Kefir.. when should I give it to baby?

[GimbleInTheWabe]

Hello oh wise ones,
DS is 8mo, bf and happily eating all sorts of real people food now too. I've been doing a mix of blw and purées and he's open to trying anything. We've been keen not to give him too much dairy, sugar or wheat and have slowly introduced known allergens which has all been fine. We've been giving him a bit more dairy recently, mostly cooking things in a bit of butter but he's never had any milk other than my own I.e no cows milk.

I've heard lots of good things about kefir but I don't know whether it's a bit too early to give him a little bit? I've heard that too much dairy before they're 1 can make baby likely to have eczema.. is this just bollocks?

I was thinking of making a smoothie with a bit of kefir, some water and berries/mango but would love to get some opinion from those in the know about this stuff.

TIA

I reckon the avoid milk before one stuff is bollocks just encouraged so people don't go trying to replace formula or breast milk with regular cows milk. My 8 month old some regularly eats cheese and has porridge and cereal made with normal cows milk ( he still eats more than the recommended formula per day) and has yoghurt mostly which I've made myself. So go ahead and give him some it might give him a funny poo at first but that's normal with new food.

I think your bf will have many more tailor-made good bacteria than kefir, so I wouldn’t worry about trying to make sure he has some. But now is probably fine.

We use goats milk kefir, if that is a useful idea to you? But I don't know how people feel about giving goats milk to babies.

Thanks everyone! We gave him some this morning in a smoothie with some oats and fruit. My god it was messy. We had to put him straight in the bath. On the plus side he seemed to really like it!

Will keep my eyes peeled for weird poos and any other potential side effects.

Thanks for the goats milk kefir tip @littlerocketman, I'll have a look out for it.

If your concern is CMPA, any milk you've had whilst feeding him would have caused a reaction in all likelihood. He's probably ok.

Hmm so I dunno if it's the kefir effect or if he had a bit too much too soon but it did make him a little sicky and then did a pretty special poop.

Think I'll give it a few days before giving him any more and see how it goes then.

Thanks again for all the advice. Here's a pic of him covered in his kefir smoothie!

He is divine

What type of kefir have you been giving him?

What a cutie!

FWIW my DS was probably prone to eczema from both sides, we introduced milk in cereal/porridge about 8 months and he's been fine :)

Thank you @HalfStar 

It was cows milk kefir @WutheringFrights. Don't have the bottle anymore so I dunno the brand but it was the only one they had st my Sainsbury's.

Thanks @Modestandatinybitsexy! Good to know that your LO hasn't had the dairy/eczema effect.

Sorry @WutheringFrights I tell a lie the bottle was still in the fridge. It actually is just called 'kefir' so I'm guessing that's the brand. As I say they only stocked that one in my local Sainsbury's so there could be a better one out there. A PO mentioned goats milk kefir which sounds good too.

Breast milk will be your natural kefir but tailor made specifically for him. It's all in there and as fresh as it gets.