On to cow's milk?

[burtie2u]

I know most posts on here are for breast feeding, which I did do for a few month, then expressed due to DS having tongue tie. But anyway, DS?s now 1 and we have been giving him 1 bottle on full fat cow's milk with a little water every day. My question is, is the formula milk for a 1+ better than cow's milk? DH said if it fills him more, he would rather him stay on it. DS is a very good eater, so he should be getting all he needs from his food. Plus, I keep hearing that I should be reducing his bottles. DS has one morning, one at bedtime and sometimes up to 2 during the day, but mainly 1.
I know there are allot of questions here, but I just don't know what the right thing to do is?

[moaningminniewhingesagain]

At one, cow's milk is perfectly fine and there is no need at all for a 1+ formula.Some of them are very sweet or vanilla flavoured which IMO is not a great idea.

3 bottles a day sounds fine if he is eating well too, some babies need a bit less milk so that they will eat more.

I found that when I changed DD onto a beaker she took less milk, is he having a beaker yet? And any water?

[lucasmama08]

Hello. My 13 month old still has a morning or evening bottle plus lots of milk in his little beaker throughout the afternoon. I tend to use cows milk at home but keep a couple of the little cartons of (either of the standard 'from newborn' milk or the 6 month plus follow on milk) formula milk in the changebag for when we are out and about.

I would say he has the equivalent of about 3 full (7 - 9oz) bottles per day plus an awful lot of food!

He had a 24h vomiting/diarrhea bug a few weeks back and went off his food for a further 3 days afterwards and I did switch to formula milk for that week just to make sure he was getting all the nutrients he needed. He had a mix of stage one (from newborn) and follow on (6 months plus) milk - whatever I came across first! My understanding was that the only real difference between the stage one/follow on formula milks was the amount of iron - most of which cannot be fully absorbed by baby anyway.

What I'm trying to say in a very long winded way is:

1. Don't worry about how much milk he is getting - just keep offering him lots of yummy food and he'll self ween off those last few bottles in his own good time. Try offering some of the milk in a beaker rather than a bottle if you are worried.
2. So long as he is getting a varied diet he will be fine on cows milk. Plus you'll save yourself a small fortune!

[lucasmama08]

Opps - I meant to say 'a morning AND evening bottle' not 'morning OR evening'

[chandellina]

interesting. I thought maybe my 15 month old was having too much (cow's) milk, as he was on 3 bottles a day. My nanny has now decided to give him only a bit of morning milk in a cup, no milk during the day, and then we give him a bottle at night (plus a tiny breastfeed form me at bedtime). Now I think maybe it's not enough!
He is quite chubby though ...

[Seona1973]

from 1 year they only need the equivalent of 350mls (approx 12oz) of milk and not all (or any) needs to be in drink form if they are getting it through their food e.g. cheese, yoghurt, milk in cereal, etc

[burtie2u]

Thank you all,
I am trying to give him some milk in a beaker with a spout that he has to really suck on, but prefers to only have water from it not milk?
I feel better knowing he's okay having about 3 bottles of milk a day and has said if he keeps eating well, he should eventually not want as much milk. I might try just giving him cow's milk in both bottles tomorrow for childminder and see what happens.
I might just need to find him a beaker he likes?