Cups and bottles for milk from 12 months

[SKLM]

Hey everyone, looking for some advice. My baby is 10.5 months, weaning has been going pretty okay, drinking wise he is still having formula from baby bottles (with teats) and he has a tommee tippy first sippy cup for water at meals.

What do I do after 12 months when we stop giving him formula? I am confused about how to best give him milk, what to use and how often to offer cows milk. At the moment he will still have a bit of formula 4 times a day, once in the morning on waking, twice in the day and once at bed.

He is able to use his sippy cup on his own for water, can hold it fine with the handles.

What did you use to put milk in, and how often did you offer it? Is there a minimum they should be having?

Thanks in advance!

I think from 1 they are supposed to have a pint of cows milk a day - we did this in 2 drinks morning and evening. Tbh I carried on with the bottles to do this for a while - doesn't seem to have created any issues. Eventually we bought a large sippy cup for him to use for milk.

I switched to a 360 cup, because while mine could hold a cup at that age, DC was (and still is) prone to just upending the cup when they are done! So it had to be spill proof and easy to clean.

I stopped giving milk on waking because DC was having dairy with breakfast. Nursery gave whole milk before each nap from 12 months, so we did that at home too, and then at bedtime. Approx 3oz x 2 for day milk, 5oz for bedtime. Gradually that reduced as DC got more into solids and wanted less milk, and dropped the morning nap.

Nursery are now (15 months) only giving milk at lunchtime. I don't give daytime milk now unless DC is really teething and too sore to eat solids. I think the bedtime cup (now 4oz) will stay as it's an easy way to give vitamin drops and be sure DC is being calcium at they seem to be growing like a weed just now.

Mine is 16 months, he still had breast milk through night , cows milk bottle in the evening and with weetabix in the morning (sometimes a bottle in the morning instead) also we give Greek yogurt, cheese etc daily so he gets lots of calcium. We actually use the really cheap griptight bottles with a straw from savers! They don’t last more than a few months each ( we do recycle them) but he really took to them well and a straw is recommended.

I’d pick one change at a time. Switch over to cow’s milk first. Do it gradually over maybe 2 weeks.

Then once settled into the new routine with milk, move it over to a cup. I’d choose one feed a day and try out whatever cup. I think we started with whatever feed she was less likely to be tired at. You may need to try a few cups to get the right one. I switched out the bedtime feed last maybe around 14/15 months.

@mindutopia thank you for this, this is something I need to be mindful of. I read the NHS website and it will say in black and white your baby should be doing this by this time, and I take everything very literally. Anxious first time parent. I forget that change is a process, to be done in stages. This makes me feel better as I got myself so stupidly anxious about drinking cups earlier.