Has anybody out there had any experience with giving a 9 month old cows milk? My son has been exclusively breast fed for his entire 9 month life. For personal reasons I need to stop breastfeeding. I would like to just switch him to cows milk a few months early and not deal with formula and all the problems that can come with it. Any advice?
My son was breastfed for the first 3 months then formula fed from 3-9 months. At 8.5 months old he got his sisters sippy of milk and drank the whole thing. From then on formula was a battle so we switched him to whole milk exclusively at 9 months. He has done great and has no allergies what so ever. He is now 13.5 months old
Hi A., I'm not sure what problems you are refering to with formula except maybe the price, all 3 of my kids were formula fed, and did excellent with it. I would check with his pediatrician, only because all babies are different, but although mine were on formula for the first year, they did have regular milk from time to time. If you do I would go with organic milk it;s the best. J.
Introducing cow's milk to a child under 1 will undoubtedly cause allergies that can persist throughout his life. I would strongly recommend you skip the milk altogether and get the calcium from green vegetables (which has far more calcium anyway) and if you must, go with goats milk.
Congratulations on becoming a mommy!
best,
Try goat milk, it is closer to breastmilk.
There is a sweet book called Total Nutrition for Breast-feeding Mothers by Betty Kamen, Ph.D., and Si Kamen. It goes into the complete ins and outs of the nutritional sides for both mother and baby from pregnancy through nursing to weaning. It is like reading the blue print for infant and mother thriving. The authors cover the problems to watch out for too whether pregnant, nursing, or weaning.
Motherhood is a glorious art. This book supplies the lesson in nutritional grace that makes it all work together so beautifully. I hope you can find it!
No, don't do it. It is for physiological reasons that a baby can't have cows milk before 1 year old.
Don't chance it.
You should, as an alternative, give him Formula. There are many different kinds... DO ask your Pediatrician.
You don't want to do Formula because I guess you heard bad things about it.. but putting your baby on cows milk now.. .is worse.
Then when your baby is past the 1 year mark, it should be WHOLE milk that you give him. A child needs "whole" milk.. .because the milk-fat in it is vital for their brain development.
Good luck,
~Susan
Ask your pedi. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no cow's milk before 12 months.
I started giving my daughter cow's milk at 9 months because of the cost of formula. She is 2 1/2 now with no allergies to anything, she is a happy healthy child.
First talk to your Ped about whther cow's milk, goat's milk or formula are their recomendation for your child. My Ped said it was okay for DS to go to cow's milk at 10 1/2m, because he was already nearly 30 lbs (If I recall correctly), but there are some Peds that say wait to 18m to switch. (I think it also depends on weight gain issues.)
A LOT of Peds are okay with goat's milk before a year, and infact, my Uncle had such milk allergy problems, that the Ped (1950s) had my Grandma stop BFing and only give him Goat's milk stating at about 4 months.
Hope that helps! ~J.
It's not recommended to start whole milk until 12 months because if given too early, it can cause babies to become anemic. They need the extra iron that the formulas have. Just do formula until he's 12 months. Also, most goat's milk doesn't have folate in it,so if you do decide to do goat's milk, just be sure to find one that has folate in it.
I put my son on Rice milk from breastmilk. its like breast milk, the consistency and flavor. he did great on it! i would do that instead of cows milk. You can get it anywhere, i usually get it at trader joes.
if you have any questions just email me.
A.
