Anne Rogers wrote:
Jeni wrote:
Thanks for this. I was going to post on the very same thing when I
remembered. At present we have discovered he will sip cows milk the
same way as he sips water, but so far won't have it as a replacement
for his bottle. We did try it briefly at the weekend but we didn't know
till the evening how bad he was feeling so realise now it was a bad
time to try. The problem is that he still has between 4 and 8 oz twice
a day so getting through a sippy cup of that much would take forever
and he'd get very frustrated.

I'm not sure what the answer is, only that I agree it would be better
to ditch the bottles. Any ideas on how to do (this bearing in mind the
nursery have limited time and people to take it too slow) would be very
welcome. In the meantime we will have another go at the bottle so at
least he is on the way to transitioning from formula.

actually I never stated my personal preference, which would be to never give
cows milk in a bottle, it's semi irrational, based on the fact that at least
formula is designed for bottles, but then as it seems to be the speech
reason that leads the reasons for getting of bottles it probably doesn't
matter what is actually in it.

I think if was me I would have them give one of the feeds from a sippy (no
valve - just as bad for speech apparently), the one when he is most awake
and the other stick with a bottle, then go to all cup, which would hopefully
happen in 2 weeks to a month, then transition to cows milk, if necessary by
doing 10% 90% and working the amount of formula down over another two weeks
to a month.

Well it seems the issue with William is exactly the method by which his
milk is delivered, rather than what kind it is. He really isn't keen on
drinking out of cups at all, lid on or off, but will do it reluctantly
with water with his breakfast, snacks, and throughout the day. At
present he won't take his milk feed out of a cup because he gets too
frustrated at sipping. He has his milk when he wakes from his naps so
is hungry and just downs it in minutes. He can't do that with a sippy
cup and he is not a patient fellow. I suspect as a result of bottles he
drinks more in the day and very little bm at night and morning, so
cutting out bottles just isn't an option. He would get very very cross.
We did try early on to give him milk before his nap but that didn't
work then so it won't work now. We discussed it with the nursery at
out first parents evening last week. They agreed to try a little milk
in a cup for his snack. What happened was that because he woke up
around snack time they just put the cow's milk (warmed, he won't touch
it cold) in his bottle and he drank it straight down. From a nutrition
point of view it's what we wanted because he does have a very balanced
diet so we feel cow's milk is a better choice than formula. He eats a
lot of soilds which include a little fibre, carbs, fresh fruit and
veggies, full- fat dairy and the right amount of protein/iron etc in
dried fruits, legumes and pulses that he misses from not eating meat.
Apart from the rare odd Hipp jar, all main meals are homecooked by us,
so we know what he eats. As for the bottles issue, seen as he has only
just turned 1 we are not sweating it. But what we will do is gradually
introduce more milk in cups and less in bottles. One quirk of William's
personality we have learnt from is that he doesn't do things cold
turkey, everything has to be done gradually. This goes for helping get
to sleep on his own (which he does beautifully now - and sleeps the
longer for it), eating new foods, getting used to nursery (very happy
now) etc.. But I do have it in my mind that bottles aren't great and we
will start the transition now. As he downs the stuff fast he never sits
there sucking on a bottle, so I'm not over concerned about his teeth
and speech. He only ever drinks water, which is from a cup.

Thanks for all the advice. It certainly helped clarify everything for
us and how to proceed. Meanwhile he still enjoys an extra comfort feed
now and then (two molars coming through at once - ouch!!) so that's one
kind of milk we have no plans to transition from.

Ta

Jeni