Hello ladies. My SIL's baby's pedi says that when she is 9 months, she can have cow's milk. I will ask DS's pedi on Thursday but I am curious to know when can cow's milk be started? DS is 8 months and he's on 1/2 formula and 1/2 BM in addition to baby food. I've read in a few books that cow's milk should not be started until baby is at least 12 months. Honestly, I'm not quite ready to quit pumping. Am I being silly? Thanks ladies!
My pediatrician recommends cow's milk only after the baby is a year old, and then it should be whole milk until the age of two. Babies under one have trouble digesting cow's milk. And no, you are not being silly! You should breastfeed as long as you want! Breastfeeding is recommended for at least the entire first year, so you are doing the right thing! Kudos to you!!
My son is now 9 years old and I was advised by his pediatrician to start him on cow's milk after he was 12 months old. I breast feed him until he was about 9 months and then we started solids and formula but he still nursed once or twice a day.
As far as breast feeding, do what your gut tells you. Most experts agree that it is highly beneficial to breast feed a child for his/her first year of life...but the bond and the closeness is more beneficial than anything else.... And to tell you the truth cow's milk is for calves...
When we took my daughter for her 9 mon old appt (at 10 months old, because she was sick at her actual 9 month old date) our doctor told us that it was ok to start her on cows milk. I started her on the milk truthfully she didn't have any problems. The Dr. said that she gets the nutrition that she needs from the food that she is eating. And that most people say to wait till a year because the child may have allergies. At that point she was eating a lot more than she was drinking. I stopped pumping after that. It is an individual decision, you know your baby best. You'll know when it is the right time to stop pumping and go to cows milk, weither it is at a year or even later.
12 months is the accepted timeline to start cow's milk. This keeps risk for allergies lower and lets the digestive system have time to mature. If no food allergies or general allergies/asthma run in the family, then introducing cow's milk earlier is probably fine. I started giving regular milk to my daughter when she was 11 months old. I have a friend who was told by the pedi at 9 months it was fine since her child refused formula. But if there isn't a reason, it's better to wait. NOTHING is better than breast milk. If you don't mind pumping- keep it up!
My daughter's ped recommended 1 year. Also, he recommended slowly diluting her formula with the milk, so that for day one, I mixed 1 oz milk with 7 oz of formula, day 2: 2 oz milk with 6 oz formula, and so on. She did not have any problem switching to milk from formula by doing it this way. I've had several friends that tried to switch cold-turkey, and to this day their children do not like regular milk. Hope this helps!
