A cow says Moo

The transition to milk is complete.

It really was not a big deal at all, minus the delivery system. We have not yet accomplished the bottle to sippy cup transition, but are making some (tiny) progress.

I polled my mom friends and it seemed most people did some version of mixing formula and milk to get babe used to the taste. We did the same thing ... within a week we went from all formula to all milk. I actually had enough breast milk in my freezer to make it just past one year, mixing her bottles half-breast milk and half-formula. I was shocked that it lasted so long and thought we would have run out months ago, but I was happy that we were able to use every last drop.

I had been advised to only give milk in a sippy cup, because if you give it in bottles it will be that much harder to transition to the cup. This may be true, and may be contributing to our s-l-o-w progress on that front, but I just wasn't ready to tackle both at the same time. I need fewer variables in my life.

She was still getting bottles 4 times a day, so we did 3/4 formula and 1/4 milk for a few days, then half and half, then 3/4 milk and 1/4 formula, then all milk. There was little to no protest from her and within a week she would have taken all milk. I actually kept adding a little formula to every bottle to just finish out the can, and now we are completely done.

I have made a half-hearted attempt to warm her bottles less and less over time. We always warmed her formula in a mug with hot water. She would take it at most temperatures, but better if it wasn't straight out of the fridge (I prepped all her bottles the night before). We are still warming the milk briefly, and will continue to work on cutting this out.

(When she will drink milk out of the sippy cup, she prefers it straight from the fridge, so that is promising).

Also, Santa brought a toothbrush and toothpaste for Christmas. We hadn't really been brushing because she had only 2 bottom teeth, but she is sprouting lots more and it is time to start that habit. I'm not really sure about the rules on toothpaste - I think you are supposed to wait until after age 2 for the fluoridated stuff? Starting around a year, though, the mouth doesn't "self-clean" as well (according to our pediatrician), and the milk sugars can be bad for those teensie weensie toofers.