When to start cows milk?

[Ezz]

I gave DS his first cup of cow's milk today & he wasn't very interested in it cold. Once it sat on the table for a little while, he was happy to drink it - I guess he likes it room temp?

[Janie]

I would be reluctant to start cows milk as a drink at 8 months. A bit of cheese, a bit of milk in your cooking, a bit of yoghurt, those things should be okay, but I would hold off giving it to her in bottles until 12 months. Or closer to it anyway

[Sammiejane]

Hi Danni,

i wont be giving it as a drink until MJ is over 12 mths.
im pretty sure that you should not be substituting feeds just yet.
But adding to food and giving dairy products like Yoghurt, cheese etc is fine.

[bon]

Adding milk to food, like breakfast or sauces etc is fine, as is cheese and yoghurt, but like the others said, don't give her cows milk to drink in a bottle until she is 12 months old. Once my kids were 1, I replaced their formula with milk cold turkey (no phasing out or anything) and they were fine - didn't even seem to notice the difference! Babies at 12 months of age should only have 2, maybe 3 drinks of milk every day - as you don't want them filling up on milk and not eating their food, which is where the bulk of their nutrition should come from.

[*becstar*]

Yeah...see mine wouldn't take milk cold turkey...that's why I had to slowly introduce it, and by then (at 12 mo) they were only having a bottle in the morning and night.

[Janie]

Oh, and UHT isn't okay for kids. Not on a regular basis anyway.

[danniellabella]

Oh, and UHT isn't okay for kids. Not on a regular basis anyway.

Ok, thanks for that. I guess when I start introducing it I'll have to get a small carton of milk from the cold section just for DD.