Giving dairy to my ds...

[bcsnowpea]

Yesterday, my 8.5 month old drank some cows milk. I haven't given him any dairy, and was waiting for 10-12 months as is recommended her in Canada. He got the milk when he found a cup on the ground, belonging to a younger, older child.
Now, I've been holding off introducing dairy, in case he has an allergy/intolerance. However, he hasn't exhibited any signs of a reaction. Does this mean that I can now offer him dairy products, or should I continue to wait a few months?
I don't really understand the allergy recommendations, and whether or not him having access to milk from now on could cause allergy problems, or whether the guidelines are in place to wait until babies have definitely developed the gut to deal with the proteins any milk.
I think I may have lost you. My basic question is, now that he's had dairy, can I continue to give it to ds, or should I still wait a few months?

[moondog]

Won't do him any harm.
Are you breastfeeding?
My kids had milk in cereal from 6 months.Never really gave it as a drink because not into cows milk really but no,it won't harm him.

[lailasmum]

I wouldn't worry about the one off time. I think cows milk isn't recommended because its not nutritionally appropriate at that age but am not 100% sure. Cheese and yoghurt and stuff is fine though.

[Seona1973]

I have given my ds the odd drink of cows milk as he was still having the recommended amount of formula. It is more that it doesnt have the required vitamins and iron in it to be given as a main drink so a small amount isnt going to do much harm. In the UK it is ok to use full fat cows milk in cooking and in cereal from 6 months as long as the main drink remains formula/breatmilk. Youghurt, cheese, etc is also considered ok from 6 months.

[bcsnowpea]

Thanks everyone. I am still breastfeeding full time, so I know he gets it a little through my milk. I've been looking forward to introducing cheese, as I'm nuts for the stuff.
It's interesting to see the different dietary recommendations from one country to the next. I think I may give him some more dairy in cooking and make sure he doesn't have an intolerance. Then I'll be free to give him ALL the food that I really enjoy.
OOH! Now I'm getting unnecessarily excited!

[TheShopaholic]

I think it even differs within the country. I asked my HV about this earlier this week as my DD has been getting cows milk in cereal for a few weeks. I'm due to return to work shortly and want to stop BFing but she won't take formula. My HV said that they don't recommend cows milk because of the salt content which is too high for babies less than 1 year but ultimately it was up to me as I know my baby best

[moondog]

Salt in cows' milk??

[Seona1973]

it apparently has a higher sodium content than breastmilk/formula:

From the Vegetarian Vegan Foundation website: (I am neither by the way, but have heard of problems with the sodium before)

The high protein, sodium, potassium, phosphorus and chloride content of cow?s milk present what is called a high renal solute load; this means that the unabsorbed solutes from the diet must be excreted via the kidneys. This can place a strain on immature kidneys forcing them to draw water from the body thus increasing the risk of dehydration. The renal solute load of infants fed cow?s milk has been shown to be twice as high as that of formula fed infants (Martinez et al., 1985).

[Seona1973]

The link from Vegetarian & Vegan website

[bcsnowpea]

Huh, nobody has ever mentioned salt to me. It makes sense that you wouldn't substitute bf or formula for cow's milk if there's that much salt in it. Thanks for the link.