Cows Milk or Formula

[Elsbells]

I have a question. My RL friend excl BF DS1 for 6 months and introduced cows milk in the form of cheese and yoghurt from 6m. By 9 m she had stopped BF altogether and gave DS1 cows milk for his milk feeds as well.

She has been exc BF DS2 (again for 6m) and plans to do the same thing re the cows milk.

She feels that if there is no reaction to the cows milk that by 9m it is fine to give them their milk feed in that form. She is very anti FF but hasn't gone BF past 9 m (and won't again) as she has to get back to work and she does not like expressing nor does she feel she has time or the inclination to BF before and after work.

I am just wondering if she has a point. I FF my DD ( 6 1/2m) and with various threads posting how bad formula is, is giving cow's milk a better alternative after the 9 month mark as my friend seems to think?

i thought cows milk is not suitable as a main drink for the under 1s as the protein content is too high and there are not enough vitamins in it.

it is fine in cooking from 6 months and in cheese, yoghurt etc. but not as a main drink....

Yes that is what I thought but she did it with DS1 (who is now 2 1/2 and is fine) and is insisting on doing the same with DS2.

Again she doesn't want to continue BF from 9 m due to work and loathes expressing. She would rather give cows milk than formula.

I was told it can cause problems such as intestinal bleeding (and therefore iron deficiency) due to the proteins being too undigestible for an immature gut. Cheese and yogurt are fine as they're partially digested by the bacteria that goes into making them.

Here's a link with info

Also, I went back to work at 9mo and just fed mornings, evenings and late afternoon when I got in. The rest of the day DD drank water most of the time.

I get quite annoyed at this idea that formula is "bad". Obviously it is not as good as BM but it is specifically designed to be as close to BM as possible. Why does she think standard cows milk is any better than cows milk that has been specially processed to be suitable for young children?

While I am vv pro BF, I think that an unfortunate side effect of the pro-BF lobbying is this notion that formula is bad.

I'm no medical expert but the guidlines seem quite clear to me that standard cows milk doesn't have all the nutrients that they need at this age.

I suppose it depends how much cows milk the baby is having.

When I was a baby, my mum bf me for 6 months, then bf + solids til 9 months and then I was on cows milk + solids (with no bf or formula). This was not because she was anti formula, I think it was an acceptable thing to do at the time. It didn't harm me, but that's not to say it won't harm your friend's baby.

She would probably be OK doing a bf night and morning and in the night if necessary and giving water/diluted juice the rest of the time. But if she wants to give up bf, she really should use formula.

I thought formula WAS cows milk, but with some things removed and some things added (like vitamins/minerals etc). Maybe I am dumb !

Anyway just to add that I know 2 people who bf for a few months with no formula at all, then introduced formula and the babies both reacted to the formula (like as in allergic). I don't know if that is a consequence of introducing formula very late - I would have though most people introduce it earlish or not at all. I don't know really.

Agree with love2sleep.

And like crokky, I thought that formula basically was cows milk, with various ingredients added or taken out to make it more suitable for babies.

i have heard though, that in Australia they say you can feed cows milk at 9 months, not wait till 1 year as they say here.

I wouldn't have thought cows milk was as good as formula, but I wouldn't imagine your friends baby will come to any harm either, esp if he eats a good range of solids too.

i think most of our generation were on cows milk before 9 months!!

I should have added that I also had a similar anti-formula instinct. I use EBM for ds2 while I am at work and it took me ages to agree to using formula to top it up on days when I hadn't pumped enough. I spent a good few days trying to work out why I was so against it.

It was partly that I think that it smells disgusting, but mostly an instinct against its "artificial-ness". DH persuaded me that I was being irrational and I had to concede that he was right. Somehow using FF felt like an admission that I'd failed at BF which was complete nonsense.

I'd go with regular cows' milk, although if she rethinks the breastfeeding she mignht not even need to do that.

From 8 mths, my childrten managed all day without milk or EBM or formula. The breastfeeding was a lovely way to reconnect at the end and beginning of the day.

I bf past a year with my last two so as not to have to use formula. I wouldn't buy it if I didn't absolutely have to - but mainly because I object morally to the behaviour of babymilk companies, their manipulative marketing, their undermining of breastfeeding, the fact that in order for them to make their money, mothers have to fail at breastfeedng or choose not to do it.

I think the situation the OP mentions is difficult. I feel that a baby of 9 months who's eating well is unlikely to be significantly disadvantaged by drinking unmodified cows milk and that this was probably common practice in the past.

On the other hand it probably is better for the baby to have modified rather than unmodified cows milk and that if it was me I would err on the side of caution - a baby's long term health is too important to treat in a cavalier fashion.

What about this - your friend uses formula, but makes a £10 a month donation to Baby Milk Action for every month that she formula feeds? That's what I'd do!

And if she has another baby she could try to bf for a year as this is obviously the best solution for her given that she doesn't wish to use formula.

BTW - the stuff on cows milk causing gut bleeding. I saw a study on this in the Cow and Gate journal (basically formula marketing targeted at health professionals). I'd have a good read of the research before getting too anxious about it.

Interesting thoughts guys. Thanks for the comments.

I was just a bit curious to see if what she was doing was actually 'ok' - whatever 'ok' is considered nowadays.

PS) Hi MHC

FWIW, I was put on cows milk mixed with water (!) at 4.5 months... I lived to tell the tale. I agree that some sort of formula is best until about a year, but by 9 months, I expect her children will be eating quite a lot of food and the cows milk/ not enough goodness thing isn't quite as important as at 6 months. As long as it's full fat milk, I don't think it's worth losing sleep over - or indeed worth losing a friend over, by questioning her judgement.

My mum told me that she bf me and my sister til 6 months (in the late 70s). After that she gave us boiled cow's milk on advice from her hv. Not sure if this is acceptable now but just wanted to add this experience to the thread.

If you boil cow's milk, it can make a baby constipated. It used to be a remedy for diarrhoea.

Oh Barely, I wouldn't judge anyone on how they feed or anything like that. If anything my question was to see what people's views were on it and if really it had any health implications as it is something I was considering for my DD as I loathe every FF I give her.

I always thought formula was better nutritionally and better for digestion than cows milk. And for me, that is the most important thing.

I guess the next best thing is organic cows milk, as I know it contains alot more nutrients and omega 3 etc than non-organic milk.

I give organic cows' milk with DD's cereal etc and she eats cheese, yogurts, rice pudding etc, then give her SMA Progress before she goes to bed. She is 18 months and I've done this from the time she started to have 3 proper solid meals a day I.E she eats what we eat.

As long as your friend's children are getting a good nutritionally balanced diet from their other meals, IMO giving cows' milk is fine (as long as no bad reaction, obviously)