Alexys ped called yesteray and said that she is gaining well enough to try regular soy milk or rice milk when she turns 1 next month if we want to. She could also just stay on the formula if we want. I am scared to try anything new with her, but I know thats the only way we will see what works for her. What did you do with your Gerdlings as far as when to take off formula? or what do you plan on doing when they turn 1?

I'm waiting for Cady's GI appt. to make a complete determination. But, I have been adding small amounts, about 4 ozs. a day of whole milk to Cady's diet to ease her in to a complete switch to whole milk, if that is in fact what the GI says to do. She does not have milk sensitivities, but we are being very careful with the switch, because she does seem a little gassy with just the small amount she's been given so far. So, I guess we're easing into it and waiting for the GI appt.

Trey was on Lacto-free until he was 15 months, and then we switched him to Lactaid milk for probably another year. At the time (9 years ago), Lactaid only came in skim, but his ped said he got enough fat in the rest of his diet so it didn't matter. His brain development surely wasn't affected; he's too darn smart for his own good!

With Catherine, she doesn't eat enough solids to make up for the nutrients in formula if we went to any form of "milk." She'll stay on formula until her 1yr check-up at the end of January, and then I'll ask her ped about it.

I'm thinking I'll phase it in as Judy has. Our GI told us to challenge Lauren with whole milk at 1 yo age. I'm a bit skeptical too!! We're at a place now where we wouldn't want to change a great thing. I guess we're always afraid of what can happen once off kilter.

At almost eight months, Noah takes his bottles 1/2 formula, 1/2 2% milk. That's what our GI suggested, although I think whole milk is a better choice after one, right? I'm not sure why he has us doing 2% instead of whole. Anyways, Noah has like the worlds most sensitive stomach, and he has done great with the switch. Well, he did at first. I would try a combo for a while and see if she likes it. If its okay, decrease the amount of formula some more until its pure milk.

My older daughter, Kaylin absolutely refused whole milk. We gave it a good three month try. When she was 15 mos., she went exclusively to skim and drank it. We just made sure not to exclude other fatty foods from her diet. Her little brain developed just fine.

Well, when we return from overseas, I am going to pahse it in with the boys- starting with putting the cow's milk on their cereal and going from there....

Maggie,

I'm guessing that the GI doesn't have Noah on whole milk b/c fatty foods (ie, higher fat milk) can make reflux worse. We started Evan on whole milk like we were supposed to at 12 months. You can well imagine how sick he got when we were being told to mix his bottles half with whole milk and the other half with 1/2 and 1/2 cream. If I had to do it again with a GERDling that was as sick as he was, I'd definitely keep him/ her on the formula longer.

If she can tolerate soy, soy has more fat than rice milk and more protein as well. It's not just growth you have to be worried about, it's getting enough fat for proper brain growth. We did rice milk w/ AJ (he was almost 25# at 12 mos) w/ olive oil and protein powder added till about 16 mos when his appetite really picked up. I also mixed olive oil into his baby food when I could (obviously no fruit, yuck). You could also do mostly soy w/ a formula supplement too to skip the adding extra things to the milk. I would reccomend Silk Very Vanilla for kids.

They decided to just keep her on formula until at least 18 months. She is doing so well with it that now is not the time to mess up a good thing by introducing something new. We will just go to soy milk when she is older.

I would definately keep with the status quo. Sorry I missed this post. Iain was on nutramigen until he was around 17 months old, I think. Gee, I will have to take a peek for that. Then we moved to nutren jr with fibre as the dietician was screaming that although he was the size of a baby he really needed a toddler diet. Perhaps you could look into a supplement like nutren jr with fibre? It tastes SO great! Like a vanilla milkshake which is a welcome relief compared to the paint remover nutramigen smelled and tasted like... blech.

I would not mess with anything until she is definately more stable in the weight department. Iain is now a solid 25 th percentile ( I will have to see his weight again to make sure) but even now the ped, dietician, feeding skills therapist, etc. all want him to stay on the supplement in addition to his homo milk for another 4 to 6 months anyway. Once we moved over to nutren jr we started to incorporate the homo milk after a trial of nutren.

We're in the middle of this switch over. Our GI said no more than 16oz of dairy a day. So Ian has about 12-16oz of dairy and 12-16oz of formula. For now, I mix the bottles about 1/2 and 1/2. Oh, the ped wants us to try to wean Ian from the bottle by about 15 months - :shock: Yeah, right! The kid hates sippy cups, so I haven't quite figured out how to get him to drink. No way is he going to be done with bottles. I will talk to the GI since we see him fairly soon and ask about the formula/dairy/bottle deal.

I wish these kids came with instructions, lol.

Oh, the ped wants us to try to wean Ian from the bottle by about 15 months - :shock: Yeah, right! The kid hates sippy cups, so I haven't quite figured out how to get him to drink. No way is he going to be done with bottles. I will talk to the GI since we see him fairly soon and ask about the formula/dairy/bottle deal.


Our ped said the same thing, and I was thinking, yeah, right, also. :shock: I think that many non-GERDlings LOVE the bottle, and carry it around the house, drink in the crib, etc. For us, Nathan spends about 5 minutes on the bottle per feed (if we are lucky), and then chucks it across the room. ;) So maybe pediatricians are talking about "normal" kids when they say to ditch the bottles around 1...

Lucy, we just dropped a bottle - now he only gets one in morning and at night, and I offer milk in a sippy at mealtime. At first, he HATED it - took one sip, realized it was milk, and then chucked it. I was kind of worried since his total milk intake was like 12 oz a day. But after two weeks of this, he is actually drinking a couple oz out of the sippy at meals. Yay! v

Anyways, just wanted to wish you luck with milk transition!

(Hope I didn't hijack this thread... :oops:)