I was blessed with an oversupply and exclusively pumped for my DD. She is almost 15 months have had only breast milk from a bottle. She will happily drink water from a straw/cup or sippy cup. She will also have smoothies (banana, strawberries, splash of whole milk) from a straw/cup. But she refuses to have the breast milk (warmed) in anything but her bottle.
I still have about 2,400oz left frozen in the deep freezer. She is currently having 3 full meals plus a snack (she's a good eater) daily. I currently give her a 6oz bottle in the morning when she gets up, she gets a 6oz bottle at day care before nap, and her last 6oz bottle before bed. We tried skipping her morning and afternoon bottle this weekend and she was fine with it. Haven't messed with the night bottle since her sleep routine is fantastic.
We have a cruise coming up in March and the cruise ship does not allow breast milk on board (FDA regulations). This pushed me to start thinking about weaning quickly.
What would you do? Can I skip 10 days of bottles/bmilk during the cruise and reintroduce when we return home until I run out of frozen? Would you try to replace whole cows milk in the bottles so she has something to drink on the cruise -- IMO though, I think the 2 should be completely separate drinks for her -- ie keep bmilk in bottles and cows milk in a sippy cup. Do toddlers become attached to the bottle after 15 months and "need" it -- this is a habit I do not want her to develop.
Am I jumping too many steps at once? Should I start slow and try to get her to have the bmilk in the sippy cup first?
So many different ways so I was wondering what has worked for you?
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If I had that much milk in storage, I would try to get her to drink it from a sippy. But don't be surprised if she doesn't take to it immediately. Hopefully others have good ideas. That's an amazing supply! Good work!
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@Weagle: thanks, maybe I can try in a different sippy cup.
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I'm a bit confused. Even if the cruise ship won't let you bring on breast milk, couldn't you just pump it while you're there? Or have you quit pumping and just using up a stash?
If fresh breast milk isn't an option, I would probably try to bottle wean her before you go, since I agree that it's a good idea to keep it a separate thing, and not get her hooked on cow's milk in the bottle too. I'd probably try to do it before the cruise just so it's done in a familiar environment for her, not when everything is so crazy, and possibly even in a different time zone and she's thrown off anyway. And selfishly, so it doesn't impede your enjoyment of the vacation either.
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wow! what a supply!
i would just offer cow's milk during the cruise and go back to using up the BM when you get home. i doubt she'll have an issue with the transition and maybe this is the opportunity to get rid of the bottles.
on a side note, how can they not allow BM on a cruise ship? that actually makes me crazy to hear!
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@birdofafeather: agree, that's insane. I would 100% be calling and arguing that rule!
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@sapphiresun: yes, I've been done with pumping since August. I have a huge freezer stash. Thanks for your thoughts.
@birdofafeather: we are so lucky we called to ask. Imagine showing up at the cruise port with a weeks worth of bmilk and having to leave it all behind or we would forfeit our boarding pass and have to go home. Not even disney cruise, which caters to children and families, allow bmilk. I agree with your idea and hope dd is as agreeable
. Thanks!
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There's no FDA regulation that says no expressed breastmilk on a cruise ship. You may want to call and talk to someone else to see if you could at least bring a little on board if you brought freezer packs.
If it's too much of a hassle hopefully your LO will be able to finish off your stash once you return. Does she drink any cows milk now? I'd probably try and introduce that before the cruise though my LO refused cows milk until almost 2, though she did love yogurt. -
How is that possibly legal??
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I'd start her on a sippy soon. Mine has taken a while to take to cows milk. It's amazing you have such a large stash! Wow!
As far as the cruise goes, I don't think many ships have freezers in the rooms. Storing frozen breastmilk on board would be difficult. At best you'd probably get a small fridge, but bm is suppose to be used with 24 hours of thawing.
Also, most ships are under foreign ownership and therefore not subject to FDA regulation.
. Thanks!
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