How to Go from Lactose Free Formula to Introducing Milk for One Year Old

Goat's milk (available at Kroger and Whole Foods) actually taste really good. My holistic pediatrican said to stay away from all soy products (too hard for the stomach to digest).

If you don't want to use soy milk, there's lactose free milk available at all grocery stores. The brand name is Lactaid, or there's usually a store brand. Same conent as regular milk, but without lactose. They do have whole milk available. It may be easier to transition to lactose-free milk because it tastes sweeter than regular milk (personally I don't like soy milk unless it's chocolate flavored!). If your child is a dairy food lover when he is older, there are also enzyme pills available that help break down the lactose.

Both of my daughters are lactose intolerant one went to Soy Milk and the other to Lactaid when they were small. Now the whole family drinks Lactaid to make it easier on everyone. You can't tell the difference.

They do make lactose free milk, but I'm not sure about the nutritional content compared to whole milk. We will have to do the same with our daughter in March and our pediatrician suggested that we make the induction slowly. Give her one ounce of whole milk and use the rest soy and she how it goes and work our way up to just milk.

Im pretty certain all stores sell store brand of lactose free milk. At safeway we get lactose free 2% milk. They sell it in fat free, 2% and whole milk, all the nutrients without the lactose!

As long as you're watching calcium and protein intake, there is no reason your son has to drink cow milk. He is not a baby cow.

If you really want to give him some kind of dairy, try yogurt or cheese first because they are a bit easier on the stomach than plain milk. You can try a greek style plain yogurt mixed with baby food fruit, or go with an organic whole milk baby yogurt. The probiotics in the yogurt will be good for him.

I make smoothies with rice milk and whey protein powder, put plain soy milk on cereal, and drink half and half in my coffee. My kids are all used to specifying which type of milk they want: Cow or soy. My husband still drinks cow milk and rolls his eyes at the other stuff, but my kids allergies are better with less cow milk in their diets so I reduce it as much as I can without being crazy about it.

Trust your instincts about what is right for your child. If you know your son had a bad reaction to cow milk before, then why exactly does your pedi want you to reintroduce it? The pedi may be concerned about protein or calcium intake, but saying milk instead of being specific. If you are clear about the specific nutrient the doctor wants your son to get more of, then you can find a source of those nutrients that doesn't wreck his digestive system (or cause whatever the reaction was).

Good luck,
S.
SAHM of 3

I gave my daughter Lactaid Milk, which is cow's milk with the lactose removed. I drink it now too since I've had another baby and she is milk-protein sensitive. It is about twice the cost of regular cow milk, but comparable to soy milk or rice milk.

Have a great day!

Give him soy milk. It has just as much nutrition as milk. Try introducing other milk products such as mac n cheese to begin with and you can make that with the milk or soy. My daughter developed a milk allergy around 1 yr, she drank soy milk after that. She's 4 now and prides herself on drinking "big girl milk"...I would have preferred she stuck with the soy..lol

I second the starting with yogurt or kefir. You can get whole milk yogurt or kefir at Sprouts, or some Tom Thumbs.

What I did was gave and ounce of milk based formula in bottle for a week or two then slowly increased it. Formula is a little easier on the belly than milk. My kids did fine with milk once we had them on it. For all of my kids I did soy for one year then milk based formula for a time then whole milk. Hubby is severly lactose intollerant and I am a little sensitve to it. So I wanted to play it safe.