Too Early for Milk? - Youngstown,OH

You can put breastmilk in the sippy cup. Pumping is a pain...but I would hold off on the whole milk.

Cows milk can be a high allergen and typically not recommended before 12 months of age. There is nothing wrong with giving just water. Kids don't actually NEED whole milk. There are other ways to get them the fat and vitamin D that pediatricians typically want them to get from milk.

Learning to use a sippy is more about coordination then what's in it. Water is a great hydrator and introducing something like juice or flavored milk and things like that could give him more sugar then you probably want to offer.

You sound EXACTLY like me (except I would rather BF than give formula). I have a Medela Pump in Style just gathering dust on a shelf! :) Anyway, when my first son was around 10 months old, his pediatrician told me that I could introduce whole milk, like 1/2 to 1 ounce at mealtimes, just to get him used to it. Not enough to fill him up, because they really do need BM at this point, but just something to wash down the food. My second is 9 months old now, and I plan on doing the same thing with him next month.

Our pediatrician said we could start weaning onto whole milk at 10 months. I did that with my older son and he was fine. I'm currently doing so with my younger son (10 months) and he's doing great. I think he loves milk way more than formula or breast milk. I started him off with one ounce on day one. On day 2 he got 2 ounces, day 3 he got 3 ounces, etc. He's now up to 6 ounces and so far so good...no signs of milk allergies.

Anway, the ped said it's better to start slowly before 12 months so you can work up to having them completly on whole milk by 12 months. She said you can also start giving them cheese and yogurt, again starting in small amounts and building up. If you're unsure, talk to your ped about it and see what s/he thinks and then take it from there.

A.

My daughter started drinking cow's milk around this time, but not exclusively.
My dad loved milk. Had it at every meal and before bed.
My daughter wanted to taste what grandpa was having and she loved it.
She had no intestinal issues or anything like that and when it was time to go to milk exclusively, it was no problem.
Like I say, I didn't change her because she liked it, but I did let her have it from time to time. She tried it, she liked it, and when grandpa shared with her before a year, no harm done.
Are you putting breast milk in the sippy?
You can try that.
Try putting breast milk and ice cubes in the sippy.
My son loved the rattle of the ice cubes.
He wouldn't drink anything unless it was cold and rattled.
Weird, I know. But that's what he liked.
Talk to your pediatrician.
If you can't stand the pumping and breastfeeding anymore, maybe there is a formula you can switch him to before trying the cow's milk.

I hope you find what works for both of you!

i would talk to your dr about this but also your baby might not even like the milk. i bf my daughter till she was 15 months old, and not till about 17 months did she like milk. Bc you have to start them on whole milk, which is so much thicker and richer than breast milk.but i wouldnt change anything till you've seen your babys dr!

My DD gets pumped milk in her sippy.. I also give her water, and sometimes diluted juice (2 parts juice to 1 part water) There is no rule that says you have to give breast milk from a bottle...

My doctor told me I could start switching my daughter over at 11 months. He said to do 3/4 formula, 1/4 milk for a week and if thats tolerated, then switch to half and half and so on. I wouldn't switch him completely to cow milk, incase he has an alergy to cow milk. I would mix them together and see how he does. If need be, put your breast milk and cow milk in a sippy cup and wean him that way.

Edited to add: see how that goes for a couple of weeks, and then just pump enough to freeze/refridgerate and quit pumping all together and sell you breast pump :)

Their little system is not ready yet. At 11 months the transition can start but it takes about a month to go to whole milk 100%. A mom starts out by adding 2 oz of milk to 6 oz of formula or breast milk, if you are pumping instead of nursing then this would work for you. You can just put it in a tippy cup or a bottle. After a week or so of doing the 1/4 to 3/4 mix then go half and half for
another week or so, this gives his little tummy time to adjust. Then the mix is 6oz milk to 2 oz formula or breast-milk.

If you go to straight milk the baby will have BM that is the worst smelling, sticky, gag you if you are even in the same house an hour later kind of pooh. If you do the transition right then the tummy is right and they adapt slowly and they don't have issues.

One of the reasons to take it so slowly is to see if there are any allergies too.

Too early. Believe me that is one that actually been studied to DEATH by researchers. You can start at 11 months, but they will not get even 1/2 the nutrients in the milk and are more likely to be lactose intolerant later on. 12 months they will get virtually all of the nutrients. Kinda weird how the body works...

Everything I've read and been told by my pediatrician is no milk before 12 months. Maybe you could try juice in his sippy cup. You use 50% juice and 50% water to dilute it.

I give my 10 month old juice, 1/3 juice to 2/3 water. 4 oz a day. She is BF, so no milk or formula. She loves juice, we started with apple/ prune, but concord grape seems to be her favorite. Ive heard goats milk is better if you start milk earlier than a year.

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They say too early... Try formula. I bf for 9 mos, moved into formula, and then cows milk at 1

If you want to put milk in a cup, I would try goat's milk. It's a bit easier to digest than cow's milk because the protein chain is closer to human milk. You might still want to mix it. It's kinda weird, but I know that when my son started to be able to digest more complex foods, it was just like a switch was flipped. So, it's hard to say if yours will have a problem with the cow's milk, but it may not be worth the heartache to try it so soon. My son was drinking goat milk mixed with breast milk from four months because I didn't produce enough for him to have breastmilk alone, and he did fine with the goat milk. You can try the cow's milk, but it's easy to find goat milk in the grocery store. So, you probably don't have to go straight to cow's milk yet and have a miserable baby because it's too hard to digest. That switch didn't flip for my son till he was well over a year old.

So yes all the books say to wait until your baby is 12 months to start on whole milk however that doesn't mean every baby will have a problem if they get a little milk here and there a few months before the year mark. Like you I was still breastfeeding my baby at 10 months but I wanted to wean her slowly and be done at 12 months. So I started with just 1 sippy of cows milk (about 4 oz) a day. I figured I'd give it a try and if she acted like it bothered her tummy I would stop and wait a few more months. But she was totally fine. She loved it. So yeah at 10 months she started cows milk and by 12 months I had her weaned and on whole milk in a sippy. So I say give it a try and see how he does. I bet he will be fine. And at my daughters 1 year check up I told her Doctor what I did and he said, "yeah as long as she was fine then there is no problem." and he commended me for not starting her on a bottle and instead going to a sippy.

I gave my daughter whole milk between 10 and 11 months old. She took it just fine. I still breast fed her until after she was a year old also. She absolutely would NOT take formula (weight issues but that is a whole other story!) anyway, I gave up and gave her whole milk and she took it just fine. I bought that breakfast mix for it to make it strawberry flavored. You can try a couple of ounces in a sippy cup and see what happens. Actually, if you still breastfeed it will help in digesting the cow's milk. You could even mix whole milk and breastmilk. Just watch and see if he may be allergic to it like getting loose stool or maybe even getting sick after drinking milk. Or even skin issues like dry patches and diaper rash. It may mean he may be lactose intolerant. Which in that case you could always try soy or lactose free milk. But if your family doesn't have a history of it you have a good chance he won't be. If you could wait until he is closer to 11 months it would probably be better but he would probably be just fine with just a couple of ounces a day.

Definitely too early for cow's milk! Babies can get seriously sick from early introduction of cow's milk; their intestines simply can't handle the protein and other properties of cow's milk yet.

Can you get some help with introducing foods? He is too old for exclusive breastfeeding. What has the pediatrician said?

Good luck.