Switching from Formula to Cow's Milk...

Katherine - posted on 08/07/2011

As much as I'm not a huge fan of formula, there's a reason it's more expensive than cow's milk: nutrition. If your kid doesn't have a problem ingesting cow's milk, I think it's fine to add in dairy, but the formula has the DHA and Iron and other nutrients they need-and they aren't in cow's milk.

Drurygrad08 - posted on 08/04/2011

My daughter is going to be 1 on thursday the 11th and wic is gonna cut her off of formula so she can start milk and I don't know how to switch over and I need an opinion on feeding her regular food

Dallene - posted on 08/23/2010

plain and simple, it is really bad for their digestinve track if you switch them before 12 mos and it can also make them lactos intolerant in the future. it is a really bad idea before the child turns 1. all of that is according to my daughter's doctor as of her 9 mos well baby last month. (i asked him the same thing)

Kate - posted on 08/22/2010

my son is on formula during the day or when we go out but he has a bottle of full cream at night it fills him up more and he sleeps better i introduced it about 51/2 months to his food and a full bottle of it about 3 weeks ago. now he loves it he gets more excited for his night time bottle then the others also he doesnt fall asleep till its all gone but leaves alot of formula milk still in the bottle.

Chelle - posted on 08/22/2010

My son is almost 10 months and is now drinking cows milk all the time because hes so big, (22lbs wearing 12m/18m clothes hes not fat just tall and solid!) He doesnt have any problems with it and actually seems to handle it better then formula, He also started eating more solids when we switched because hes not getting as full from the milk. He also only uses soft tip sippy cups, He like the munchkin cause its a smaller mouth, if your baby likes wider nipples you may want to look into nuby cups!

Kellie - posted on 08/20/2010

You mentioned a soft tip sippy just wondering what brand that might be as I think it will help my daughter thx :)

Lusin - posted on 08/12/2010

hello, i boil rice in cows milk with some suger ... my son like it ... he eat yougurts , chesse ... but i dont give him cows milk to drink , still on formulas.

Meghan - posted on 08/11/2010

I started giving my daughter whole milk already. she will be 10 months on the 19th. She has only one bottle of formula a day and that is her night time bottle. Besides that it's all whole milk and she loves it!! She does really great with it, and sucks the bottle dry!

Paige - posted on 08/11/2010

I am actually switching my 10 1/2 month old daughter as we speak. I also just started giving her her milk in a sippy cup-one of the ones with the soft nipple to get her off the bottle and she has been doing great. For 3-4 days I would mix 4oz formula and 2oz cow's milk (she drinks a 6oz bottle), now this is day 3 of mixing 4oz cow's milk and only 2oz formula, now within the next day or 2, she will be completely switched! She has been doing great with it and has had no problems.

Tracy - posted on 08/10/2010

My girls are 9.5 months now and they have been getting dairy in the form of yogurt and cheese since they were 7.5 months. At our last check up (9 months) my doctor said I can start my girls on 3% milk anytime between 9-12 months (mind you they eat 3 meals a day plus a snack and get a lot of iron and vitamins they need from solids). Right now they get cow's milk with their meals in sippy cups (which usually only amounts to a a few sips a meal). i only use bottles for formula... ie. for snacks, morning, and bedtime. Another twin mom I know is down to 1/2 milk and 1/2 formula but her twins are nearly 11 months.

Reagan - posted on 08/10/2010

From my understanding, dairy products are a whole other ballgame from full on milk. However, I was talking with a friend and their pediatrician recommended switching one bottle to milk at 11 months and then at 12 months making a more frequent but gradual transition to all bottles being milk

Carla - posted on 08/10/2010

my sons doc said that he should be completely off of formula by 12mos. i have started to mix milk in with his formula also. as far as goat milk goes...ive done some research into the topic and found that goat milk has WAY too much sodium in it and babies cannot process it!!

Katherine - posted on 08/09/2010

I just went to the doc for his 9 month appt and talked to him about this. He said I could make the switch whenever. It wasn't too long ago the norm was to switch babies at 6 months to cows milk. He said there really wasn't any science as to why the switch is now made at 12 months. As long as baby is getting a well balance diet they are getting all the nutrients they need. That night we gave baby boy a bottle of cows milk and haven't used formula since. He loves the milk and it is a heck of a lot less expensive!

Sharline - posted on 08/09/2010

My daughter just turned 10months and i have started to introduce cows milk to her. What i do is mix half cows milk and half formula and give it to her. She loves it plus with a little cereal. Eventually i will switch to all cows milk. I look for any reactions to the cows milk just to be safe.

Melissa - posted on 08/09/2010

My dr. at my 9 month said it was based on weight and growth. She said anytime I can start making the transition for my daughter to milk and suggested doing the 1/4 then 1/2 etc. I have another daughter who is 2 1/2 and I just switched her one day. She really didn't seem to care or notice :) Just make sure you have the sippy cup introduced and down so they can make that transition at the same time too. I had to have different sippy cups for milk verses water & juice for my older daughter. She was just picky about it for some reason.

Also organic is of course prefered because it has no hormones but at $5 a gallon - you may rethink :) I can't answer the goat's milk but did have a lot of mom's I know just move to soy and not deal with whole milk or worry about allergies.

Amanda - posted on 08/09/2010

Oh thats so helpful Sandra!!!
It didn't even phase me to ask about it at the 9 month appt. Granted, I think his dr. should have mentioned 'Something'.....maybe she did, and i
just didn't catch it. I think when i come back next friday
I'll start him. Thanks :)

Sandra - posted on 08/09/2010

Hey Amanda!
When I went to Mika's 9 month check up last month, My Dr. told me that I can give her Homo milk. I told him that everything I read said I should wait until she is 1 year. He told me not to worry, she will be fine. He told me to give her at least 3 bottles of formula a day and I could also give her a bottle or 2 of cow milk a day.

Since she has been 9 months I have been giving her cow milk, as well as formula, and she has been doing fine with it. I noticed right away that she has been eating more solids since I have been giving her the cow milk. Not sure why though. Before she was eating like a bird, but now she actually eats.

Claire - posted on 08/09/2010

my son only has formula 3 times a day now, he has 3 8oz bottles, we have already introduced full fat cows milk into his diet, he has it on his porridge and in a cuppa tea which he loves, i plan to completely cut out formula at 12months as they need the formula until them for all the nutrients and good stuff :) hope this helps xx

Sharon - posted on 08/08/2010

I've started using cows milk when making his solids and cereal to see if he has any sort of intolerance to it, which thankfully he doesn't appear to. So around the 12mths I'm going to slowly faze out the formula, with cows milk. No idea which is better though between goats & cows milk.

Amanda - posted on 08/08/2010

agreed Anika! It's such an expense!
Thank you ladies!
Does anyone know if Goats milk is betteR?

Anika - posted on 08/08/2010

I guess it depends on how well your lo is doing on solids and how they're gaining weight. My daughter is doing pretty well so I don't think she'll need the extra nutrition offered by formula. So, once she's 12 months I'm going to try her on cow's milk. I know some people have done 1/2 formula 1/2 milk to start with, so I might try that. I am looking forward to not having to buy that expensive formula though!

Nikki - posted on 08/08/2010

I was just reading about this in Dr. Sears book "The Baby Book" and it is recommended to wait until 1 year to switch to cows milk and give whole milk (they need the extra fat) until age 2 then switching them to 2% 1% or skim milk, they no longer need the extra fat in whole milk by that age. Hope that helps!