Cow's milk in everything!

[aikigypsy]

My DD is now 6.5 months old and we're sort of doing BL intro of solids after pretty much EBF from birth (two unsuccessful attempts at bottle-feeding and lots of sipping of water because she likes it)

Now I'm concerned that she get some iron as is provided for in all the infant cereals. So I went out today to buy some, and lo and behold everything but baby rice (which has no nutritional value whatsoever as far as I can see) is made with cow's milk. WHY? I thought they weren't supposed to get cow's milk before 12 months at the earliest.

I am confused and do not know what to do. I got some porridgey stuff but it's still in the bag.

The guidelines seem to be that they should only drink formula or breast milk until they are one but can have cows milk in food from 6 months.

cow's milk is fine in food. but you can make porrige with regular oats IIRC with EBM if you like. i think from 6 + months you don;t need to use specific baby cereals. cow's milk is not suitable as a main drink until around 12 months. if she is still having breast milk or formula she is getting iron

That makes some sense. It just baffled me that I couldn't find a milk-free iron-fortified cereal in what's supposed to be a well-stocked store.

I thought there was not very much iron in breast milk but that babies has enough stored for first 6 months?

Good to know about the iron, too. I haven't been reading up on things as much as I usually do lately, so immediately believed something I read about babies not getting iron from breastmilk. Anyway, I'll probably try the cereal as I feel like I'm having a hard time keeping up with her appetite -- that is, I'm tired more than I should be and can't stop eating. I have a huge meal and am hungry again half an hour later.

x-posted. I don't know what to believe re iron and breastmilk.

babies have a store of iron that starts to deplete. if she has breastmilk and other iron rich foods, then she will be ok. kellymom.com is a good resource for this sort of thing. i think there is a lot of iron in apricots and dark green leafy veg so offer those as part of her diet.

I used weetabix and ready brek from 6 months which are much cheaper and last longer then the baby cereals. I made them up with cows milk as full fat cows milk is ok in cereal and in cooking, etc from 6 months as long as the main drink remains breast/formula milk.

AFAIK there is comparatively less iron in BM than in formula, but the naturally occurring iron in BM is absorbed by the body much more efficiently than the fortified stuff.

I'm sure someone who knows more about it wil be able to clarify - just wanted to add this, as I have a friend whose HV convinced her that her DD would become anaemic as soon as she hit 6mo if she wasn't eating spinach every other day!!