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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

How much cow's milk does a breastfeeding one year old need?

7 replies

BadgerFace · 20/01/2014 10:38

I am going back to work in a couple of weeks and so have been cutting down the breastfeeds my one year old has. Before Christmas she was on 5 a day and now we are down to first thing and bedtime and sometimes mid-afternoon.

The mid-afternoon feed is generally because I offer it rather than DD requesting it and she does not seemed fussed if I don't offer it. I am trying to substitute a cow's milk feed mid-afternoon but she will not drink from a bottle and will only take a few sips from a sippy cup so to my mind she is not drinking much! But maybe she is compensating by longer feeds at bedtime.

Does it matter if she won't take a cow's milk feed in the day? She eats cheese and yoghurt every day and most days other calcium rich foods like hummus. She is generally a good food eater. I am only going back to work 3 days so I could do 3 feeds a day for most of the week if that was better for her.

The other thing in the back of my mind is that at some point I will want to drop the morning and bedtime feeds but I assume she needs a milk substitute once I'm not breastfeeding at all. I was assuming that as her cup drinking skills improve then she will be able to take more cow's milk that way but perhaps I'm being a bit naive...

Any advice gratefully received! I'm finding it difficult to find any info on milk which doesn't include ml or oz measurements and that doesn't seem to help me as we are on the boob!

OP posts:
hazchem · 20/01/2014 10:51

From memory I think they recommend 600ml of dairy. But this includes cheese and yoghurt and breastmilk. So a few pieces of cheese, a yogurt a drink

This is longish but might helpwho

habhann · 20/01/2014 10:55

My 15 mth old has 150mls milk in the morning with breakfast, beaker of water if thirsty. Then at lunchtime he has around 1/2 beaker of goats milk( I think its less allergic than cow). Again has beaker of water in afternoon. Teatime I give half beaker of milk and that's it until morning time. He eats lots of fruit and yoghurts during the day. I find the tommee tipee 12mth old beakers great

leedy · 20/01/2014 10:58

DS1 never really drank cow's milk, just didn't like it. He ate lots of other dairy, drank lots of water, and had one or two breastfeeds a day til he was 2.5 so I didn't worry about it. His dad was apparently the same.

ExBrightonBell · 20/01/2014 11:00

They don't need cows milk in itself, it's the calcium that is needed. 300ml of cows milk gives about 350mg of calcium which is the daily requirement. That's why cows milk is often recommended. If your baby is getting 350mg of calcium daily from food then there is no actual need for cows milk.

In your position, I would not worry about giving lots of milk during the day, especially if you are going to continue with breastfeeding in the morning and evening.

My ds has gradually dropped all his breastfeeds - the morning one is now a cup of cows milk, and the rest of the day it is water. He also eats really well. When I first started back at work when he was 11 months, he had a morning and evening feed, and was happy with water during the day.

FreeButtonBee · 20/01/2014 11:03

I thought it was 300mls of milk (and milk products) in total at 1

www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Goodfood/Pages/milk-dairy-foods.aspx

At that age and if you are happy to keep bf when you are around, I really wouldn't worry. She will be getting plenty of calcium in general. I am in a similar position with my 11.5mo twins - I am back to work in 4 weeks and they don't take bottles and take v little milk from a sippy cup. I still try them with milk once or twice a day - normally when they are having a snack - but they have milky porridge in the morning and cheese, yoghurt, and other milky thing regularly plus green veg (which is also v good for calcium). I'd prefer it if they would take a nice big cup of milk before bed so I don't have to be home every night but that's more for my benefit than theirs!

Superworm · 20/01/2014 11:05

None Smile

BM contains all the fat, calories and calcium they need.

www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Goodfood/Pages/milk-dairy-foods.aspx NHS shows they need 350g or 300mls - two BFeds a day meets this, plus she eats other sources of dairy which count too.

Once you stop BFing you'll need to think about it more, which is why I just carried on.

BadgerFace · 20/01/2014 15:55

Thanks All, I knew the Mumsnet collective wisdom would help me with this!

One less thing to worry about going back to work which is nice!

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