When Did You Introduce Cow's Milk with Your Baby

Updated on June 29, 2009
B.H. asks from Burnsville, MN
17 answers

Just wondering when everyone introduced cow's milk with their babies?
My daughter will be 9mos. in a few days here and was wondering if it was to soon to slowly add a lil cow's milk to her formula. I would love to have her weaned off formula by her 1st birthday or close to it.

I know I tried it with my first child and it didn't go to well and she puked it up. She was about 10mos.old. I have alot of friends telling me I could start trying it with my youngest right now and was wondering how many other's tried it this early. She handles icecream just fine but is on Enfamil Nutramigen from having major formula issues as a newborn which I think she's outgrown by now.

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B.W.

answers from Minneapolis on

My oldest was close to 2 before we intro'd cows milk, and my youngest was 18mos or so.

Do not give a 9mo old cows milk. If spending too much on formula is the problem, then try to wean her to regular formula.

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B.B.

answers from Minneapolis on

You're supposed to wait til they are 1 year old. I think they can't digest it well until then. Then start with Whole Vitamin D milk.

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L.H.

answers from Milwaukee on

It's recommended that you wait until a year old. The formula is full of vitamins and minerals that cows milk does not have. She may not get enough from her food she is eating. When I switched I did not mix whole milk into her formula I gave it to her straight. It may make a differnece if the formula you give her is warm and the cows milk is cold. She may object to it. At about 9 or 10 months or so I started to give it cold. It made transition to cows milk easier.

K.B.

answers from Milwaukee on

I started at 12 months and by the time she was 13 months she was completely on whole milk in a sippy cup.... the pediatrician told us to wait till she was 12 months, your little one's stomach is not developed enough to handle things that are hard to digest till around 12 months. Cow milk is hard to digest so that might be why your first puked it up.

Soon enough your little one will be 12 months and you can start to introduce whole milk. Sdie Note: Ice cream is broken down and things are added (sugar, flavor) so it is easier to digest so I would not compare that to cows milk.

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K.D.

answers from Rapid City on

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that infants stay on formula through their 12th month. If your baby goes to daycare and the daycare is on the CACFP Food Program, your childcare provider is required to feed your baby formula until their first birthday. Babys need the fat for early brain development. I hope this helps.

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K.K.

answers from Milwaukee on

I don't give my kids milk. I gave it to my oldest, but when I researched it, I realized it didn't make sense to give it to my kids. Cow's milk is meant for baby cows, not humans. Humans are the only animals that drink milk past infancy, and the only ones that routinely drink the milk of another animal...just kind of skeetches me out when I really think about it.

That being said, I certainly wouldn't give it before a year.

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C.T.

answers from Milwaukee on

Our pediatrician said 11 1/2 months, whole milk only, and it only took a few days to transition.

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M.C.

answers from Minneapolis on

I would wait to give her regular milk. When I changed my kids over they were about 11-12 months old and I didn't do any mixing, I just switched it out :) The big thing is all of the vitamins in the formal that they need isn't in regular milk! I wish you lots of luck with the transition :)
~M. C

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G.G.

answers from Minneapolis on

I tried indroducing it sporadically between 10 and 11 months. Neither of them had adverse reactions, but they also hardly had more than an ounce or two at a time. Neither one of them really drink much milk at all. It's interesting how pediatricians don't want you to introduce milk until they are one for nutritional reasons but at age one they magically don't need formula anymore. I asked my ped at my son's 1 year check up last month if I should keep mixing formula in with his milk and she said it's completely unnecessary.

I breastfed both my kids to 13 months with occasional formula bottle from about 10 months on. My daughter had formula mixed in her milk until 19 months because she didn't like milk unless it was warm and in a bottle and her iron was a little low. My son is currently getting milk and formula mixed in his bottle and I will probably continue that until 18 months or so. My kids aren't big eaters so I do like the idea that they get more nutrients with the formula.

Do what you think it best for your child! Good luck!

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M.D.

answers from Minneapolis on

I used to work in a pediatrics office and all the doctors there say to wait until 12mos old to introduce whole milk. One of my twins was on Nutramigen until she was 18mos old because she couldn't tolerate the whole milk. Actually all 3 of my kids couldn't tolerate whole milk, so we did formula until the doctors said that we could do 1% milk. After they turned 2 we switched to skim because for some reason my kids can't tolerate the fat in the milk.

M.
Ryan 10
Abbey and Alexa 4 in July

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R.R.

answers from Minneapolis on

I would talk to your ped about starting early- especially with the past formula issue... you may want to try a non-milk option in case there is still a sensitivity issue... i know our ped tells us our son may not outgrow his cows milk allergy until 5 years old!

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C.M.

answers from Sioux Falls on

My pediatrician said no to me at 9 months, but did give me a choice - he said if I were to switch to cows milk, he wasn't worried about the adverse reaction to the milk, he was worried about the nutritional value. So, he suggested that if I switch to whole milk(vitamin D milk) that I would need to add Carnation Instant Breakfast to the milk, until he was a year old, and was eating more solids. I have done that, and it has worked out terrific! My son is almost 11 months old and loves cows milk! Good luck!

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E.T.

answers from Rochester on

I would wait until closer to a year. Our daughter was exclusively breastfed (or breast milk in a bottle) until about 11 1/2 months. Then I started to slowly add whole cow's milk to her bottles of breast milk. I think she was drinking straight milk from the bottle within a month to a month and a half. If you introduce cow's milk too soon there is more of a chance of allergies or problems with digestion.

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S.K.

answers from Minneapolis on

B.,

I started my kids on whole cow's milk between 10 1/2 and 11 1/2 months and none of my kids had an adverse reaction. But they also had been eating dairy products for a few months prior to that and none had any kind of food allergies. I completely transitioned them within a month or so. If your first child didn't do well, you may want to wait a while. The doctors say 12 months, but it's not like your child magically gains the ability to tolerate cow's milk on their first birthday. That's a guideline to benefit the general population.

Good luck,
S.

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A.H.

answers from Appleton on

I started mine on whole cow's milk about a week before her first birthday. It only took about two weeks to get her fully on cow's milk. We went 75% formula/25% milk for a few days, then 50/50 for a few days, then 25/75 for a day or two, then all cow's milk.

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S.W.

answers from Sioux City on

My doctor said to wait until 12 months. Start with whole milk, they need the fat. At 18 he had me switch to 2% and then at 24 I could switch to skim if I wanted. My family uses 2% so both my kids stayed on 2%. I never really had too much problems switching them. By 12 months I had them pretty well on baby food and table food so they didn't drink near as much milk and didn't have problems switching to "thinner" milk.

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S.C.

answers from Omaha on

I would wait until she is one.

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