With his
first birthday fast approaching, Daddy and I have been thinking a lot about
transitioning Henry from baby formula to milk. At his 9-month check-up, the pediatrician gave us
information about how to make the switch. Rather than going cold turkey, the doctor suggested that we start
by replacing one bottle of formula at a time when Henry turned 11 months old.
Then, we can slowly introduce more milk and reduce his formula intake over the
course of about two months. By the end of February, the conversion should be
complete.
Henry tries out his first cup of milk on Christmas Eve. |
As part of
this transition, we’re also phasing out bottles. Henry has become proficient at
drinking from a straw, even using my water bottle on occasion without spilling.
I am confident he will make the shift to straw cups seamlessly, but we will
also retry open cups to give him a chance to practice
this skill.
Henry
usually drinks five or six bottles of formula per day of varying amounts. Since
his morning bottles are usually smaller, we’ll start by swapping those out
first. His bedtime bottle has always been the largest volume,
so that will be the last one to go. Typically, Henry drinks between six and
eight ounces in his last bottle of the day, but during a growth spurt he can chug
12 ounces or more at his bedtime feeding.
Overall,
the amount that Henry drinks also will decrease during his second year, as solid
food meets an increasing amount of his nutritional needs. Instead of averaging
30 ounces per day of formula, toddlers only need about 16 ounces of milk per day.
The
standard recommendation is that children between 12 and 24 months drink whole milk, but our pediatrician also
suggested that we consider dairy alternatives. We’re planning to rotate through several different varieties to give Henry an assortment of
tastes. I am a little cautious of soymilk since there is conflicting information about the benefits and drawbacks of
eating soy products. I am also hesitant to use rice milk with the recently revealed arsenic issues. Our family occasionally eats tofu,
soy sauce and rice, but I am not sure I want Henry to drink large amounts of soy or rice milk on
a daily basis. Instead, we plan to try out goat, almond, coconut and hemp milk.
When Henry finishes one carton, we will replace it with a new type of milk.
Henry takes his first sip of coconut milk. |
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