A couple of questions about cows milk...

[Blaumba]

I know LO can't have it till 12months+ but am considering giving him it at 11ish months.. Opinions on this please?

Also do you heat it for them? If so, does it have to be boiling hot and left to cool or can you just warm it to the right temp? I wouldn't wanna make LO sick by not heating it properly.

The reason I ask is that I'm planning to try and stop BF at around a year and would like to start the motions soon, but LO won't drink formula of ANY type and I'd like to see if he'll take cows milk instead. I've heard of a few babies that won't drink formula but will happily guzzle down cows milk, so wanted to give him a feed a day to start with as I've heard of a few EBF babies that wouldn't drink formula but happily guzzled cows milk.
Thanks in advance

 

[Serene123]

11 months sounds fine to me tbh. People are so obsessed with guidelines! x

 

[Rhiannon]

i'd try your LO with cows milk now if you want to try and stop breastfeeding.

i cook with cows milk for rhys, and it doesnt seem to harm him.

id say just warm it to the level you require and then feed.

maybe other people will have other advice, but im sure youll welcome it all

xxx

 

[lynnikins]

just heat it up to the temp you require or if you can get LO to give it cold it wont hurt them lol and it will make your life easier but as your BF your LO is used to milk at body temp so thats not likely to happen lol we started ds1 with cows milk to drink at 10months on the advice of the pediatrican who confirmed he was eating enough during the day that he didnt need the added calories from formula as he was getting it from his diet and he was such a big healthy boy , when we swapped we stopped bottles as well and he has had milk from sippy cups ever since

 

[hopeandpray]

Don't worry about the 12 month guideline since 11 months is so close, every baby is different so if he's not going to drink formula do what you've got to do to keep his little tummy full!

 

[Blaumba]

Thanks ladies.. good to see everyone so far has said it's ok to give it a little early as I was worried I'd have wait till 12 months. He doesn't do bottles either (little monkey!) so will give it in the sippy cup.

 

[venusrockstar]

I don't think you have to heat the milk after they are a year old..I could be wrong.

 

[jojo2605]

I started giving it my LO at 11.5 months. He took to it so well that within 3 days we'd made the transition, he enjoys it SO much more than formula, getting him to drink that was always such a task, but even now he'll drink about 18-20ozs of cows milk a day.

If only I could get him to drink it out of a sippy cup though!!

ETA: I warm it up to the temp he likes, he won't drink anywhere near as much if its cold so once he's a bit older and eating more solids (he's not a big eater at the moment) then i'll give it him cold gradually

 

[hivechild]

If you can find it readily available, you could try goat's milk instead. It's meant to be easier on their tummies and closer to human milk than cow's milk is.

 

[_Vicky_]

I give the boys cows milk on cereal and cook with it and have done since 6 months. Personally when I am introducing new stuff I do it at the same temp they are used to x

 

[Blaumba]

I started giving it my LO at 11.5 months. He took to it so well that within 3 days we'd made the transition, he enjoys it SO much more than formula, getting him to drink that was always such a task, but even now he'll drink about 18-20ozs of cows milk a day.

If only I could get him to drink it out of a sippy cup though!!

ETA: I warm it up to the temp he likes, he won't drink anywhere near as much if its cold so once he's a bit older and eating more solids (he's not a big eater at the moment) then i'll give it him cold gradually

This is great to hear as I am hoping that weaning off the breast won't be too hard. I would carry on if giving him cows/goats milk fails but I' really like to stop just after his 1st birthday as I have met a few people who went to 18 months an have found it nearly impossible to get them to stop as it's so traumatic for them at that bit older that they end up giving in and giving them boob to stop the crying/tantrum. Some Ive spoken to find themselves still there at 3-4 an having to bribe them to stop!
I read up on it and some say that if a child doesn't self wean by 18 months they will rarely make that decision themselves and it wil be down to mum to do it.

 

[Lu28]

I read up on it and some say that if a child doesn't self wean by 18 months they will rarely make that decision themselves and it wil be down to mum to do it.

That's odd, everything I've read has said it's very rare for a baby to self-wean before 18 months, they tend to do it afterwards Mind you, Aisling was one of the rare ones and self-weaned at 12.5 months!

I think you're not meant to give cows or goats milk before 12 months just because milk is still meant to be their main source of nutrition at that stage and there isn't as much calories etc in cows and goats milk. That said, if LO is eating a good amount then I can't imagine starting off a month earlier would do any harm.

We also give goats milk because the fat is easier to digest than cows milk so it's another option and has a different taste too. Aisling wouldn't touch any milk at all when she self-weaned so we ended up mixing some yoghurt into the milk to sweeten it up to be more like breastmilk and then phased the yoghurt out which worked well. After alot of experimenting, we also figured out she likes it straight from the fridge but I'd probably try it at body temp to start with.

Good luck

 

[Blaumba]

I read up on it and some say that if a child doesn't self wean by 18 months they will rarely make that decision themselves and it wil be down to mum to do it.

That's odd, everything I've read has said it's very rare for a baby to self-wean before 18 months, they tend to do it afterwards Mind you, Aisling was one of the rare ones and self-weaned at 12.5 months!

I think you're not meant to give cows or goats milk before 12 months just because milk is still meant to be their main source of nutrition at that stage and there isn't as much calories etc in cows and goats milk. That said, if LO is eating a good amount then I can't imagine starting off a month earlier would do any harm.

We also give goats milk because the fat is easier to digest than cows milk so it's another option and has a different taste too. Aisling wouldn't touch any milk at all when she self-weaned so we ended up mixing some yoghurt into the milk to sweeten it up to be more like breastmilk and then phased the yoghurt out which worked well. After alot of experimenting, we also figured out she likes it straight from the fridge but I'd probably try it at body temp to start with.

Good luck

It was in my "What To Expect, The First Year" book and I read it somewhere else too. Also have met/know about 5 mums who have tried to wean at 20-24 months and just can't get them to stop. They are reluctantly still going at 3+. Two of them eventually bribed them to stop at 4 and a half! I don't want to find myself in that position

Thanks for the yoghurt tip, because if getting him to drink cows or goats milk is anything like formula/follow on I'll need all the help I can get!

 

[Lu28]

Thanks for the yoghurt tip, because if getting him to drink cows or goats milk is anything like formula/follow on I'll need all the help I can get!

No problem. It was really frustrating, she'd decided that she didn't want to bf anymore, had refused a bottle since 7 months and just wouldn't drink milk from any cup at all! It took about a week before she drank anything to be honest and we just upped her dairy intake through yoghurts and cheese during that time. If it hadn't been her choice to wean, I'm not sure I would have had the confidence to persevere but it did work out.