EBF to Cow's milk | ExpatWoman.com
 

EBF to Cow's milk

565
Posts
EW GURU
Latest post on 30 October 2013 - 15:42

Ladies, I need your tried and trusted advice on how to do this. My LO is going to be one next month and I can feel my supply dwindling down. She's never had formula or a bottle. I've heard pediatricians say that the "ideal" situation is going from nursing to a sippy cup. She uses a sippy cup for water just fine. I put some milk in it to see what she would do and she started shrieking and having a fight with the cup. LOL.
I then tried milk in a bottle and she gave it a chance more than the sippy but she kept making a face, seeming like she didn't like the taste and after two "sips", she started crying and wouldn't have it.
I haven't tried any other milk either because her older brother has a nut allergy and we haven't gotten her tested for any allergies yet so I don't want to take any chances.
What can I do to get her to like cow's milk??

82
Posts
EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 02 November 2013 - 22:06
My breastfed daughter didn't like the taste of cow's milk either when she was one, but now, she's 15 months and literally addicted to it. :-) I love milk myself, so I started to drink it in a cup at dinner time and she was really interested in what I was having so had to give her to taste. I never really forced it, so at the beginning it was coming out of her mouth and pulled a funny face but a few weeks later she started to drink more and more. I didn't put it in her sippy cup which I use for water but I tried a different one, a green ikea one(with foot at the bottom) which made it more fun for her to drink from. Weeks have passed and now she asks for milk pointing to the fridge. Maybe you should try different cups. And if you drink it yourself, that should also help.
2782
Posts
EW EXPERT
Latest post on 30 October 2013 - 22:38
You could take a different approach and just wean her off the before bed feed without replacing it with a milk feed. I introduced cows milk to my son (who never had formula and hadn't had a bottle of EBM since he was 4 months, same deal as you I am a rubbish pumper)at around 12 months but I just gave him sips here and there from a cup. I stopped the before bed feed gradually by simply shifting it further and further from bedtime, so from "bath, book, boob, bed" to "bath, boob, book, bed" then "boob, bath, book, bed" until eventually it had nothing to do with bedtime. I still fed on demand during the day and he was already nightweaned and sleeping through by that point anyway (he started sleeping through at around 13 months), it was all very much a gradual process and quite easy because of that. I did not offer milk or even water as a replacement for that feed though. Anyway just a thought, otherwise you are replacing one prop with another and she's a bit old to probably be that interested in learning to drink from a bottle, which is really the only thing that will give her that same sort of comfort suck that breastfeeding does. Sippy cups before bed carry the same dental risks that bottles do too. Do you want to fully wean or is it that she isn't sleeping through and you are thinking weaning might change that? What makes you think your supply is dwindling? <em>edited by kiwispiers on 30/10/2013</em>
565
Posts
EW GURU
Latest post on 30 October 2013 - 19:37
TDB, I read that exact same post and the only thing that's irking me is that I'll have to pump to do that. When I was always full of milk it took me an hour just to get one ounce, it might take me all day at the point that I am now. Kiwispiers, yeah poor thing, had a fit, that could be that she was a little startled. She's had milk products and cheeses before and even smoothies but that won't deter her from that feeling of drinking and then sleeping that she's used to, will it...which is what I'm aiming for. To wean her off me. Unless she's completely full from the smoothie that she sleeps through the night, I guess that's a good idea. I'll try it. If anyone else has any suggestions or experiences, I'd be very appreciative for some feedback.
2782
Posts
EW EXPERT
Latest post on 30 October 2013 - 16:26
Having milk come out when she was expecting water might just have freaked her out, maybe try a completely different kind of cup, you could just give it to her in sips from a regular cup (rather than a sippy) Or you could try making a smoothie (just milk plus a banana or some fresh strawberries etc and teach her how to drink from a straw. I never actually gave milk in a sippy cup, only ever from a regular plastic cup. has she had other dairy products or milk in food before? The other possibility is that she has an allergy to cows milk, hence the refusal.
 
 

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