at what age can you start whole milk?

[Veryv]

I know it is recommended at one year, but I have seen people do it sooner. My friend started her daughter at 6 months, and another friend used whole raw milk from birth. I'm asking because my daughter is going to be 10 months old and is breastfeeding and eats solid food as well as drinks water and diluted juice. But my milk is going away and she's not gaining weight like the doctor thinks she should be (she's very active and been standing and walking along the couch since 8 months), and she won't drink formula. She gags on it because of the flavor. Thanks!

 

[Bevziibubble]

The advice is not to give cow's milk as an actual drink until 12 months. But you can use it in recipes such as mashed potatoes, cheese etc from 6 months

 

[MindUtopia]

I started to offer it in small amounts (not as a main source of milk, we also used formula) from 10 months, usually as just a a drink with a snack in the afternoon and then slowly over the next 2 months increased the amounts until at 1 year we switched entirely to milk for every milk feed. If you want to start offering milk in addition to breast milk at 10 months, rather than completely replacing it, I would think that would be fine. My friend was in a similar situation, in that she had to go back to work at 10 months and her daughter wouldn't drink formula. She was still BF morning and night and on the days of the week when she wasn't working, but her HV advised her just to offer milk for her daughter when she was at nursery. It meant she still had the benefit of the calories and nutrients milk contains, even if it wasn't as 'ideal' as formula, otherwise she wouldn't take anything at all.

 

[zorak]

Have you tried different formulas? Some taste better than others. I use Gerber Goodstart gentle which tastes quite creamy.

My LO is 9 months, he has lots of formula and I want to start him on a sippy with his meals (he is a good eater) so I put whole milk in that (just a tiny bit ) so he can start getting used to the flavour etc. I don't see any harm on doing that since I am not replacing his formula with it and we have had it in his foods for months now. He also doesn't drink very much of it anyway.