Advice on When to Move Baby to Whole Milk

Formula has everything a baby needs, especially iron, until they're a year old. Technically, a baby doesn't need solid food for nutrients cuz they get everything from formula. If a child is moved to milk, at any time, the parents needs to be sure that they are getting the nutrients from solid foods (fruit, veggie, meat/iron) that will replace the formula they will be missing. Always check with your doc first before making changes. A quick call to a nurse can help. You can check into any vitamins available for an infant to help replace anything that they're not getting in.

1 mom found this helpful

I have three kids ages 4, 2 and 10 months, each child was moved slowly onto whole milk at 12 months of age at the advice of our doctor and my sister whose also a doctor - we have two great reference books for feeding babies 0=24 months and than another book from the same folks from 2+ years that comes from the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Ontario called Better Baby Food - you can get them at amazon.com
Better Baby Food: Your Essential Guide to Nutrition, Feeding & Cooking for Your Baby & Toddler (Paperback)
by Daina Kalnins (Author), Joanne Saab (Author) "MOTHERS FACE MANY CHALLENGES IN CARING FOR A newborn..." (more)
also
Better Food For Kids: Your Essential Guide to Nutrition for all Children from age 2 to 6 (Paperback)
by Daina Kalnins (Author), Joanne Saab (Author)
Hope that helps, I love both books and refer to them a lot, and they're reasonably priced online.
T.:)

1 mom found this helpful

I don't know what the "norm" is now, but when I had my kids (98 and 2000), you didn't put your kids on whole milk until 1 year of age. Baby food I started with my kids around 6 months. And I actually started my son on cereal at about 3 weeks old because just the formula didn't seem to satisfy him. But whole milk, they didn't go on until they were one.

Hi,
I have twin 11 month old girls and they are also still on formula. I think most doctors say to give whole milk at 12 months. I did start giving them a sippy cup at lunch with whole milk in there to introduce it. They like playing with the cup more than drinking it. So I think it is going to take some time before they are fully on the whole milk. I would start introducing it at around 10-11 months. A friend of mine that also have twins girls the same age as mine said to start out with the Yo Baby yogurt first because that is made with whole milk and see if they tolerate that! Hope this helps and if anyone has any advice for me, let me know!~ Thanks!

Most doctors have you switch at about a year old. Some recommend switching between 9 months and a year. The second step formulas are formulated for children who are 9 months and older.

I would not recommend switching to whole milk before 9 months of age. At around 9 months of age, I would check with my doctor. I have to say with my son (he used the Members Mark formula from Sam's Club), we found that it was less expensive to keep him on the formula than to switch him to whole milk so we waited until he was a year old. Then we weaned him off the formula and onto the whole milk by switching it slowly.

There are ingredients in the formula that your baby needs right now. I keep hearing about Mom's giving their babies food earlier and switching them off the formula earlier and it scares me. I know that they have tied the increase in allergies to children receiving food before 6 months of age. More recent studies have shown that it is okay to start between 4-6 months depending on family history with allergies. But I saw one posting where mom was starting her baby on cereal and baby food at 2 1/2 months and that is too early.

Good luck with your little guy. I hope that my advice helps.

C.-
I have always been told not to start them until a year. I have 'cheated' and started them a little early, but I don't know that I would start until like 11 months. My third child ended up having a reaction to whole milk, but took 2% just fine. So, I would just say to be careful and watch him when you do make the switch.
K.

My pediatrician is old school. He doesn't believe that formula should be given until they are 1 - Think about it, what were you feed. Things are alot different now then when we babies. He believes it is a way for the formula makers to rake in all the dough. My 1st daughter was given cereal at 1 mon & juice - then every month following we introduced a new food to her & at 6 mos she was on whole milk. She is fine - she has NO reaction to any food etc. Now on the other hand, friends of ours didn't introduce any new foods until 4 mos, 6 mos, 8 mos, 10 mos & then whole milk at 1 year & their child has issues with food. You have to do what your gut tells you do to - I believe what my dr says is true...my girls are fine & have no issues with food. Good luck to you.

Our doctor told us that you shouldn't start milk until the child is a year old. I don't know if that helps you, but that's what we were told!

doctors do not recommend whole milk until the 1st birthday. It's a good idea to stick with products that mimic human milk rather than push to cow's milk before the digestive system is ready for it.

If the cost of formula is a consideration, consider the powdered kinds that you mix with water. You don't have to refrigerate, etc., so you can simply bring the right amount of powder, add it to a bottle of water, shake it up, and the baby's ready to eat, anytime, anywhere. I really liked that method for families on the go. And you can use your own tap water, cuz it stores at room temps so your child doesn't react to different water supplies. :-)

Have you talked to your ped about it this time? I moved my daughter around 9-10mnths to milk. The peds had a fit. They told me that she need the formula for delvelpoment reasons. At this age if you want to start your child on milk, Maybe half and half or something like that. Work the little body up to it.

Hi C.,

I would encourage you to wait until your son is 12 months old before moving him to whole milk. Babies under 12 months do not have the digestive capabilities for cows milk and starting it too early can lead to food allergies as well as digestive issues. I would keep him on the formula until he turns one.

J.

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hi im A.. my baby was born at 5 lbs so we were worried of depriving him of any vitamins or calories. he also would spit up alot and was sensitive when we changed formulas once at 3 months.since then i waited until his first birthday to give him organic milk. he didnt know the difference and likes it. organic milk is pricey but so are 24 $ for formula. we still mix in a scoop of formula before bed. the pediatrian said that even at 9 months it was ok. its whatever your baby can handle and likes- stick with it. i breast fed 4 months but after 2 deaths in the family the milk stoppped.

Hello, I moved my son onto whole milk at 10 months hes 15 months now. But I still was giving him forumla bottles here and there and then gardually at the age 12 months he was finally off forumla. I dont see a problem with starting whole milk at 10 months of age.

The general rule is to wait until they are 1 year old.

C.,

I'm not sure why you want to move your baby to milk, so I am not sure how to answer. If it is price (and hey, formula is expensive!) there is "follow up" formula that is about 30% cheaper-- you can get it at babies r us. My understanding is that babies are about a year old before they can really handle milk easily, but every kid is different. If your pediatrician is ok with it-- and you are comfortable with his (her) reasoning, I'd go with that. But if it concerns you, hang in there a few more weeks.

they usually say wait a year to give the baby whole milk

their little tummies can sometimes have issues digesting it.

Milk is not a good food for anyone and especially young people. Milk has too many calories in it. Not nutritional calories except for some protein. Therefore your child will feel full but not full of nutritional things. Milk causes constipation and it steels nutrients from other nutrient rich foods while being digested. Milk also makes excess mucus in a child or person. I don;t understand why pediatricians continue to recommend this to parents. If you are worried about vitamin D, which is very important, any chance you get bring your child outside in the sun for 15 minutes and that exposure will give you enough vitamin D to last days/weeks.

If you were still breastfeeding you could take vitamin D pills and that would suffice for the baby.

Please read more about how bad milk is for people especially babies. All they need is water forget about the milk or milk substitute and just give them water.

One resource for more information is http://www.mercola.com/. In the search box type milk and read read read please.

I've always heard that you should wait until the baby is at least one year old.