Whole Milk

[flyerso6]

So as the twins are fastly approaching their first birthday, I have been looking into how to switch to whole milk. At first I was excited because it will save us a ton of money and we could save that money to use towards our house ( having insurance problems after a big storm, but that's a whole different story ). Anyways so the more I read about whole milk the less excited I am about switching.

I was thinking about starting to gradually mix milk in with formula over the next 3 weeks, 1st week: 2oz milk, 6oz formula, 2nd week: 4oz of each, 3rd week: 2oz formula, 6oz milk. During the day they drink water with their solid meals and drink water when they are thirsty. They only get bottle at night and in the morning.

But my point is, all the stuff online about whole milk containing pesticides and hormones is pretty scary!! So now I am thinking toddler formula is better than milk (but I am not paying for that), so instead I am looking at organic milk. I have read that not only is it better, it has a longer shelf life. The other scary part is some people are saying the hormones in milk can lead to early puberty especially in girls.

What has everyone else done/plan on doing at 1 in regards to switching milk??

[firespirit]

I plan on buying organic for DD. I'm still 7 months away, but that's the plan. If she has a reaction to cows milk, then I will switch to something that's not milk, like almond, rice, or coconut cream, whatever would be best for her.

[flyerso6]

I am leaning toward organic, hopefully something with DHA in it. I doubt they will have a reaction since they are on formula, and have had cheese, yogurt, and ice cream with no problems.

Organic might cost more but it won't cost nearly as much as formula, at one point we were spending $60 a week on it. Now its usually $40 a week, I am sure milk won't cost anywhere near that since they are only getting 16 oz of formula a day.

[Dani]

I don't know if you have Dean's brand milk, but it doesn't have the artificial growth horomones or anything like that in it. We tried the Organic Milk...but that was $6 a gallon!

[uptowngirl]

We have a local dairy that sells organic milk (in cute old fashioned glass bottles even!) in our grocery store, so I was planning on using that for Hannah. She still isn't drinking milk (even pumped) from a bottle or sippy cup at all yet - just water. For milk it's still all boobie all the time. :) Our pediatrician also recommended trying other milks - coconut, almond, etc (except soy) to give her a chance to taste different things. There is a store brand of organic milk in our grocery store too that we use for making ice cream, so if the local organic ends up being too much we will probably switch to that.

[DanDanNoodleBowl]

I didn't know any of that about milk! Hmm, i think I'm going to switch to organic as well.


I want a cute glass bottle like sarah:frogg:

[flyerso6]

Pretty scary huh. I hate milk and never drink it, I just rember is like elementary school they only think they served was milk which being forced to drink it made me hate it more. So I'm not sure what I'm going to do if they dislike milk.

[Smurfette]

Why do you have to switch to milk at all? My TeenBaby has
never had a glass of milk in her entire life. Nor a single cavity.
She drank soy milk as a baby and when it was time to upgrade,
I cut milk all together. She gets plently of calcium from cheese,
yogurt and fresh fruits and veggies. Roxanne stayed on Alsoy
until her 2nd birthday and then we stopped. She's 15 now btw,
and eats everything under the sun, except ice cream and milk.

[flyerso6]

well they are on similac formula now and I don't want to keep giving them that. So we have to switch to something. Ive read bad things about soy milk too. I would switch to toddler formula but its more expensive than the infant formula.

[Smurfette]

well they are on similac formula now and I don't want to keep giving them that. So we have to switch to something. Ive read bad things about soy milk too. I would switch to toddler formula but its more expensive than the infant formula.
Bad things about soy? Oh oh. Lol. I guess I'm too late for
that. Oh well. I think there are bad things written about
every food out there. We just have to use our mommy
instincts. My twins are on #2 solids, breastmilk and soy
milk. So far so good.

Good luck! I can't believe your twins are nearly a year!!!
When did that happen? :heart:

[ikkin510]

I used organic milk for the longest time after first reading about the hormones and such. But it got to the point that I just couldn't afford to keep buying it. It's close to $3.50 a half gallon here (a regular gallon costs $3.75) and we go through 3 gallons a week so as it is. I am trying to switch back to organic, at least for the kids though.
Ryan had Soy for a while. Mostly because he couldn't handle much milk at first. Carter was on the toddler formula until recently since we weren't sure he could handle milk or soy yet. (now he is on milk, still no soy).
Honestly, like Smurfette said, you will hear negative and positive on just about every thing anymore. Do your research and choose what is before for you.

