Giving cows milk as a drink to 12 month old

[sonnyd]

Hi there,
My DS turns one next month and I am still bf him ( prob about 5/6 feeds a day) and he enjoys his food too, having 3 meals a day.
Wondering whether there is any need or benefit to giving him cows milk as a drink after he turns one?
Any advice or experience gratefully received!
X

Up to you, but I wouldn't want to be breast feeding a 1 year old 5-6 times a day. I'd go for 3 meals and 2 snacks with water at meals and milk with snack. The need or benefit is determined by how bothered you are by continuing to BF 5-6 times a day.

I don't think there's any extra benefit to cow's milk - it surely can't be better than human breast milk for a normal human baby - but there's absolutely no problem if you substitute some or all of the breast feeds for cow's milk.

With DD1 I stopped BF at 12 months and she just had cow's milk.

With DD2 at 12 months she was having bedtime breastmilk and cow's milk during the day. And in a couple of months she was just on cow's milk.

But you could just continue BF-ing with no cow's milk if you want!

DD was still bf that frequently at that age. I didn't really offer cows milk as a drink as she was having so much bm.

I was happy to bf and was around to do it. With her older brother I went back to work p/t and so he was offered cowsmilk at the cm. Think he didn't really get into drinking it until 15.months or so...

I started giving my BF DS a small amount if cows milk in a cup at around 14 months just to see if he liked it, which he does. He now has a big cup of it during the day and I Bf morning and evening.

Thanks all, will give him a try of the cows milk and see how he likes it x

I didn't bother with dd as she was a voracious bfer. She fed far more than 5-6 times a day! DS is currently 13mo and he has a cup of milk in a morning because his 5yo sister has one. He really likes it, drinks it in double quick time. And, er, then asks for a bf.

I wanted to reduce DS's feeds because we were wanting to get pregnant again, so began switching some to cows' milk. He hated it, so I ended up giving him a cup of water with one drop of milk, and then the next time, two drops, and then eventually 1ml in 100ml of water, then 2ml, then... He loves milk now!