#1Transferring to Milk from Breast Milk.

We were just there - we mixed them for about a week. 75/25 BM/CM then 50/50 then 25/75 then 100%

The mixing we did in the bottle and warmed so that he only had one change to deal with at a time.

After cow's milk in the bottle was established, we did water in a sippy for a week or so.

And then....we ditched the bottles and the heating and did 100% cow's milk in the sippy.

Here's the thing - we began as we meant to go. Meaning that if he pushed away the sippy or the mix - that was ok, but we were not going backwards and offering him 100% BM. He could have water as a substitute, or wait a while until he was hungry enough not to be so picky.

Consistency is key.

I nursed my DD until she was 21 months old. When I started her on cow's milk, (at the 1 year mark) I just gave her a little bit of straight milk in a sippy with her solid 'meals'. As she started eating more and more solids, I gave her more milk until I was only really nursing her 3-4 times a day. (Morning, nap,and night) She weaned herself off of those in favor of 'real' food, and I'll admit that I didn't fight it too much. lol.

Do you really want to use cow milk, or is it more out of necessity? I ask because you say that she is exclusively fed breast milk, which sounds to me like she is not consuming anything but breast milk, no table foods or even baby foods of any kind. (Forgive me if I am just misunderstanding.)

If that is the case and you don't actually prefer to use cow milk, then you can just give her baby food or table food to supplement. She would require less milk, which you probably would be able to supply with some to spare.

Otherwise, sorry, I don't know anything about transitioning from human to cow milk.

I would do milk in the sippy, but please do not start it until at least 11 months 3 weeks old. They did a study where they took samples of the intestines of babies at various times and found that the thing they need to digest milk properly does not appear in ANY babies before 11 months 3 weeks old. Literally not one kid in the study (a scientifically done study obviously) had it show up before that number of weeks old.

My son was exclusively breastfed until 2-1/2. We started introducing sippies around 10 mos with water and juice occasionally at mealtimes. Once he was a year, the cow's milk went in a sippy with meals and we nursed at all other times. I never heated my breastmilk (just room temp) but he was ok with cold milk. We didn't really have any issues transitioning so hopefully you won't either! Good luck :)

I would give her cows milk in the sippy cup only. I wouldn't do a mix. Does your daughter like your bottle really warm? Can you babysitter warm up the breast milk but maybe not as warm as usual. Kinda get her used to the temperature being a little cooler....I am like you - I wouldn't want her to used to warm cows milk either. Good luck!!

Hmmm... mine always nursed BM and drank anything else from a sippy once they were about 8 mos old. So juice or water was always in a sippy. They never really used a bottle unless Dad did a pumped feeding. I know mine got their milk in a sippy cup and it was cold. They loved it right away despite being breast fed. I also used the thermos sippy cups. They are a bit heavier but insulate the cold milk for a long time. That way I didn't worry ad much about it warming up and getting spoiled. I know my kids loved BM and milk so hopefully yours will too!

I wouldn't mix them, for sure.

But sippy cup, or bottle, I guess either way is ok. Just start slowly, and in small amounts, wait, observe how she is able to digest it, and proceed. If she accepts the difference in taste, and is able to digest the little amounts well, then gradually increase the amounts.

Just one small idea - cow's milk is usually much thicker than mother's milk. So perhaps, for easy digestion in the beginning, you could try diluting the cow's milk with some water to thin it out.

I nursed my daughter until just after her first birthday.

We gave her cows milk in a sippy cup which we warmed up a tad.

The transition was tough as it made her so constipated she cried so badly and could not go to the bathroom and its scary to see your baby cry like that. Apparently cows milk is harder to break down or something its been years. The doctor suggested soy milk instead which helped A LOT - we were able to give it to her a room temperature since it didnt have to be in the fridge. Once her body was 'normal' again (it took a few weeks) we slowly added in cows milk like once a week, then three times (soy can get expensive) it was a long transition but eventually she was ok with the cows milk.

I never mixed it and always in a sippy cup.

Just remember that cows milk has far fewer nutrients than human milk, so she'll need a lot more solid food too. We chose to skip cows milk and did goats milk (much much much easier to digest) plus solid food. My girls got about 10 ounces a day of goat milk when we made the switch, which was a lot fewer ounces than what they used to get in breastmilk.

As for the actual switch - there's no right way. If you want her to be exclusively on a sippy, then offer cows milk in the sippy only. If you are ok with her continuing bottles for a while longer, you can do the cows milk in the bottle (that's what we did - my kids weren't fully off bottles until they were almost 2).