My wife and I found out very early in our son’s life that what we think are the simplest tasks and decisions do not always work out that way. Our son is a very picky eater, and we work hard to break him out of that mindset. It began when he was only a year old. The simple task of weaning him off of the baby formula and onto milk took much more effort than we thought it would. Fortunately, I could outsmart an infant, at least after a few tries. I devised a scheme that took some time but got him off of the formula permanently.
When our pediatrician said to do it
When we brought our son to the pediatrician for his one-year checkup, the doctor told us that we needed to get him off formula and more onto milk and solid foods. We had already begun giving him baby food from the jar (too late actually), so we figured that we could make the switch instantly and easily. The doctor said that some kids take the quick switch well but others may fight it. Ours fought it.
Quick switch to milk did not work
On our first attempt, we simply filled the bottle with whole milk and warmed it up just as we did with the formula. We went on thinking that we were the world’s smartest parents. After all, my mother had already given him ice cream, exercising her executive Grandma privileges off automatic yes, and our son absolutely loved it. We gave him the milk-filled bottle; he took one sip, threw the bottle across the room, and screamed as if we had severely punished him. We tried again a few more times with similar results. Here we were as new parents, and we were losing to a baby.
Gradual change in formula/milk ratio
The battle lasted a few days, and we caved in too easily and too often. Then, I saw a television commercial. I do not remember the details, but it involved a gradual change into healthier eating. I had the most brilliant idea as a dad yet. I decided to gradually wean the formula away and eventually turn it into all milk. We started by filling the bottle four-fifths full with formula and one-fifth milk. He did not know and apparently could not tell the difference. Every two days, we would put in more milk and less formula. Soon, it became half and half. And then, after a couple of weeks, we had him! We had successfully weaned him gradually off of the formula into all milk, and he never knew. We had finally won this battle.
Success – he loves milk today
When our son, now age 12, got old enough to understand, we told him of how he fought us so much about the milk. He teasingly complained about our conniving ways. However, now, he loves milk – even skim milk. In fact, he will very often choose skim milk over soda, tea, or other soft drinks. We welcome this healthy decision and buy extra milk each week just for him. This milk/formula battle may seem insignificant on a small scale, but we had to show him early that we mean what we say and that we will not allow him to make our decisions for us. We make plenty of mistakes, but we learn from them. As he grows, we grow as parents, and we do our best to truly become the world’s best parents.
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2012 Parenting Resolutions
Learning from Parenting Mistakes
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