Giving My Baby Cow's Milk?

We added a little cow's milk to the formula at a time. We learned quickly that he couldn't handle it. I have a soy baby. When I introduced the milk he started waking up at night very gassy and then the next day diapers said it all. Once I stopped the cow's milk he was fine.

As for warm or cold -- If I am traveling and have the canned soy milk my son gets it at room temp but everyday use he gets cold milk.

My sister got in the habit of warming up her sons milk and now that he is 3 every morning he request it.

Serve the temp you feel best. My son drinks his soy milk cold no problem.

Good luck.

Mix about 1/4 with the formula for a few days and serve at the same temp. at you normally do. Gradually work up to the full amount of milk also gradually work up the cold.

Hi R.,
I haven't read any of your other replies,(yet) But if it were me I would warm it a little, just to take the chill off & gradually give it to him cold. My son is 21 months & I didn't mix formula with the whole milk, I just made the switch. It is likely going to upset his tummy at first whether you mix it or not, so I just went for the gusto & got it over with. I have 7 children from age 34 down to age 21 months (all adopted) :) & it never hurt any of them to just switch over. whole milk does have a tendency to make them constipated, so I would be sure to keep apple juice on hand & give that to him as well starting a day or two after you switch him over. Actually I always added Karo light corn syrup to his milk bottles at first to help the constipation. Maybe a teaspoon to 8 ounces. You don't have to put it in every bottle, maybe one a day. If you put it in all he may never drink milk without a "sweetener" in it. My baby is spoiled & loves yogurt in his milk :) I buy the yoplait creamy peach & creamy strawberry & put a few teaspoons in it, its good for them & he loves it! I also but the V8 fusion juices & add walmart brand vanilla yogurt to it with a little water. This is MUCH cheaper than buying those little 4 oz bottles of yogurt juices :)
Hope this helps you!

Whether you switch to warm or cold now or later doesn't really matter. Do it gradually, though, so it's not a shock. Some babies won't take it if it is suddenly switched to cold.

As for switching over to cow's milk, yes, at 1 year this should be done. But, you want to give him whole milk (unless he can't handle it) at least until he is 2 years old. Babies need the extra milk fat for brain development. My 7 year old still drinks whole milk at home because that is what we prefer. He drinks the low fat stuff at school and elsewhere.

For the big switch, this is what the WIC office told me (I was on WIC at the time). At 11 months begin the change.
Week 1 - 6oz formula, 2oz milk
Week 2 - 4 oz of each
Week 3 - 2 oz formula, 6 oz milk
Week 4 - all milk

It worked great for my little one, didn't have any trouble with the transition.

I know you've received a lot of great advice but I just wanted to add a few things. First only switch if your son is getting a majority of his nutrition from solid foods. If he is still getting his nutrition from mostly formula then do not switch yet. Talk to you pediatrician on the best way to introduce it. Mine recommended mixing the whole milk with formula or breastmilk and introducing it a little at a time. That way it doesn't shock the digestive system.

You can start giving him some whole milk in addition to formula and other foods, that way when he is ready to make the switch you won't have to do it little by little.

Also it doesn't need to be warmed.

My son just turned one on Tuesday and he is on strictly cow's milk as of Tuesday. I started giving him 1,2,3,4 ounces of whole milk in his sippy cup since he was 11 months old and I did not mix it with his breast milk. At first he only took small sips and increased over time and he takes it at room temperature (I let it set out 15-30 minutes before I give it to him). Sometimes when you give it to them straight from the fridge if they are thirsty enough they'll take it with no fuss. Good Luck!

I started by warming my baby's formula/breastmilk less and less (leading up to the introduction of the milk) until he was having it about room temperature. Then, I started the milk by mixing a couple of ounces at a time into the formula and gradually increasing the amount of milk vs. formula. This took a week or two, but he transitioned just fine and was drinking his milk cold from the fridge when the transition was complete. I also started him on a sippy cup with his formula (the Nuby ones with the soft spout) when he was around 9 months old so that I didn't have to worry about the transition off of the bottle at a year. He didn't seem to have much issue with that either, but he was breastfed for 9-10 months (just had pumped milk or formula at night because I didn't have enough to get him through the night), so he was never really attached to the bottle to begin with. Whatever you do, just do it gradually and there shouldn't be too much trouble. Some kids are super picky and there are those that will have trouble with it no matter what you do, but most will adjust fine if you do things a little at a timme. Good luck!

When switching to cow's milk, mixing usually isn't a good idea, just go ahead and warm it to make the transition easier. You should also start with whole milk first because he needs all the fat he can get, after a while you can move to the low fat/2% milk if you want. 1 year old, now the fun starts lol good luck!

