Cow's milk

[Debi]

Do you girls with 1 year olds give cows milk? I've tried ds but he just spits it out, and dd still doesn't like cows milk either. They both love cheese and yoghurt so they eat plenty of those. It's just I had the health visitor round the other week and she asked if ds drank cows milk. When I said no but he's still breastfed she was still harping on about cows milk for the calcium. I thought if they had breastmilk they wouldn't need cows milk, so I haven't pushed it with them... Is this ok? I would be glad if he would take cows milk as a substitute sometimes but he really hates it (as do I lol). Thanks x

 

[RaspberryK]

If they are getting bf they don't need any other milk!
Cows milk is for calves and mummy milk is for children.
Ignore her and keep feeding until you want to wean.
There's no harm in giving cows milk, I did after 12m, but if you still bf it's pretty pointless xx

 

[Noo]

Cows milk is supposed to replace BM or formula. If you aren't replacing anything then what is the point? As you say.. Your LO is eating cheese and yoghurt too.

 

[Debi]

Thanks! That's what I thought. She just had me second guessing myself!

 

[Flake-y]

My LO was the same, he just spat out cows milk at first. I wanted him to have it cause I was back to work a couple of days a week & he wouldn't be getting fed by me as often while I was at work.

My HV suggested watering it down which surprisingly worked, I just reduced the amount of water gradually. He loves milk now, asks for it all the time.

 

[Brieanna]

DD has never had anything but breastmilk and water to drink. She gets her calcium from other foods. Yogurt and cheese are not the only calcium rich foods either. Spinach and black eyed peas have a lot.

People are really not made to drink cows milk. Most of the world is actually lactose intolerant! We only evolved the ability to process cows milk when we started domesticating the cow (short/simplified version of it, lol) and lived alongside them.

Don't worry about what your hv says. Breastmilk is a lot better for your lo than cows milk anyways and your lo will be fine, especially like you said, he is getting plenty of calcium.

I don't drink milk either and never really liked it. It always leaves a thick film in my mouth and makes me feel yucky afterwards, even if I have it in cereal.

 

[Celesse]

I tried with DD as I was at work, then pregnant with low supply. But she refused. She refused cows milk, as a milk shake, in red bush tea, warm milk, cold milk, from a cup, from a bottle cup, formula, follow on milk, toddler milk....EVERYTHING. Only milk she'd drink was out of a boob. So in the end I just made sure she had a couple of portions of dairy in her diet everyday.

Didn't even bother with DS.

 

[Flake-y]

People are really not made to drink cows milk. Most of the world is actually lactose intolerant! We only evolved the ability to process cows milk when we started domesticating the cow (short/simplified version of it, lol) and lived alongside them.
.

Yeah, I've read this, in fact, humans aren't actually meant to drink any milk after they've weaned off breastmilk (which would naturally happen much later than what is considered normal these days), no other species drinks milk after they've been weaned. And in Japan (I think, don't quote me on it tho), they don't drink milk at all beyond infancy. And they're all really healthy! Just shows milk isn't really essential for adults!

I hate it too, tastes disgusting.