Can I give my baby cows milk

[ProssecoParent]

We've been ebf for 11 months now! Baby turns 1 on 17th February. I am sooo ready to stop breastfeeding now I'm mentally drained and I need some sleep!!!!!! Can I give her cows milk in a bottle even though she's not 1 yet but I just feel like 1 month isn't going to make a difference? Also I don't know how to go about this, should I just completely stop breastfeeding or should I gradually wean her off with bottles of milk?

I'd give cows milk and a kids vitamin containing vitamins A,C and D (if you arent already giving it)

Thanks for your help everyone. A lot of different advice. I'm going to try give her a cup of milk through the day and try to only breastfeed in the morning and night

We used to do all sorts.

Advice has changed based on health research.

Your kids may have been even taller and stronger if raised under modern advice.

She doesn't need milk if she is getting calcium from a well-balanced diet.

None of my kids ever drank a bottle of cows milk and as far as I know it never made a difference. They're all healthy.

If you want to stop breastfeeding then I'd recommend going cold turkey. Yes baby will be upset but you are entitled to want and have your body back.

Don't feel guilty, you've done amazingly well to get this far!

I think a plan and gradually stop would be the best thing for both of you. At the frequency you've been feeding you could end up unwell if you were to try and stop dead. Do you have a local breastfeeding support group? They should be able to offer you some support on the best way to stop.

It doesn't sound like breastfeeding in itself is an issue here, it's the amount of contact she needs, and also night wakings. I think if you address those, you might find that you don't mind feeding after all, as that's reduced to just twice a day.

Does she have some sort of comforter/cuddly toy? I'd try and introduce that, and offer sippy cup of water at night whenever she wakes up. She won't like it, so expect lots of crying and even less sleep for you for the first few days! but you just need to keep calmly explaining that there's no milk until the morning.

During day time, you might try carrying her in a sling if she becomes very clingy? That way she gets that contact but it's not feeding and you've hands free for other stuff.

Good luck!

The advice is no bottles after 12 months so I'd just offer in a cup

No, it doesn't.

https://food.blog.gov.uk/2024/12/05/bovaer-cow-feed-additive-explained/

@verycloakanddaggers

One of mine is 6'3"

And they're all fit and healthy thank you very much!

Parents need to trust their gut instincts and not be swayed by people going by the (unforgiving sometimes ridiculously incorrect) book!!!!

In 3.5 weeks the child will be old enough not to need any formula or breastmilk, and the NHS guidance says they may well be down to 3 milk feeds at this age, and down to 400ml if that's formula. Personally, I couldn't (and didn't) get worked up about moving along that road a little early, especially if there's plenty of calcium and iron in the diet.

That's not really OP's issue though.

Don't get defensive.

My kids are also older, but guidance changes for a reason.

Maybe your child would have been 6'6" under modern feeding advice! No one is saying you did the wrong thing, but that advice is outdated for good scientific reasons.

Who knows what the guidance will be in twenty years.

Trusting gut instinct is fine for choosing paint colours but health advice is more of a science area.

Do you think there's much science between needing bottles of formula on 22 Jan and cups of cows milk on 17 Feb? I'm sceptical.

The basic reason is babies do better with the additional calories and nutrients in breast milk, or alternatively formula, until at least 1 year. Cow's milk is a less nutritious substitute. As the NHS states: Cows' milk can be used in cooking or mixed with food from around 6 months but should not be given as a main drink to babies until they're 12 months old. This is because cows' milk does not contain the right balance of nutrients to meet your baby's needs.

Parents can always ignore guidance, but this guidance exists for a reason. Guidance like this results from studying babies who have different diets and measuring which groups do better.

I stopped bf at 10 months and did formula for 4 ish months and moved over to cows milk then. I just wanted the extra vitamins in her

OP first and foremost GRADUALLY stop breastfeeding. Do not just suddenly stop, it will send you on a hellish and frankly dangerous emotional rollercoaster. Not to mention give you mastitis. Plus baby will suffer. Start by replacing one feed with cows milk, do that for a week, then drop another and replace with cows milk and so on. There is much guidance on this. But importantly do not just stop breastfeeding suddenly,

By the time you have gradually replaced feeds with cows milk, she will be older than 12 months anyway.

Both my babies had boob replacement bottles of cows milk at 11 months, but not as their exclusive milk.

Thank you so much that's really helpful. I'll be sure to gradually stop. What bottles would you recommend?

If she's been ebf and you've never used bottles I wouldn't start now. Get her a sippy cup

As an aside, night weaning might also be an option. Sometimes it stops them waking as frequently, sometimes not. Emma Pickett's website has some good information on it.

I would only drop the breastfeeding one feed at a time over time. If you try to do it too quickly your breasts will be rock hard and painful. I dropped lunch feed first. Then after 2 weeks dropped tea time feed then after about another 3 weeks dropped morning feed and left bedtime feed until last because it settles them before bedtime. In place of boob milk just offer milk in sippy cup at lunch time. By the time 2 weeks goes by and you stop tea time feed baby will be 1.

I stopped breastfeeding at 10.5/11 months. My daughter had a bottle aversion and wouldn't accept formula or oat milk in any vessel.
I urgently needed to stop breastfeeding as I was in hospital and needed to change meds on to ones I couldn't breastfeed on.
We had to try everything before they did a feeding assessment to see if she was getting enough nutrition through food to allow her to switch to food and oat milk rather than formula. Unfortunately she was no where close to getting enough nutrition through food.
In desperate measures she was sent home to dad whilst I stayed in hospital and we stopped breastfeeding cold turkey. She went 26h without a drink and then accepted a bottle and stayed on formula until she was 2. It took until 20 months for her to eat enough to drop formula due to poor eating and reflux and food allergies.

Stopping breastfeeding made no difference to the amount she woke up. Neither did switching formula for oat milk at 2 nor stopping drinks completely overnight at 3. She wasn't and doesn't wake your food. She wakes for a plethora of other reasons though primarily being cold as she has an aversion to covers and clothes. She was 18 months when she managed to get herself out of her sleeping bag and sleep suit and we found her in just a nappy! She also sleeps best with physical contact. I'm the same, I sleep terribly when my partner isn't around to have a cuddle before sleep. Allergies and reflux still cause horrendous sleep issues even at 4 if aren't careful

That sounds incredibly stressful @Superscientist . It was bad enough when DD just took a notion herself.