Baby Food

Question: When to stop baby formula?

(Posted by: Sommer M on 2010-02-07 19:02:55)

My twins are 12 months and 12 days old. They were born six weeks early so their corrected age would be 11 months. They have been taking four to five eight ounce bottles of formula and four to six jars of baby food a day since they were around seven months. I need to know when I need to taper them off the formula. I see that most moms start at a year and some even have their children completely off formula at a year. I am a little apprehensive about taking them off formula at a year because I don't see how they could be getting all of the required nutrients from baby food/ solids alone. Although they were preemies they are in the lower part of normal range for their weight 21lbs 6oz and 21lbs 3oz, according to the charts and are considered big for their corrected age. Most people have told me to consult my pediatrician however we are without insurance so they do not have a regular doctor as of right now. Does anyone have experience with feeding preemies?

Posted by: Object Permanence on 2010-02-07, 19:08:04

If I were you and I were worried about it, I'd just do it when their corrected age was 12 months. I started switching my daughter to milk at 11 and a half months because I thought I'd have to do it more gradually and, frankly, I was excited about the huge price drop from formula to milk! Doing it a few weeks early is not a problem, especially if your kids LOVE milk like mine does. Just do it slowly: I replaced one bottle of formula with whole milk and added another milk bottle 3 days later. I never mixed the formula with the milk, though, because it looks gross and my daughter had no issues with the way the milk tasted alone.

Posted by: Tina on 2010-02-07, 19:09:42

My twins were a bit smaller than yours at the 1 year point and were born 3 weeks early, and our pediatrician still recommended that we make the switch at their 1 year check up. I was concerned, too - especially since my daughter has a heart defect, but they did just fine on the milk and we supplement with Poly-Vi-Sol vitamins to fill in any gaps in their diet. My son switched to milk cold turkey but my daughter resisted so with her, we did a gradual switch that took about 3 weeks - we mixed a bit of whole milk with formula, then blended more milk and less formula until she was completely on the formula over time. Best wishes!