Cows milk as drink for 10.5 month old?

[Skodafabulous]

I'm going on holiday abroad next week and wondering if I can make life easier by giving my 10.5 month old cows milk instead of formula as a drink? He currently drinks 3x 6oz bottles per day, is on the 75 th centile, and is a very diverse eater with no allergies.Can someone remind me if there are any major problems if I don't give formula?I know it is recommended until 12 months but as that is only 6 weeks away would it matter?

If he's eating solids OK, there's no reason why not - it doesn't give quite the right balance if it's the main part of their diet, but there's nothing actually wrong with it as a drink as part of a mixed diet. (and when I was a kid, my mum tells me all babies drank cows milk from 6 months!) Check he likes long life milk though - fresh milk can be hard to get anywhere outside the UK

Think the main reason for waiting till 12 months is to make sure they are getting the right amount of calories and nutrients in their diet. Wouldnt imagine it would do any major damage....
Rather than doing a complete swap why dont you start reducing the amount of formula and topping up with cows milk so that by 6 weeks time your son will be on purely cows milk?

It's okay as a one off as whole cow's milk is too high in salt and it can overload the kidneys (high renal solute load) plus it can cause small intestinal bleeds which over time can lead to anaemia. A babies gut is more mature at 12m than 10m (just think of the difference 6w makes in development on the outside - it's the same on the inside too).

Also, does the country you go to have the same hygiene standards as the UK? Will the milk you feed him be pasteurised and not watered down or in any other way contaminated?

At least with formula you can buy the ready to feed cartons and then you have no worries about using 70C water when out or if the water is safe to drink. You could try only giving 2 feeds for the holiday to cut down on luggage or see if locally there is carton formula on sale?

Sorry that should say 'It's okay as a one off not a long term thing under 12m as whole cow's milk....'

TruthSweet the thing about anemia is rather interesting. 10mo DD drinks some cows milk at nursery because she's dropped her bottles down to 20ml by 8mo, and haven't had milk during the day for a while. I decided to let her have cows milk when the other children have their milk. I didn't know the thing about anemia. Googling I found this on kellymom, which says

Babies who are exposed to cow's milk before their first birthday are more likely to be anemic, have diarrhea or vomiting, and/or experience an allergic reaction ... The excessive protein load in cow's milk can also overload a baby's kidneys. etc etc

But then they linked to Jack Newman who believes it's ok to give cows milk to a 9+mo if it's on top of 3-4 bfs.

So what is the current advice on this?

Want to add ofc DD isn't drinking 3x6oz cows milk a day. It's more like 1/4 of a tommee tippee free flow cup.

I think Jack Newman is coming from the point of view that if given with BM, the BM will start healing the tears (BM contains skin growth factors and IgA which protects smooth mucousal tissue like the gut), BM has a very low renal solute load it won't over load the kidneys, and it's a complete food with all the nutrients/minerals/hormones/blah/blah, it's not too bad for some cow's milk to be added to baby's diet.

The current advice in the UK is not for whole cow's milk to be given as a main drink until after 12m (this means the occasional feed of WCM is okay as it's not the main drink).

After all breastmilk or formula milk should make up the bulk of the baby's diet up to 12m and cow's milk is deficient in a lot of nutrients, is far harder on the kidneys and can cause low level intestinal bleeding so cannot replace BM/FM on an on-going basis until the baby is older.

Thanks for the replies & for reminding me about the protein digestion and anaemia risk, I knew there was a reason not to but couldn't remember.Think I'll just pack a box of formula and sacrifice a pair of shoes!!Agree 6 weeks makes a big difference when you're only 10 months. Going to Lanzarote and from memory 2 years ago it wasn't easy to work out which formula was equal to the stage 3 we use at home