Cow's milk - Do you HAVE to wait till 12 mths?

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My DD is 11mths and been having cow's milk in food/ cereal etc since 6 mths.
Can i start giving her it to drink instead of formula milk?
I know the advice is 12 mths but is that just the NHS trying to maximise their remuneration from formula milk companies??

I'd love to ditch the formula - pls let me know what you all think.

it depends on what sort of diet your lo has. If she is having a well balanced diet that is high in vitamins and iron, etc then she should be ok on cows milk as she is close to 1 year. It is to do with cows milk being low in vitamins and iron as formula has been fortified to make it suitbale for young babies.

DD started drinking cow's milk at 11 months. However, it wasn't her main drink, she was still bf.

Think the advice is not to give it as the main drink until they are 12 months.

My two finished BF at about 10-11 months and I didn't see the point in starting with formula. I gave mine full fat cows milk in a beaker from then on. I personally don't think it's a problem if they have a good all round diet.

I was at the GP for something totally unrelated when dd was 11 months and a bit was about to run out of formula and really didn't want to buy another one.
Asked him and he did say for the same of a couple of weeks there was no reason not to just go over to cows milk and she had a good diet so even less argument for keeping up with the formula.
He said the reasons for not giving to under 12 months were not like a magic switch flicked the night she turned one and for the sake of 2-3 weeks (as it was) to just do it.

I agree about the magic switch. Think the 12 months advice is more aimed at Mums who don't buy forumula and give their LOs sterilised milk from about 3 months. Grew up in a poor city so have seen this done often

Thanks for all your advice. I'll finish this box and go and buy some blue top milk!

in my day it was 6 months
kids still alive

yes, ds had it from just over 11m during the days i worked (he didn't have a good diet, but was breastfed)
Don't think the NHS get money from formula companies though - please explain!

PLEASE see my item about the proposed intensive dairy farm in Lincolnshire. Before you feed any of your family milk, give a thought to where it comes from - buy responsibly & help to make a difference for the independent dairy farmer (not to mention the people in villages near me who are about to have an 8,100 cow indoor dairy forced on them)