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Cows milk as drink before 1 yr?

12 replies

TooManyUserNames · 19/01/2018 12:29

DD will be 1 end February. She has a couple of bottles of formula a day, probably about 360ml in total.

She eats well, is in the 90s centiles for height and weight. Varied diet.

We have about 1 weeks worth of formula left. When it runs out am I ok to give her cows milk as a warm drink? She has water with meals.

No allergies. She has cereal with cows milk and yoghurt.

Thanks

OP posts:
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dementedpixie · 19/01/2018 12:34

I would buy one more tub as you don't know if she will even drink it yet. You could then introduce cows milk more slowly as a drink

dementedpixie · 19/01/2018 12:35

And I mean giving some cows milk just now alongside formula

jimijack · 19/01/2018 12:37

The main reason for not giving cows milk before 1 (allergies aside) is the lack of nutritional content.
Full fat is better, along side a healthy diet.

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mindutopia · 19/01/2018 14:18

If she hasn't been having it in her bottles so far, I would get some more formula but with the intention of just slowly shifting onto cow's milk. The recommendation is not before 12 months, but really by that they mean in vast quantities. If she's only having, say, 1 bottle a day anyway (which would be unusual at 11 months but not unheard of), then probably fine. But I would otherwise do it gradually.

I started to mix cow's milk and formula at 10.5 months (so to start just half of one bottle a day was cow's milk, mixed with formula, rest of the day all formula). I offered a bit more each week until by 12 months all bottles were cow's milk. My dd did have some loose stools and tummy upset for a couple weeks, but it passed by 12 months. So I think it makes sense to do it slowly, but you could at least start switching over now if you want.

Scotinoz · 19/01/2018 14:27

Yep, it's fine. Babies don't automatically change on their first birthday, so a couple of weeks either side to swap to dairy milk is fine.

If you've got a child who eats well, like a little person rather than a baby, then I wouldn't worry about moving them to cows milk.

Some kids can be picky about the taste, some don't care. You can mix formula and dairy milk, reducing one and upping the other over a week or so if it's a problem

Chaosofcalm · 19/01/2018 14:27

I changed my DD milk at 11 ish months but that was on advice of a dietitian. I would continue with formula for now.

After 1 she should be having milk out of a cup.

TooManyUserNames · 19/01/2018 14:32

Ok more in favour of sticking with formula until 1. I suppose my thought process is what is so special about that last month in terms of nutrients from formula. I also give those multi vitamins from the HV when I remember!

So if I was still breastfeeding out of interest would that have all the nutrients she needs including the iron?

Thanks all. Any more opinions welcomed!

OP posts:
dementedpixie · 19/01/2018 14:34

Breastfed babies need supplementing with vitamins A,C and D. Cows milk is not a good source of iron

Oly5 · 19/01/2018 14:34

They recommend formula or
Breast milk until 12 months because of the vitamin content.
If you switch to cows milk that’s fine, but make sure you’re giving vitamin drops too (recommended to age 5)

user1493413286 · 19/01/2018 14:37

I would buy it in part so that you can do a gradual transition; I wasn’t planning to suddenly stop formula instead swap one bottle for a few days then the other

sycamore54321 · 19/01/2018 14:41

No, breastfeeding isn't a great source of iron, nor is milk. Babies have enough iron reserves for six months or so when born but really need to be getting a useful amount of iron from the rest of their diet from that age onwards. The slogan about "foot before one, just for fun" is dangerous nonsense in my opinion.

You way your baby eats well and has a wide variety so she probably is getting a good range of nutrients. The recommendation for cows milk v formula is not based on specific nutrients but in general digestability. Formula is processed so that it is easily digested by infants and by extension older babies too. Cow's milk is not easily digestible by infants and the 1-year mark is seen as the approximate tipping point when their systems have matured enough to deal with a less-easy-to-digest food. Also, the proportion of milk v other foodstuff usually goes down month-by-month anyway, so an older baby is better able to digest cow milk and is likely to be consuming less of it. Like much else, it's a judgement call. A birthday at the end of February does seem a little far off the guidelines in my opinion, I'd probably go with another few weeks of formula myself.

Caterina99 · 20/01/2018 04:31

Personally at 11 months I’d start phasing in the cows milk, as a drink in a cup, rather than in a bottle.

So with my DS he was down to 3 bottles a day. I swopped out the lunch time bottle for a cup of cows milk with his snack. Then a week or 2 later we did the morning bottle and then eventually the bedtime one.

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