11month old not interested in breastfeeding, would you give milk?

[Mummyspider27]

I have exclusively breastfed my baby since birth. And my plan was to stop at a year. He is 11m today with a diagnosed milk allergy. For the last 6ish weeks he was only feeding morning and bedtime, then 3 meals and a snack a day, and for the last week been giving 3oz of fortified oat milk at snack time to help him get used to it ready for me to change over at a year. He drinks a lot of water and loves it.
He is not interested in feeding anymore and also gets a bit cross and I wonder if I am just not really producing any milk anymore. For the last week or so at every feed he will willing try but lasts max 30 seconds and then not interested.
Everything you read says no cows milk/alternative until a year.
However is it best to have nothing until a year than fortified oat milk?
I see no point in offering formula for a month, which would have to be prescribed due to his allergy and apparently it’s disgusting so I doubt he would take it.
So in short....! Should I give him oat milk a month earlier than a year or leave him to have nothing for a month as he isn’t getting anything from breastfeeding anyway... xx

It's quite unusual for a baby to self wean before a year old. Have you offered calpol/teething gel in case it's his teeth?

I doubt a month is going to make a huge difference, but I do remember reading if you're weaning onto non-dairy milk then you should seek advice from GP/HV before you stop formula or BF anyway, so it's probably a good idea to ask them.

Give the oat milk. Better than having no milk. Are you supplementing vitamins A, C and D?

Allergy consultant said fortified oat milk fine from 11 months... Health Visitor says not before a year 😩 GP doesn’t have enough knowledge in allergies (her words).

I don’t think it’s teeth (doesn’t have any!!) as he seems to get annoyed like nothing is coming out... maybe I am not producing any anymore? And will happily drink water all day.

He has vitamin D and has since birth. And although the oat milk is fortified with calcium, iodine and some vitamins I definitely want to swap him onto a multi vitamin. I wanted once with calcium (as can’t have cheese/yogurts etc) but can’t find one at the moment. Any vitamin recommendations appreciated x

There are dairy free yoghurts available that may be fortified too

The consultant is better qualified to advise you than the HV, your GP or the random posters of mumsnet.

Yeah I'd go with what the allergy consultant says.

Totally agree that the consultant is better qualified, just hard when different healthcare professionals are giving different advice. I guess I was hopeful someone had been in a similar situation and shared their experience x

Totally agree that the consultant is better qualified, just hard when different healthcare professionals are giving different advice.

I’d go with what the consultant said. I’ve found that HVs are fine at the general guidelines that apply to every baby (eg no milk before a year), but less good when it comes to individual circumstances. Which is fair enough, I’m not criticising, they aren’t going to be specialist in every area.

One of my DC self weaned at about this age, and I put it down to him starting at nursery and seeing bottles and cups as the new normal.

As he was so nearly a year, I skipped formula, and gave goats milk. With hindsight, I think that once close to a year I should have gone straight to dairy.
Do you know anything further about your DC's allergy? Will you need to avoid all (cow) dairy products?

If it is more intolerance than allergy, then I think it might be worth experimenting with goat (or sheep) milk. Both have longstanding reputations for being more digestible, and you can get a good variety of milk, cheese and yoghurt.

One month won't make a difference if baby is having iron rich foods, a variety of foods and/or multivitamin supplement. Preferably all three. I think in Canada the guideline is they can start cow milk at 9 months

OPs child has a dairy allergy so can't have goats or sheep's milk either. There are loads of dairy free alternatives these days with the rise in vegan foods that are available.

@dementedpixie

OPs child has a dairy allergy so can't have goats or sheep's milk either. There are loads of dairy free alternatives these days with the rise in vegan foods that are available.

Yes, I can read. That why my post (which you appear to be alluding to) addressed that point and contained an acknowledgement that it was a suggestion if it was more intolerance than allergy

My apologies for being so unclear

He has an allergy not an intolerance unfortunately. To fresh and baked milk, so anything that contains milk (it’s in so much!). He comes out in a an instant rash/hives/itching etc so needs to be completely avoided until he is retested at around 15 months.

He has all dairy alternatives in his diet.

I am looking at vitamins at the moment, he has vitamin D but want to move him to a multi vitamin. I wanted one with calcium but seems that’s not easy to find x

We went to oat milk at nursery at 11 months, plus breast milk at home. But he was a food monster - and would eat food in preference to milk. I'd have been more bothered if he didnt eat everything and anything (dairy free) in sight.

@Mummyspider27

He has an allergy not an intolerance unfortunately. To fresh and baked milk, so anything that contains milk (it’s in so much!). He comes out in a an instant rash/hives/itching etc so needs to be completely avoided until he is retested at around 15 months.

He has all dairy alternatives in his diet.

I am looking at vitamins at the moment, he has vitamin D but want to move him to a multi vitamin. I wanted one with calcium but seems that’s not easy to find x

Its not easy to find one with calcium. My boy was a fussy eater who hated milk. A paediatric nutritionist told us to get him on vitamins with calcium even if they are ones marketed for 3-4 year olds. So we got him on that then switched to Vitabiotics multivit syrup and Wellkid calcium. GP and paed nutritionists were ok with that but you may want to talk to yours.

He still needs milk. Oat milk won't meet his needs, talk to your HV

Could he have expressed milk from
A cup for a month then the oak milk?

@foxyroxyyy

He still needs milk. Oat milk won't meet his needs, talk to your HV

Somehow I think the consultant who is actually treating this child might know better how to meet his needs than you...

Unfortunately nothing comes out when I express anymore.

I have spoken to my health visitor, she says he needs milk however he won’t feed from me anymore, I can’t express, he can’t have regular formula, and if he refuses the (apparently disgusting) prescribed formula, then he has nothing. Is the (fortified) oat milk and multi vitamins worse than nothing.... (the oat milk is as high in calories as cows milk and has almost identical levels of calcium, iodine, vitamin D etc) x

If the oat milk is fortified and he's getting A,C and D supplements alongside other foods then it sounds like he is getting what he needs. Are you avoiding soya too? Soya formula would probably be ok for a month if he would take that

The oat milk sounds like it's better than nothing.

Ds1 wouldn't drink much cows milk when he was 1, I ran out of full fat one day so gave him semi skimmed and he drained the whole glass so he had semi skimmed from then on even though you're not meant to give them it until they're 2. I figured a whole glass of semi skimmed was better than a sip of full fat.