To give baby cows milk at 11 months?

[monkeytroubles]

Apologies if this is a stupid question but this is my first baby so I'm not sure which guidelines absolutely have to be followed and which are erring on the side of caution and can be taken with a pinch of salt.

Since starting solids at 6 month my DD has been less and less bothered about formula and tends to mess about with her bottle. She is 11 months old and the HV told us that we should aim to be ditching bottles altogether and giving her milk in a cup by 12months. She drinks water from a cup no problem but has absolutely refused to accept formula from a cup (have tried all different types) and actually gets really distressed when I try. It got to a stage where as soon as she saw the cup of formula she would freak out and start bawling.

So the other day, I'm not sure why but I decided on a whim to give her a bit of full fat cows milk straight from the fridge in her sippy cup and she necked it in about 5 seconds! She really seemed to enjoy it. I mentioned it to my friend and she seemed very disapproving and kept saying "she's too young for cows milk" but couldn't really explain what harm it might do!

I know they're not supposed to have cows milk as a drink until 12 months but will a month make any difference? Would I be terrible to ditch the formula and just give her cows milk from now on? She is a good eater and has a varied diet.

Just looked it up and the gut bleeding has indeed been associated with cow's milk on babies:

link 1

link 2

Not saying it is significant or that the difference between 11 and 12 mo is that great.

Cows milks fine, mine are healthy as horses and had it from just turning one

OP, I agree with other posters that cows milk is fine, just add the iron drops and VIT D. The vit D is very important to help keep strong bones and teeth. Since he's still growing teeth and in height he really needs these for life. Most adults do not get the recommended amount of Vit D and end up with ishooes in adulthood ie:osteoporosis.

I was diagnosed with osteoporosis at 38 and now trying to prevent any further bone lose by taking massive amounts of VitD daily.

Back in that day when it was good to be out in the sun the body could make vit D required itself, but since people are busy and sun shy now supplements are required.

So no, you ARBU to give him cows milk.

I'm glad I saw this thread as we are in a similar position. I have started to wean her off formula by giving half milk, half formula.

However, her nappies have been hideous - poo explosions multiple times a day.

Any advice??

My lo is 14 months she came of breast milk. at 11 on to cows milk and has been fine

MissBlennerhasset, some LO's tummies cant handle cows milk and results in explosive poos. Its a transition peorid. Maybe try a day with all cows milk and see how it goes. If it is terrible poos, you may need to try again in a few weeks. This is just my opinion as I AM NOT A DOCTOR. but this is what I did with my ds and going full milk straightened itself out in a few days.

As , I was on cloth nappies (he was allergic to pamper) it was very stinky few days and I washed constantly.

The switch can make them constipated (or opposite) fyi

I was in a similar position with my DS who stopped bf at 11 months but wouldn't drink formula. He more or less had no milk for a month because I kept trying to give him formula which he didn't like. He started drinking cows milk at 12m and still asks for it now at almost 4y. With hindsight, I think I did it wrong and should have given him cows milk at 11m.

It's is a choice between formula or cows milk then formula is better, but if it's a choice between nothing or cows milk then cows mikl is better.

My excellent HV also advised extra fish for babies who don't drink much milk.

If it's a choice...

Thanks, Notme. I assumed that because formula is made from cow's milk it wouldn't be so dramatic, but looks like I was wrong. Will try again in a week or so.