to think that a HV should have pointed out the health dangers associated with...

[becaroo]

...putting a 6 month old baby on cows milk????

Was a baby clinic this morning - I go in, weigh my son and then leave - and the girl next to me in the queue was talking to the HV who was stood next to me and said...

Mum:"I've taken her off formula as it was making her sick and put her on cows milk as shes much happier on that"

HV: "How old is she?"

Mum: "26 weeks"

HV:"oh, alright"

Shouldnt the HV have mentioned iron deficiency/anaemia etc etc that occurs when babies are put onto cows milk before 12 months? There are plenty of formulas out there for babies with sensitive tummies...she never even mentioned taking her to GP to see if it was reflux....bloody HV's....I was really shocked....have a mind to complain to someone!!!!!

If a baby was eating food then cows milk no problem.

My understanding is that formula is less allergenic, for babies who may be allergic if exposed, and is fortified, and closer to BM in fat and sugar.

If the baby is not one of the few who will develop an allergy, and is having some food as well (to up the fat/sugar/vitamin/iron) then there's no probs. As there weren't before formula to 12mo was the norm.

The guidelines are there to protect a (maybe significant?) minority, but are not necessarily necessary (!) for the majority.

IMO.

"becaroo, baby formula has only been around for 60 years or so, not all mum s could bf, and cows and goats milk worked fine.
How on earth do you think the human race survived in the previous 2,000 years?"

actually an awful lot of babies died - before pasteurization. more common was wet nursing, which was also a total disaster for infant mortality rates.

that chips, fish fingers and double cream thing is ringing in my head too. part of a balanced diet? sure, if you mean they are 1% of a diet that is 99% healthy. chips in particular are doing a baby no favours.

I'd be very interested to see the stats on wetnursing chandellina - I find the subject very interesting and didn't realise that it was a big cause of babies dieing.

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YABU without knowing all the facts.

if you overheard my conversations with my HV about DS1 and cows milk you would be appalled / shocked. DS1 wont drink any cows milk except skimmed as he hates creamy foods. after discussing it with HV and GP, we have decided to let him had skimmed milk as its better than no milk at all. its better to get the whole picture than judge on a snippet of a conversation

Onestone - of course you may choose to feed your child as you like - and that's exactly what you hv was encouraging - a wide variety of foods. I think it's very dubious indeed to label foods as 'bad' as so parents seem to do. 'Not great food' - the nutritional benefits conferred by some foodstuffs are superior to others - doesn't mean you have to write off the less beneficial ones altogether - or look down on the hcps who dared to suggest them!

Oh, I fecking hate these do-goody, I know best threads.

Concentrate on your own kids.

hmmm fwiw, I think the whole aneamia shit is bull, as such.....because Formula isn't that easily digested and whilest fortified, etc....how much more is absorpt truely is anyones guess....or has there been true research conducted (not sponsored by Formula companies, I mean)....however....I thought early cowsmilk can cause Kidney problems....not sure this is true and has now been researched properlly and found to be true....so...fwiw...wo knows....we might all be conditioned to think cowsmilk is shit comapred to Formula (made and based on cowsmillk)

How do you know 'fresh' fish is healtier, Onestogo?

Frozen products are healthier, because they've been frozen at source, with all vitamins locked in.

'Fresh' food, whether it be fish or fruit or vegetables has usually been proven to be less nutritionally valuable, because it's been hanging around a lot longer.

In fact, in recent surveys of general supermarked groceries, frozen food comes out tops, canned food comes out second, and 'fresh' food comes out last.

Unless you've just bagged a cod fresh from the sea, or pulled a carrot straight from the ground, you've no idea how 'fresh' or uncontaminated it actually is.

sorry but the issue with cows milk is not to do with iron but more the levels of sodium

a child of about 6 months should NOT be having cows milk as there main drink

Desi...personally I find, with veg and fruit, that it tastes better....but yes frozen often is possibly nutritionally better, unless you get it fresh from your allotment, I suppose....do have probs aboout the tinned fruit being nutritionally better than fresh...because tins undergo heat treatments, which means loss of nutrients there and than and at high tepms nout left....and most tinned stuff tasttes crap. too....but all of that is a different discussion....

so nanny, the kidney prob is the actual possible problem....has this been proven now...
I came across his when having ds 1 (who is almost 13), and with ms and ys I never had to look into this, so, was unsure

I do agree about the taste.

Frozen veg needs to be steamed for a lot longer, and given some extra va-va-voom, but I'm just trying to get over the fact that much supermarket veg is actually very old, and therefore not nutritionally great.

'Tis best to buy fresh, that's for sure. But we are often beguiled into buying products that are nothing like fresh.

Desi, totally agree....Supermarket stuff and nutritional value is questionable....

YABU - you can have cow's milk in food from 6 months.

Agree with Desi, that unless you're fishing yourself, or traipsing to a fishing port at 4am or going to Billingsgate, then frozen fish is fresher than fish counter.

Although the counter has such a pull that I go there rather than frozen - that and the range of fish which you can't get in the freezer...

Anyways, still interested to hear how milknursing killed loads of babies who would otherwise have lived, I've never heard that before...

PS onestone you cook in extra virgin? That is surely not right - why use a super pure dressing oil for cooking and discard the other pressings which are ideal for cooking? Makes no sense. "Wonderful fat"? Do you use butter and lard? They are coming back into fashion, if my senses serve me correctly...

mn makes me laugh sometimes

some people get less than a 1 min snapshopt of someone else's life when they are out and about. Then they think they have a right to not only judge, but to encourage others to judge!!!

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I don't think you'll find many italians cooking with the expensive first press of oil. It is usually used for dressing. It also has a stronger flavour and actually doesn't really like being heated too much. Normal olive oil/virgin olive oil, ie the later pressings are normally used for cooking.

If you know better than the italians and the chefs though, feel free to continue as you are...

bbc olive oil

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Well well well. So the chefs and my italian friends and the labelling and the cook books and the BBC are every person on the telly is incorrect then.

Well you learn something every day...

waitrose better get onto them to correct their article

wiki also incorrect

and these guys

and these chaps

and the list goes on and on.

I will also have to get onto Bertolli about their labelling policy...