Switching from formula to normal milk at 12months

[arcadia96]

I have always had better advice from here than the Health Visitor!
DD is nearly one and I believe we can switch her onto full fat cows milk now.
Is there a special way to do this? Do you mix it initially and then gradually go over to cows milk?
My other question is, there is lots of 'growing up' formula for sale. Is this better for the child than ordinary cows milk or is it just a way for the companies to make more money out of us?

You can just swtich from formula to cows milk. However formula is much sweeter than cows milk, so if your DD does not like it as a straight switch, you can start with 80% formula and gradually reduce the amount of formula.

The average, healthy 1 year old should not need growing up milk. It does contain more iron, vitamins etc than cows milk, but if your DD is having a 3 good meals a day, she will be getting all she needs from food.

Having written all this, my DD could not tolerate cows milk at 12 months, so I did use growing up milk until she was 18 months. Her paediatrician told me that it is quite common for toddlers to be able to tolerate milk that is cooked in food before being able to tolerate 'raw' milk.

That's right, full fat moo juice is fine from 12 months.

Re growing up formula, I guess it depends what you mean by "better". It is fortified with all sorts of things you wouldn't find in cow's milk (vitamins & minerals), but IMO it's just unneccessary. If your LO eats a balanced diet and drinks enough milk then they will get everything they need. Personally I would use vitamins drops over formula, as yes, it is definitely a way for formula companies to make money out of you.

Thanks.
Do we need to use vitamin drops once she stops formula?

Vitamin drops are not essential if the diet is good. However it won't do any harm. I am considering giving my DD some over winter in the hope she might get fewer colds.

I would say don't worry too much if you're dd doesn't like drinking cows milk at first. As long as she's getting calcium from other sources: milk on cereal, cheese, yogurts.

Growing up milk is a marketing ploy - as has been said, if the diet is good, there is no need. If the diet isn't, use the drops.

I started using full fat organic cow's milk for DS's breakfast cereal after 11 mths, to get him used to the taste, and then after 1 year basically replaced all his formula (he took 2 bottles a day) with cows milk. But he is really easy and loves any kind of milk - plus TBH cow's milk smells and tastes so much better than formula, so it was no problem.