Anyone used cow's milk before 12mths?

[Bellebelle]

Just wondering if anyone has switched their DC's to cow's milk from formula before 12mo? It isn't something I would ever have considered with DD1 (did everything by the guidelines) but DD2 (9mths) eats a good varied diet and it occurred to me that maybe I don't have to keep her on formula right up until her first birthday. Not something I'm looking to do right now but I'm interested to hear from anyone who has done this without problems or if its actually a really bad idea.

What is your motivation for changing? If she's fine on formular for now why not stick to it? Or is it the expense [man its expensive!]

This is on safe kids website

www.safekids.co.uk/TransitioningToCowsMilk.html

9 months seems mega early to me.

Not for normal milk feed, but I used only cows milk for cup drinks, cooking, cereal etc.

i would think there are valid reasons why 'they' say not before 12m.

I changed DC 2 at 11mths- he was a bruiser and I was taking HV's advise. Wouldn't have with DD as she was a waif. I think you should wait if you can. I did use cow's milk when cooking before that though.

As with everything else it is a guideline but it is there for good reason.

Ah yes, we used cowsmilk from around 10 konths for cereals etc but not for milk feeds.

Big differnece between 9 months and 11 months

My dd had a nightmare with formula and so she had odd cows milk feeds from 10 months but refused formula so lived on yogurts.... she is fine now!!!!

We switchedat 11 months. We moved house so I packed the steriliser away and stopped that too so just thought I might as well if I wasn't going to sterilise.
I wouldn't switch at 9 months though

we switched at 9 months with DD1, she was pretty much mainly on solids and kept throwing up the formula but kept cows milk down. Like starlight says, it's not harmful, just that formula provides all the nutrients. I'd do it again if i think DD2 needs it.

Actually, I would disagree, it can be harmful. Cows milk has too many minerals and proteins which a baby's kidneys are too immature to cope with. This excessive load on the system esp the extra minerals can cause gastrointestinal bleeding leading to anaemia. That is why formula is so highly processed.I'd stick to formula for a while longer if I were you.

Starlight I use cow's milk for cooking and cereal, have done since DS was 7 months. To me it's only the same as him having cheese and yoghurt - surely if it was a problem then there would be formula yoghurts or we would all be churning our own from EBM!

Thanks for all the comments everyone. I wasn't planning on switching her to cow's milk just now just thought we might do it a month/6 weeks early but mumblecrumble's link has made me think that we will definitely keep going with the formula right up until 1 yr as I'm concerned about allergies. DH has asthma and a range of allergies so I'm always keen to do anything I can to avoid the DDs getting the same. Neither had solids until 6mo so it seems a shame to then risk undoing that by stopping formula early.

I don't really have any strong motivation for switching just thought it would be a cheaper and more convienient option for both us and our childminder if it was one of those things where the guidelines are over zealous.

I'm not sure about cow's milk being dangerous for having high levels of minerals though, I was aware that it can be dangerous for what it doesn't contain I.e. higher levels of iron etc but as far as I was aware formula is cows milk with stuff added, I haven't found any information which says that the levels of minerals and protein are reduced. If this is the case then I would also question why it is okay to give other dairy products and use cows milk in cooking from 6mths.

Anyway it's formula (organic of course ) all the way for us now!

Hipp do a cheaper formular... think its growing up or fllow on or somthing....

Wow. I've never posted something that actually affected someone before!

Starlight, no as small amounts don't matter (hence also yoghurt, cheese etc also OK), but it shouldn't be used as a main drink because it "overloads" them.

www.kellymom.com/nutrition/milk/milk-supplements.html Some info on this link

academicmum - so if a fully breast fed 10 month old baby wanted a drink from a cup at lunchtime would you say it has to be either formula or water? Wouldn't half a cup of cow's milk be OK? Esp if there are older children in the family all glugging the cow's milk down?

gargarin - it's entirely up to you. Do what you like. I'm just expressing that for my own children I'd rather not take the risk. In reference to your example, I already said it shouldn't be a main drink and presumably for a fully breastfed baby then breastmilk is the main drink. The advice of a number of organisations who produce recommendations on this type of stuff e.g. DoH, AAP etc etc is not as a main drink before 12 months.

content.karger.com/ProdukteDB/produkte.asp?Aktion=ShowFreePage&ArtikelNr=0000106369&Ausgabe=0&Produk tNr=233212&filefp=0000106369fp.pdf Link to an abstract of an article on osmotic load (high mineral/protein content) of cows milk in infants.

sorry if this has been covered, but isnt cows milk sodium heavy?
i think thats a factor...

Ouch...I was just asking....sorry to upset you .

dd had ordinary cows milk as a drink with meals from about 10/11 months. She was still bf a few times a day so that was her main drink. She only had a teeny bit of cows milk from her sippy cup (she's not a great drinker) and it just seemed silly to make about 1cm of formula in the bottom of a cup!

No problem .