as he turned 1 and we ran out of formula. Luckily he accepted it straight away.

Agree with @Robostripes.

I combination fed, but dropped BF at nine months and night feeding same time, my three year old still has cows milk bed, eighteen month formula morning and night, and I will keep that going and mix and reduce formula and give cows milk.

It's also worked well for me with all these bloody bugs because both want milk when off food, seems to settle them.

Thanks!
HV said I need to stop with the formula at 12months so I’ve been trying to move her into cows milk but these evenings are a real struggle because she just seems to prefer the formula taste

I would do the mix as above and slowly wean her off it.

Have you tried getting rid of bottles all together and give her a silly cup in the day instead?

Did your HV actually say you need to stop or just tell you that you can now swap to cows milk?

If the former she's talking nonsense. You don't need to just stop formula just because she got to 12 months old. She's still a baby, she's not going to be drinking formula forever so for now I wouldn't be in a rush to wean her off it.

Just keep giving the formula- it’s modified for babies and is much more suitable and healthier for humans than cows milk. NHS hv told me to stop formula too with dd2 (and instead to give cows milk and vitamins which would be equal to formula) but I just ignored as I had a private pediatrician with dd1 who told me to keep going with it as long as I liked. Also dds liked formula and guzzled it down. so no reason to stop or replace with cows milk (which is an inferior food for humans).

NHS midwives/hv have an anti formula dogmatic nonsense going down. It’s a bit annoying as they are causing unnecessary stress for mums (and I suppose babies).

That’s really helpful, thank you!

Yes, she said I needed to stop with formula altogether and that she shouldn’t still be having it at all (this was only 1 week after her first birthday!) but I’ve carried on but been worrying since that conversation that I was wrong.

She drinks from an open cup during the day and I’ve tried cows milk at night in a sippy cup and a bottle to see if that helped.

I’ll try mixing it! Would you recommend moving to follow on milk or staying on first stage even though she’s over 12M?

I stopped formula by very slowly changing it ofer

so first few nights was 8onz formula and 1onz cows molk

next week 7onz formula
2ons cows milk
and so on

tookk me a good few months.

Add cows milk and slowly change the ratios so start with 95/5, then 90/10 etc.
My DS wouldn't touch cows milk but would drink oat milk (was bf) this is how we switched him from oat to cows.