When do you stop giving formula?

[PigPaws]

I have a one year old and want to move to cows milk but we’re still giving a bottle of formula at night. Even after a meal a full bottle goes down! I’m confused about if we should be giving formula at all and how to phase it out. Any advice appreciated!

Perfectly fine to switch to cows milk at age 1. Is it just 1 bottle of formula they have? Either switch over at once or you could mix cows milk in with formula and gradually increase the proportion of cows milk

Thanks for the reply! Yes just one bottle at the moment. Am worried switching might affect the sleeping through but 50/50 is a good plan

Doing a 50/50 mix or switching shouldn’t affect sleeping through :) but you can definately phase out the formula at 1, your child will be getting the nutrients they need from their solid foods and water/juice :) if your child has their bottle warm before bed just pop the cows milk bottle into a warm water saucepan to get it at the right temperature :) good luck!

Thank you! I’ll start tonight :-)

I used follow on formula until DD was two (as wellas cow’s milk during the day). Formula is much more nutritionally complete than cow’s milk - otherwise you’re goingbto have to give your child vitamins (particularly vitamin D). This is already included in formula.

Children from 6 months to age 5 should be having vitamin A, C and D as a supplement anyway (when having under 20oz of formula). Toddler milk is expensive compared to cows milk and not really necessary.

I switched to cows milk from formula at 12 months and have never given vitamin supplements , utter rubbish in my opinion for children having a healthy balance diet.

Thanks I’ve bought some Wellbaby vitamins that you drop into the cows milk so will add those with the nighttime bottle once we’re fully on cows milk. Great advice, cheers. Knew I could reply on mumsnet!

At least supplement vitamin D as it's hard to get that from food and you won't get it from the sun at this time of year

I think the recommendation is a minimum of 300ml of full fat cow’s milk per day between 1 and 2 years.

Switch to cows milk and I'd also use it as a good opportunity to get rid of the bottle. Give cows milk in a cup in the morning and again before bath (can also give a cup in the afternoon depending how much they have - aim for 300-350ml per day).

Dairy products like yoghurt etc also contribute to the total