Hello all~
My 10 1/2 month old has started refusing formula. Normally she is a really good formula drinker! She eats plently of solids everyday. But my question is, how much formula should she be drinking now? I think I am able to get her to drink about 10oz a day..just last week she was drinking 20oz. I know they are not supposed to get whole milk until they are 1, but has anyone given their baby whole milk to supplement the formula? Is there any trick I can do to get her to drink her formula?
I give formula first then about 1/2 hr later (usually when she's hungry again) I give her solids. I do Breakfast, lunch dinner w/ snacks in between. I have tried giving her formula in a bottle and in a sippy cup and she refuses both. She uses a sippy cup really well, so I know she isn't refusing the sippy cup.
Thank you everyone!! I plan on calling our pediatrician tomorrow and see if they say it is ok to switch her to whole milk...I have given her some whole milk a couple of times and she seems to really enjoy it. I did switch my son to whole milk at 11 months and he had no problems, he will be 3 in just a couple weeks and he is a big kid, about the size of an average 4 yr old, he has no had health problems so Im sure she will be fine also, there are no milk allergies in the family so thats take a little bit of worry away. :)
Thank You all again, will update again after I call our pediatrician!
When do you give her the formula? I know there are schools of thought that recommend giving the formula or breastmilk first, followed by solids. Also, what sort of meal pattern are you following - breakfast, lunch, and dinner, with snacks in between or do you spread out the formula for one meal and then solids for another? Maybe she's filling herself up on solids and doesn't want the formula?
I know what I am going to say is against every Pediatricians thoughts of how to take care of a baby but our son was off formula before he was 10 1/2 months. Our doctor had not problems with us taking him off formula at an earlier age.
Our son is now 19 years old. has never had any health issues. Has good bones and teeth. He is over 6'2" tall and is very active. He played sports in high school. He still lifts weights. By the way he still drinks about 3 gallons of skim milk each week.
So if your daughter is ready to switch over to regular milk do not force her to drink the formula she does not want and by rights does not need.
Let us know how it goes. It will be interesting to hear how all turns out.
God Bless,
S.
I had the same problem with 2 out of my four kids. My pediatrician told me at about 10 months to go ahead and start introducing whole milk. Within a week of introducing the whole milk they were 100% off formula. At that point you supplement with infant vitamins called Polyvisol. (I believe that is how it is spelt). You can pick these up anywhere... Walmart, Jewel, etc. It is liquid form and can be added directly to their milk.
This happened to us too. Per the advice of our ped and a lactation consultant we introduced whole milk at 10 months. (she loved it!) My daughter was exclusivly breastfed, but when i returned to work when she was 10 months old, we discovered I had an over active enzyme in my milk and we couldn't store breastmilk for her to have while I was away. So we tried formula - she wouldn't even take a sip. I was so frustrated because I thought she wasn't getting enough milk throughout the day. That's when we got the advice to go to whole milk - worked like a charm.
I was nervous about doing this, so the lactation consultant also clued me into something I was unaware of. She said the 12 month mark for formula was introduced by the formula companys so they could sell formula as long as possible. She said babies can tolorate cows milk from about 9 months. (not actually sure if this is a proven fact or not - but it is what she told me)
Hope this helps, A.
It's pretty normal to cut back on the liquids when the little ones take so well to solids. Those vitamins are being replaced by the good food vitamins. Ask your peds nurse, she'll tell you.
with my oldest i started sippy cups of milk at meal time never in a bottle because you want that gone by a year
then at 11 or 11 half she was solely on milk because she refused formula anymore any brand
My first child self-weaned from nursing around 10.5 months. She had always refused formula, and I couldn't keep up milk production by pumping. My pediactrician was fine with me switching to milk at that point. She wouldn't drink that, either, at first, but after a few "light" days, she finally caved. I tried both cow's milk and soy milk, and she liked the soy milk. I just made sure that she drank water during the day to keep her hydrated and other milk products (lots of whole milk yogurt) until she started drinking the milk. Good luck!
I would talk to your doctor but I am pretty sure you can give her cheese, yogurt, and cottage cheese. Then at least she is getting the right amount of dairy. I believe 1 slice of real American cheese equals 4 ounces of milk. Our doctor told us to start the switch from formula to whole milk at 11 months and by 12 months be totally off formula. At that time, we also started the poly-vi-sol vitamins. Good luck!!
I've had this happen to so many daycare kids at that age!! It's so frustrating.
With one boy we tried flavoring it - sugar, pure maple syrup, flavor crystals that you put in medicines (like the pharmacy uses). This worked the best out of any methods I had previously tried.
Other things I have done -
I mixed formula with the infant cereal, but the kid ended up eating like a whole box of cereal in one week, luckily he was skinny and needed the extra cals
Have the formula in a sippy cup or a cup with a straw
Give the formula in a bottle that the child can hold
I started my daughter and son on whole milk at 10 months. My daughter was exclusively nursed until then. I introduced it with her with her meals first. She didn't take to the whole milk so it took her a bit longer than my son to adjust. She didn't like the consistancy of the whole milk from breast milk so I had to give her 1% then 2% up to whole.
My son on the otherhand was ready for the milk. The first night we replaced nursing with a bottle of milk he slept thru the night for the first time. I started both of my kids on whole milk but quickly went back to our milk of choice 1%.
Good luck
I had a similar problem. My baby started going on "nursing strike" around 6ish months. I tried to pump and give it to him in a bottle or sippy cup, but all I could get him to take was 2oz before meal time (solids). Eventually, my milk supply started running out as well and my baby REFUSED to drink formula. My MD finally conceded and let us try a whole milk and pediasure 50/50 mix. He still doesn't take that much at nearly 9 mos (at most 3.5 to 4 oz before meal times).
I think the jury is still out at how much they are supposed to drink.... a dietician told me that at 8 mos, babies should be getting at least 24oz of formula to meet their caloric demand. I'm not sure if this takes into account the amount of calories consumed via solids.
Needless to say, this whole weaning early business and trying to get my baby to drink more and eat more has been really stressful on the old mom! So I hear your pain :)
I would try to add a little bit of pediasure to the formula.... it's cloyingly sweet and may mask the flavor of the formula. MDs don't like to rec'd whole milk b/c it can cause microscopic bleeding in the gut, but he/she may allow pediasure. I also offer water just to make sure that he doesn't get dehydrated!
