Aug 2, 09 | Posted by: David Melbye, M.D.

Transitioning to Whole Milk

Turning one is a big milestone for kids (and parents) and among other things it is also the time to start the transition to drinking whole milk.  There are a number of different ways to go about it, but this is the strategy I recommend. 

There are two types of kids when it comes to transitioning to milk.  There are those who couldn’t care less about the switch, and those you have to slowly convince to drink milk.  I had to “trick” my older daughter into drinking milk, the younger one took to it right away.   The first thing I would do is offer your toddler cold whole milk in a sippy cup and see what they do.  You can also use a bottle if you haven’t started the sippy cup yet.  I would resist the temptation to warm up the milk because that is just one more thing you need to change later on.  If your kid drinks it fine, you are done.  Simple, right?  Unfortunately some kids don’t make it that easy.  For the kids who don’t like whole milk mix a bottle/sippy cup with 25% whole milk and 75% formula or breast milk and let them drink that for a couple of days.   Then you can slowly transition to 50% whole milk and 50% breast milk/formula, then 75% milk and 25% breast milk/formula and the eventually 100% whole milk.  This strategy usually works well and most kids are transitioned to whole milk in 2-3 weeks.  Some may take a little longer, especially if you have an opinionated red-haired child (like me).

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