Cows milk 9 months old

[A795]

Hiya,

my lb is 9 months and eats really well. He has a bottle of formula before breakfast and before bed (7oz each).
my mum looked after him all day Friday and I told her he could have cows milk with his food - I meant with porridge for breakfast etc but my mum gave him it as a drink with his meals and said he loved it and drank 4oz. I explained I’d made a mistake and I meant in food not with food until 12m and she said she wouldn’t again but wondered the reason.

i’m not actually sure and wondered if anyone knew - he won’t drink formula with his meals and will only do 1 or 2 oz of water a day. I wondered if there was any harm in giving him milk with meals if he’s willing to drink it?

any help would be appreciated.

thank you!

I've just googled and it's something to do with the proteins in milk is hard for babies to digest. Also they need all the nutrients from baby milk until they're 1, so if they're having normal milk they'll probably refuse the baby milk x

Yes, the balance of nutrition, vitamins, minerals, etc. in formula milk is different from cows milk. Drinking a little cows milk at 9 months is not a problem – nutritionally no different to drink it in a cup versus have it on weetabix. The risk is if baby is having a lot of cows milk, it will fill him up and he won't get the right balance of nutrients. For example, if he moved to have 4 oz with breakfast, lunch, and dinner (not saying you are going to do this!), that would be 12 oz, and basically replace his formula milk entirely or replace quite a lot of food, which will have a better mix of nutrition.

In Canada and some other countries, they say cows milk is fine from nine months as an alternative to formula. But this isn't UK guidance, FWIW.

I think (I could never get an answer to this from the health visitor) that either breastmilk or formula are preferred till 12 months because they have more calories and are fortified eg with vitamin D. Some babies get a bit constipated transitioning to whole milk which can be another issue.

It's against NHS advice, but I transitioned my baby to whole milk at 11 months. We were travelling and pasteurised whole milk was much easier to come by than the formula brand my LO was used to.