There will be many transitions in your childs life- he will take cues from you on how to handle them. I have always taken a laid back simple approach. Cold turkey. With my daughter, I started giving her a sippy cup with water before she was a year so she could learn to use a cup and then when she turned a year, I just started giving her whole milk from the fridge out of her sippy cup.I didn't make it a big deal. The first time she had real milk- her eyes lit up and she looked at me like "why have you been giving me that other stuff when I could have been drinking this". She's 3 now and still loves milk. I cut the pacifier pretty much the same way- at 18 months I just stopped giving it to her- didn't make a big deal. If you make it a big deal- your son will pick up on that and be axious about it. If you give him the cup with the cold milk and he doesn't like it, just say "okay, we'll try again later" and try later that day but don't make a thing out of it. If you still have trouble- THEN try a more complicated approach like mixing or warming but I say at least try SIMPLE first :)

Hi R.,
I would first try to introduce the cow milk in a sippy cup and after a few days just make the switch- cold right out of the fridge-
good luck and blessings

I nursed my daughter until about that age, then switched to cow's milk. Shortly after that I noticed she would read my lips when I talked. We did a year of speech therapy but she didn't much. We took her to an Ear Nose and Throat doctor and agreed to do ear draining tubes (she was also having alot of ear infections). The ENT said our daughter had a lot of "ear glue" and it was no wonder she wasn't talking much, she was having trouble just hearing! Often, it's caused by allergies.

There's a long story in between that and now, but basically I haven't given her dairy in over three years because I found out she has a terrible reaction. My mom said I had trouble with cows milk when I was a baby too. There are other challenges with soy, (phytoestagens make boys "sprout breast"-just ask my son-he was 10 when we switched over to soy!)
Now both kids drink almond breeze and love the choice of vanilla or chocolate! It does contain calcium & vitamin D like cow's milk, but an added bonus is there is no cholesterol (since it's not from an animal source). I do give my kids a calcium supplement as well.

This is just MY own personal experience, in no way is my advise trying to practice medicine. I'm just a regular mom that has "been there, done that" sort of thing. There are numerous publications causioning people about dairy. That being said, go with your instincts on this. I personally think cow millk was made for baby cows. :)

Honestly, they will take what you give them. All kids are different though. My daughter took to milk w/no problem. My son turned 1 at the end of May and was a different story. About a week before his birthday I started taking him off his bottle and onto a sippy cup. The earlier tip about gradually mixing the milk into the formula worked great. Towards the end I was still doing one scoop of formula with whatever amount of milk he wanted. At first I thought he was going to be one of those kids that didn't like cow's milk, but with all things, it just takes a good transition period. About 2 weeks after his birthday, he was already used to his sippy cup with whole milk (straight from the fridge). Honestly, I think we as parents make it harder because we want to accommodate our babies, but they have to learn that they need to take what we give them! God bless you and your precious boy!

At one my son was going to start their daughter on cows milk first mixing as you stated a little cow milk and formular. But they checked with their doctor and he said NO NO, the child stills needs the stuff in the formular and to just hold off.
Anyway, about 30 yrs ago when my child was that age and my kids had food allergies, he said we do not really need cows milk and that we are the only species that do keep drinking milk. Look at the animal kingdom. I can not really remember exactly how he put it but it was something like that.

another way to go, though your previous poster's suggestion was good to, is to give him the cows milk at meals...2 or 3 ounces only, in a sippy cup...Then slowly dilute his formula with water until all he has in his bottle is water. he should readily give up both bottle and formula this way...

Just a different approach for you to think about...

Good Luck... ;-)

Dear R.,

Serve it any way he likes it. One of mine wouldn't drink smoothies unless I made smoothies.

I don't know if it really matters, but I mixed it for about a week, and my daughter still prefers it warmed (she's 2 now, she just drinks it from a sippy cup instead of a bottle)

What I did was put two ounces in his formula for about the first week. Then about every four days I would add another ounc or two to his formula. Eventually it was all milk. I never warmed up his formula or milk. His formula was room temp. By mixing gradualy the milk and formula I think he was use to the tempature of the cold milk. Also after completly being on milk we switched to a sippy cup. Once we were done with the stoft tip sippys we went to Playtex. I like them the best.

I have 4 little ones (8,3,1,6mths)...I as soon as they turn 1 I get excited because I do not have to make bottles anymore :o) I don't mix cow's milk with their formula, and I do warm it up a bit because it is super cold from the fridge. My kids have all done good with it...Hope this helps :o)

I started my daughter on 2% cows milk. She was on the sensitive formula Her pedi said any kind of milk is fine doesnt have to be whole. She loves her milk I did not have to transition her she took to it right away and she drinks it warm to take naps and sleep at night and cold when drinking with meals.

Good luck