switching to cows milk - how does this work? and what are the benefits?

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DD is 11 months and i am thinking of switching her to cows milk for the 2 bottles she still has in a month or so. how does this work? do i just heat the milk up on the stove? this actually seems more effort than making up formula (which we have down to a 1.5 minute job exactly in this house)

also, is it as good nutritionally as formula? and does it matter past the age of 1, assuming she is getting an otherwise balanced diet?

(sorry, i realise these are probably pretty stupid questions but trying to figure out whether to just stick to formula)

when ds switched to cows milk I just gave it cold from the fridge. If you wanted to heat it then stand the bottle in a bowl of boiled water for a few minutes or use a microwave (if you have one) and then shake well afterwards. Full fat cows milk is fine from 1 year and both my lo's stopped formula from around then and drank cows milk instead.

seriously? cold from the fridge even for night bottle? wow, my life may be getting easier...

and i can microwave it, although can't microwave formula?

I did microwave formula just to take the chill off for dd (5 years ago when it was ok to make bottles in advance and put them in the fridge) - if you shake well there will be no hot spots anyway. With ds I used cool boiled water at room temperature and added the powder as and when required (against guidelines but it worked for us).

When you make the change, substitute an ounce every couple of days for cow's milk. Eventually, all 8 ounces will be cow's milk. Voila!

Oh and I used to microwave it for 30 secs to take the edge off and shake to remove hot-spots. I gradually reduced this over time and now DS has cold milk straight from the fridge....