Does it matter that she wont drink cows milk?

[Browneyedgirl3107]

My 17 mth old daughter will only drink her powdered milk (aptamil 1+) i make her food with cows milk but she wont take it in her bottle, does this matter??
Ive tried mixin the 2 gradually but she wont drink it.

No, at this age she needs neither formula nor cow's milk. She can get all her nutrition from other foods. If she'll eat yoghurt and cheese she'll get the same things she'd get from cow's milk anyway but even these aren't needed if there's other calcium-rich foods offered.

Thankyou. She has healthy diet and 8oz of aptamil at night and 8oz in the morning. Is this still ok?

Absolutely fine, but you'd also be fine to ditch the formula if you wanted to. There's no benefit from it, it's just additional expensive processed stuff. On the other hand, if she enjoys her night-time bottle (and her teeth are cleaned afterwards as otherwise this is a caries risk) then it's reasonably safe although I'd stick with infant formula as it's got a lot less iron in it, which is far safer than follow on.

(The iron marketing part of formula is as reasonable as the calcium health claims of Petit Filous which is an extraordinarily sweet junk food product, perfectly fine to give as a treat but is disgracefully marketed as a health product).

No, it doesn't matter if she won't drink milk. DS never took to any kind of milk - cows milk, formula, soy, even chocolate milk - but he grew steadily on the 98th percentile and is now a 5'10" tall, strong 13-year-old. Milk drinking really isn't necessary.

No milk apart from breastmlk, that is, and I stopped feeding him at 15 months.

Well breastmilk has additional stuff in it that isn't in any other animal's milk, so can be considered as more than "just" food. The two main components would be the human-specific fatty acids for brain growth, and antibodies. Plus BM tops up any shortages in the baby's diet in a safe way such as the form of iron in breastmilk, rather than the form in formula which can cause health problems.

So the only milk that really makes a difference at this age is breastmilk but if that's not an option then it's perfectly fine to not have any other mammal's milk.

Ok excellent, was worried i was babying her to much (if thats a word) thanku for your feedback.x

You mean by breastfeeding on request? Nah - totally biologically normal and what humans were designed to do. She'll grow out of breastfeeding like she'll grow out of nappies and into being a teenager .

If your BOTH happy, then it's all good. LLL have toddler groups for breastfeeding mums and kids which are lovely when you're heading into the territory of feeding an older child. A great book is "Mothering your Nursing Toddler" and also "Breastfeeding Older Children".

organiccarrot - I think you're confusing my reply with the OP - my DS never drank any milk but breastmilk, and has been fine; I don't think the OP has mentioned breastfeeding at all.

Oh darn it, sorry, I was thinking of another thread. Forgive me. Bad day...!