The Nest

Yay! congrats on making it this long!!

DD's pedi said she should get at least 12-16oz a day. She didn't say a max, but she did say not to let her drink "too much".  Before I weaned, DD was nursing once when she woke up, 2 bottles of 4.5oz of EBM at daycare, and nursing once before bed.  Her pedi said that since she was already around 4oz that would make it an easy transition.  Basically those bottles/nursing sessions would be replaced with whole milk.

This is what I did: I started offering her some whole milk at dinner. I wanted to make sure she didn't have a reaction.  My supply was plummeting so I also wanted to make sure she was getting enough to drink.  She took straight whole milk fine.

So I started mixing in whole milk with her EBM bottles.  I was running low on my freezer stash so I started around 3 weeks before she turned 1.  I increased the proportion of milk each week until we were at all whole milk at a year.

As far as the nursing sessions...on the weekend I started offering sippy cups of milk instead of nursing during the day.  I think I would give her water at lunch and then milk at snack time.  About a week later (11.5 months), I dropped the before bed session.  I had no supply at that point, so it was easy. I gave her a sippy of milk before bed.  At a year, I dropped the morning session and offered a sippy of milk.

In the beginning she only took  a couple ounces at a time, but now she can take up to about 4oz.  I think  she probably gets about 16oz a day.  And during the weaning process, I basically replaced nursing/bottles with sippy cups of milk.  But as we got past weaning, I started offering milk sippy cups at meal time/snack time, and water at other times. 

Sorry so long!

So there is no right way to go about this.  We did it a little differently and never offered cow's milk mixed with BM.  We offered cow's milk in a sippy cup with meals only.  At the beginning, she usually only took about 2 oz of milk.  Don't be surprised if Adam takes significantly less cow's milk than BM at first.  If we had still been nursing at that time, I probably would have had done nursing on demand in addition to the sippy cups.  Good luck!

That's great that you made it!!

We had been giving Pog a cup of water at some meals to help her get used to cups. We just put milk in there instead, no mixing or anything. She didn't drink much milk at first -- maybe 1-2oz at a time. Now, she'll drink 6 ounces! We just give milk at meals / some snacks and give water throughout the day. She probably gets ~20ounces a day now.

(Not sure if it's important or not, but we do still nurse...?)

I started at 11.5 months as well, giving 1-2 oz in BM bottle.  At her first birthday I stopped pumping alltogether and we nurse 2x a day for now.

She drinks about 2 oz at 3 meals and I offer it to her at bedtime in a sippy. I chose not to give anymore bottles b/c it seemed like more of a hassle than anything.  I've noticed each day she seems to get more and more milk from the sippy but honestly she probably only drinks 8 oz a day right now but I am guessing that will pick up.  She has cheeze and yogurt daily so i'm not worried about it too much.

We had a pediatrician's appointment last night, and I actually asked about how much milk she should be getting.  Our doctor said that 16 oz per day is really the goal but you can go up to 20 oz.  Tessa's probably getting closer to 24 oz, so we're going to have to start cutting down some.

We just switched out one formula bottle a day with cow's milk and did things gradually until she was completely switched over.

Congratulations on making it to the one year mark! I know your schedule was non-traditional so kudos to you!!

 EJ didn't really start drinking milk until around 16-17 months. She had some hives the first time I offered it (where she spit it out over her skin). So we switched to rice milk for a few months. She didn't drink much of that either. So little in fact that I only bought it for daycare and didn't keep any at homeb because she was still nursing 3-4 times a day. Her solids really did ramp up around this same time though. So eventually I reintroduced milk again (mixed with a tiny bit of drinkable yogurt for flavor). And she drank more of it (withuot reaction). Eventually she started drinking it at school without yogurt, and now she asks for it at home too. 

So I guess my point is that milk never replaced BFing for us. It was given with meals and she slowly took to it over the past few months. 

Ok thanks Girls!

  If he (eventually) takes his 4 oz and he gets a cup of milk instead of nursing he should be getting right about 20 oz a day...I guess it is ok to try offering the cup of milk instead of nursing on our normal routine one sesson at a time then...

I am really hoping not to use bottles either and go straight to cups but I might have some trouble with the afternoon nap and bed time (kinda nurses to sleep but will fall asleep on a bottle too)...

I am ok with not being 100% done nursing right at 1, but I really can't wait to stop pumping!...My supply is low I can't pump more than 3 oz in the morning and that is a push.  Maybe that fist bottle of the day should be his first cup starting like tomorrow/ over the weekend so I can eliminate that pumping  (and be on time for work everyday )  Then go to the 2nd EMB eliminating pumping all together = )...then slowly work on offering the cup for nursing throughout the day....

-sorry kinda thinking out loud there- But it sounds like a plan to me!!

 Thanks Again!

Oh, yea totally quit pumping. I was done with that before her birthday because of my mega stash. But you can still nurse on demand if you want to wean more gradually. Just don't be worried when the milk doesn't substitute for BM oz for oz. He might not like it at first.