DD rejecting cow's milk

[Weightlessbaby]

DD is a couple of weeks off one and I have just started introducing some cow's milk feeds. Honestly, the tub of formula ran out and I was too stingy to buy another one when I knew there'd be loads left by her first birthday! We still have a few cartons of formula - she has one of these for her bedtime bottle, then I've been replacing her morning and lunchtime bottles with cow's milk.

However, with the cow's milk, she takes a couple of gulps then looks at me as if to say 'what is this Mother?' and refuses to drink any more. She's never been much of a one for milky but she is barely having any now. Other than that I have no concerns about her diet-she enthusiastically eats most things (inc cow's milk on her cereal) and drinks plenty of water.

Should I be worried about very low milk intake? Has anyone else's DC rejected cow's milk and basically ditched milk as a drink at this age? (Really can't afford to put her on follow on formula)

TIA

Yup, mine (though he did have morning and evening breastfeeds til past two). He is now 3 and eats plenty of other dairy - yoghurt, cheese - and drinks lots of water, so I'm not worried. Apparently his dad was the same: never drank straight cow's milk, still hates it.

My dd do this and I just phased it in by mixing it with formula and gradually changing the ratio so he got used to the taste.

So if you're making a 6oz bottle maybe make it 4oz of formula and then add 2 of milk, the gradually 3 of each, then 2 formula and 4 milk etc. should only take a few bottles I think.

Your babies are rejecting cow's milk because they are not cows and the milk of another mammalian species was never intended for them. The very healthiest thing you can do is honor their brilliant instincts and not force it upon them. Cow's milk is dissimilar to human mother's milk in a variety of ways, nutrition wise, and aside from the 30 different potentially allergenic cow milk proteins, it raises many other health issues over time. Type I diabetes (an autoimmune disease) risk goes up with the introduction of milk, and most cow's milk the world over is polluted with high levels of the carcinogenic pollutant called dioxin. Further, pesticides and herbicides are frequent contaminants of cow's milk (even the organic variety) because the animals themselves concentrate these toxins in their milk because of the contaminated feed they eat. Breast is best, formula is next best, and once they are weaned - after a year (at least), you can introduce fortified non-dairy beverages. Best not to start them on cow milk because as they age into their teens and beyond, it is milk that is going to be the number one source of saturated fat in their diet (which promotes heart disease), it is milk that will add lots of unwanted calories (which promotes excessive weight gain), and it is cow's milk that contains (each 8 ounce glass) almost 60 different powerful hormones and growth factors that were intended for a baby cow -- to grow it into a massive beast. Those hormones are not a human's friend when they wish to keep their risk of hormone mediated cancers (like breast and prostate cancer) as low as possible. If you truly care about understanding this seek out WHITEWASH (www.whitewashthebook.com) which is a book that examines this and more in great detail. Your child no more needs the milk of a cow then it does the milk of a giraffe, a whale, a dog, or cat, or any other mammal for that matter. Hundreds of millions of babies grow up healthfully without ever being made to drink another species' milk, including my own daughter who never got a drop of the stuff. I suspect that one day your adult child will thank you for never starting them on the milk habit.

Hi op,
I think you have to judge it for yourself. If she is a picky eater it may be worth keeping up 1 bottle a day. If she is a voracious eater don't bother.
Unlike pp who is apparently raising a vegan and therefore prefers artificial supplements/ fortifications, you are obviously giving your dd dairy.
Is she eats plenty of yoghurt and cheese her calcium intake should be fine. If not it may be worth doing what another pp said and phasing it in.
If I were you I would take the opportunity to phase out bottles, it'll be much easier now than in 6 mo.

Thanks for your replies everyone. Sunnyupnorth - I didn't think of that, should've tried it at the start really. However, DD no longer has milk as a drink, only on her cereal. She made it very clear she didn't want it (batting away bottle) and even started doing this with formula. Her diet is very varied (I discovered she likes olives today) and I make sure she has plenty of dairy.

Vraiment - appreciate you view but I suspect I have a rather more laissez-faire attitude to diet than you. I think you may find more to disapprove of in her diet than cow's milk (a pickled onion flavour monster munch is possibly the most inappropriate item so far)!

Once I dropped bottles I couldn't get my daughter to drink any milk either but she has loads of yogurts and cheese plus lots of milk on her cereal or in her readybrek.

She recently had a 'babycino' in a cafe and she loved it! So now, sucker that I am, I often make her one at home using one of those little handheld cappuccino frothers and I can usually get a cup of milk into her that way.

Ooh that's odd actually; I was in a cafe earlier today and saw 'babycino' on the menu. I spent a while stupidly wondering if it was just a very small coffee before I twigged! Think I will try it next time.

Haha no it is just a little espresso cup with frothy milk and a bit of hot choc powder on top for kids. Nice places also give then some marshmallows or a little biccie.

John Lewis does them for free!

Same issue here, we mixed it formula or breast milk. Initially 1/4 cows + 3/4 breast/formula. Then increased the ratios.