Good advice from HV?

[MockingbirdsNotForSale]

I met someone today at a party who is going back to work in sept when her DD is 7.5 months. She's BF'd and her mum was hoping that as she's being weaned she'd drop feeds but she hasn't. She's due to start nursery in Sept and the mum can't express (literally gets nothing). She spoke to the HV about milk feeds during the day and the HV recommended that her DD be fed cooled boiled cows milk instead when she's at nursery. I said I was sure that was not right and if she couldn't provide BM then formula was best not cows milk. Her reply was that basically as the HV had advised cows milk then that was fine. Will her DD be fine on 3 cows milk feeds per day?

I'm sure someone more knowledgeable will be along soon, but I thought the reason under 1s aren't recommended cow's milk is because the iron content isn't high enough. I think her HV was giving her duff advice and I'd be ignoring it if I were her.

Sounds dodgy to me too.

I think babies don't get all their nutrients from food as they don't eat much so need all the added stuff from BM or formula.

I'd ignore the HV for sure.

Cows milk is not unsafe after 6 mths, but as a main drink it is considered to be lacking in iron, and unless a baby is getting iron from other sources, the thinking is that the baby might go short.

'Tis a judgement call as to whether a drink 3 x a day on weekdays constitutes a 'main drink' or not, and other factor would be how often the baby is being bf - if it's no more than once or twice then the cows milk would become more of a 'main drink' IYSWIM. If the baby is bf ad lib day and night, not so much.

Can't see the point of boiling the cows milk - does the HV think this might make it easier to digest or something?

Personally, if it was me, I'd give this baby the cows milk in a cup, unboiled, at the nursery, because if it was me the baby would be getting lots of bf, and I'd be making sure the baby got iron-containing solids, too. I'd not want to be faffing round with formula which needs more careful preparation, or bottles. But that would be my judgement - no hard and fast rules here!

That does seem like duff advice from a HV. They're supposed to follow the official guidelines after all.

Like tiktok says, ok to make a judgement call yourself, but HV shouldn't be advising that. I can't even see the point of it.

cooled boiled cows milk!! Sounds vile and a faff

Extra BF when at home and tell her to relax. There are plenty of bottle refusers who don't have milk at nursery, might get some increased wakings at night for a bit.

Cows milk isn't recommended as a drink until after 12 months. With food and say water as a drink, DC wouldn't need cows milk as a "feed".
Has your friend tried going 3 feeds without feeding? And then seeing if she can express?
Personally I'd ignore the HV because in my opinion they talk crap
A carton of formula may be less hassle.

Not sure where the pre boiling cows milk idea comes from, but I would be very interested to know, because my MIL is always going on about giving boiling cows milk to babies...

My MIL's own MIL is Italian but raised her kids in France where they drink a lot of unpasturised milk, so I've always assumed that it was advice passed down the generations from raising kids on the continent. No idea why it's been advised here though...

Sorry *boiled, not boiling

at boiling!

Many thanks for your advice.