[Danielle9608]

What is bad about soy if you don't mind me asking? Averi has a milk allergy, I'm not sure if she still does and I was thinking we would have to start off with soy first.

[savepaws]

We are just using regular whole milk. We just started them on it Friday.

The issues I am having are trying to make the transition from bottle feeds & formula being their main source of nutrients and the main way to fulfill their hunger. They will eat a little bit of solids but they are so darn picky, especially D and don't eat much before they get all squirrely. They just aren't getting enough to eat from solids and that makes them cranky. A bottle always solves that problem, but we are trying to get off the bottle! They have never really taken to sippy cups. They will get excited at first when I pull one out and take a couple of sips but that is it. I have had to pull the vents out so they don't have to work so hard to get it, otherwise they have no interest in even trying. But even then, they won't even finish one cup in a day, let alone 2-3 like they should be.

Our doctor said its fine to just stop offering bottles all together and they will eat when they get hungry enough. But I don't like the thought of just quitting formula/bottles cold turkey like that! MIL gave them chocolate milk last night and D sucked it down. She said there is nothing wrong with offering chocolate milk all of the time if they won't drink regular but I say there is something wrong with it. It is just another way that THEY are calling the shots and not us, their parents. So I am sticking with whole milk and they will have to learn to drink it. They wanted a bottle this morning so instead of formula, I warmed up the whole milk slightly so that it was room temperature, like they are used to and gave it to them in a bottle and they actually drank it. I guess we are just taking baby steps and hopefully in a few weeks we can be off the bottle. :crossfingers: I know this isn't exactly what this thread was about, but I don't really want to start another whole milk thread. :)

[ikkin510]

As i was reading your post Danielle, I was going to suggest warming up the milk. That was the only way we could get Carter to drink it. As for the sippy cups, give them cups with just water at random times during the day. Even if they are just on the floor playing. They will pick it up eventually.

[KMS]

I'm late on this, but I definitely say to go with the organic dairy whenever you can. Dairy (as well as meat) is one of the biggest things to be concerned with as far as organics go. That and the "dirty dozen" of fruits/veggies. There are non-organic milk brands that you can get that don't use milk from cows given growth hormones "rBST". I think you can get that kind of milk for much less than organic, but it's still a step up from the regular stuff. I know brands like Ben & Jerry's ice cream and Tillamook (sp?) cheese use rBST free dairy.

Paisley drinks coconut and hemp milk, primarily, but every once in a while we also use soy milk. She never had any issues switching to milk. I was eager to get her off of the formula so I'm thankful that she didn't give us any problems! She still likes plain water way more than anything else though, no calories there! :purplex:

[flyerso6]

soy milk just doesn't have all the nutrients that whole milk has. I don't think we can afford organic milk because it is $6 a gallon. Not sure how many we will go through a week but if it isn't too many maybe I will end up using organic. We went around today looking to see if any stores had hormone free milk, turns out meijer does (Ohio + Michigan area grocery chain), which is our regular grocery store. So I plan on using their whole milk and also using Silk brand soy with DHA added as well, but not too much as it is like $3.50 for half gallon, just buy 1 or 2 of those a week. We might also try small amounts of almond milk + others just so they get to try them.

They love water, and are eating great. I feel like I am starving them but all the ever want to do is eat. They eat several solid meals a day, snacks, and eat dinner with us, plus 2 - 3 8oz bottles of formula a day and they act like they are starving. They scream when the food is all gone.

savepaws, have you tried nuby cups? We tried so many different kinds and those ended up being best, they have soft silicon spout so easy transition from bottle. They also do well with playtex beginer straw cup, it took them a while to get it but they use it pretty well now. We also tried NUK cup, which looks a lot like a bottle and they liked that, but I just threw it away because it ended up under the couch for who knows how long and had mold growing in it. YUCK!!