Switching to cows milk?

[chloemegjess]

Hello. Hoping I don't get flamed for this, but I am only asking so please be nice!

DD is just about to turn 11 months (so will be 1 on 29th december).

She has been constipated for weeks (see thread in children's heath). She has SMA progress. She won't drink any other formula (we tried swticthing to aptimil a while ago with no luck what so ever).

My mum thinks I should just start giving her cows milk now. I know the guidelines say 12 months so not too sure how I feel on the matter.

What does everybody think? Is 12 months just a rough guide and will 11 months be fine? Or is it best to wait, just in case?

11 mths will be fine.
And you will save a ton of money.

Thanks. I thought that about the money too. Although we might start using the milkman as we don't go shopping that often which has never been a problem before DD!

agree. 11 months absolutely fine.

I put ds on cows milk at 11 months. He stayed on SMA gold until then, but yeah a few weeks won't make a difference I wouldn't have thought. It's so much easier too.

my dd has the same birthday, I put her on cows milk at 8 mo as she had such awful constipation. She has been absolutely fine - don't worry

Thats good to hear. Did it help the constipation?

yes - not straight away, but it seems to have done now. tbh i just felt the formula wasn't doing her any favours. i mentioned it to the doctor the other week and she said if i was at all worried giver her a multi vitamin with A,D and iron (if i remember rightly) but as long as she was eating well etc. just do what i felt was right. she is a lovely doctor

My doctor isn't very great at all. When ever I mention anything about DD she just thinks I am over worried about nothing. I never take her before asking on here first and have only really been when everybody has agreed to go. It doesn't help that my DD goes in there smiling at everybody and being really happy!

My old gp was exactly the same. Because I was a 1st time mum, I was being overly worried and it took ages for them to take me seriously. So glad we moved

There's a thread on this that's live, chloe, and I have posted a link with some research on this.

You've prob aready heard that the excess (yes, excess) iron in follow-on milk (eg Progress) is known to be a cause of baby constipation?

Regular cows milk is highly unlikely to have any adverse effects at your dd's age, IMO, but find the thread and judge for yourself.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/breast_and_bottle_feeding/654426-Need-to-switch-from-breast-to-formula is the thread

Thank you tiktok, I have just payed that thread a visit. I think I will go with cows milk.

Anybody know what is the best way? One bottle switch at a time or go cold turkey?

We just swapped it straight out, one day he had formula, the next he had cow's milk.
My ds has always been big (98th centile) so if he missed a feed it didn't matter really. He was having cows milk and that was that. He took to it fine, creased brow for a minute or two but we had no issues.

I have big eating probs so have been very aware of habits I could pass on, so it's always been 'that's what's there and if you don't like it......'
I'm prob really mean though, but there's no messing about in my house (apart from myself that is)

I think what I will do is get some cows milk today, give her a try and see what she thinks and then make the plan from there. If she likes it I will probably do both until the tin runs out, which won't be long. We have another 2 unopened tins but maybe somebody else can get use out of them.

i started on cows milk in the house and kept taking formula out with me til the tin ran out. my dd didn't seem to notice a thing! btw, i am sure you have tried everything but one thing that my doctor gave me were some suppository things, like jelly torpedoes. i don't think they did what they were supposed to but i could guarantee that every time i put one in she would have a really runny poo (sorry tmi) straight away and poo the suppository right out. i use them v occasionally if she hasn't been for a bit.

Sounds like a good idea chloe, let her lead you.

pardon we had suppositories too coz ds wouldn't drink water, he'd often get bunged up. I hated doing that

Well gave her a beaker of cows milk this afternoon and she drank it, but kept spitting it out, but she often does this with water etc anyway so not sure it was because of the change of milk. She is drinking a bottle of formula now before bed which I will continue to do at least until the tin runs out.

Thanks for all the help

You could mix the formula and cows milk half and half, or water down the cows milk at first to get her used to the taste gradually. I did this with ds and it seemed to work quite well.