Cow's milk

DS is nearing 12 months and we'll be ceasing formula and going to cow's milk instead. He has a bit here and there on Weet-Bix or in some of my cooking but hasn't really drunk much in any quantity as yet. I'm interested to know your experiences with cows milk particularly how it affected your little ones and their bowel habits. Did it block them up or did it work the other way and loosen them up IYKWIM? LOL Just having a giggle, all my posts today have been about poop :redface:

We've had a lot of constipation problems with formula and I'm just a bit concerned that cow's milk might make the problem worse? But I'm hoping once we take the formula out of the equation it will improve :pray:

My DS1 was FF fed from birth and like you I put cows milk on his weetbix and in cooking and so on.
From 12mths we went straight onto cows milk with no problems. I just made sure he had enough 'rougage' in his diet so he didn't get constipated. In fact his poo improved on the cows milk :lol: On the formula it was a funny army green color and very smelly :o
Things like Kiwi Fruit, Grapes and also plenty of water and no juice other than at breakfast helped.

DD1 had no issues going from breastmilk to cows milk but DD2 has, she is still breastfed but for weetbix/porriage she has oatmilk, our issues arnt constipation issues, but there is no reason why he needs cows milks, so if you have issues there are other alternatives

DD1 went on cows milk a bit before she was one and she had no problems at all with her bowels but she has always been a big fruit eater so I just upped the amount of fruit(except bananas) when we made the swap :)

If he is having tummy issues (cows milk made Charlotte have almost permanent diarrhoea) try him on Goat's Milk instead of cows...usually much gentler on tummies and much closer to breastmilk in that regard. You can buy it fresh at most supermarkets these days.

I am so glad to stumble across this thread, I was just about to ask the same question. I have the opposite with DD though, she loves her fruit and veggies and has always had soft #2's and I was wondering if cows milk can make this worse, and is it okay to start a little before 12 months?

Sorry for bumping in on your thread *infinity*, but I did not see the point in starting a new thread.

No worries at all Blessedmum - jump on in!

I'm confident that he tolerates cow's milk ok (so far) and going by responses here it might just help things along a bit which would be great. But I know the formula is the main problem for us so as soon as that goes, I'm predicting an improvement anyway.

Thanks all, been good to hear your thoughts.

DD1 was horribly constipated on formula (even on goats milk formula but that was slightly better so we had her on that) but she is absolutely fine on cows milk. Some days she'll have a little rabbit pellet or something (:rofl:) and then in a couple of hours she will have a normal one. But its never been as bad as she was on formula.

Natalie went from breastmilk on to cows milk at 11 months old. The nurse told me to warm it up a little before giving it to her because that helps to break down the protein. (That's what some kids find hard to digest.) Natalie never had any issues with it.

Thanks Mel, it keeps my hope alive that things will get better once the formula is gone. And thanks Snacks, I didn't realise warming it up helped in relation to the protein.