Introducing cows milk?

Hello!!

Just wondering if anyone has any advice on introducing cows milk? DS turned 1 a couple of weeks ago and still has 3 bottles a day (before each sleep). Last week I swapped his early afternoon bottle (formula before his afternoon nap) with cows milk. He drank half the bottle and seemed fine. Later that night (about 5 hours later) he did a massive vomit everywhere and I didn't think much of it at the time, coz he'd been a bit grizzly but now I'm wondering if it was the cows milk?? Surely he would of reacted earlier than that?

Any advice would be great as I'd really like to get him off formula but can't bring myself to try the cows milk again yet!!

Thanks.

Kelly xxx

Hey hun! Can you believe our babies are one! I am going to introduce cows milk soon - shes not even 9kg and won't eat much alot of the time so I am going to use toddler formula for a while - anyway OT. Why don't you try 150mL formula with 50mL of cows milk for a week or so and then up it to 50/50 then 3/4 etc until you gradually replace it. It could be that it did sit funny in his little tum all arvo hun - you never know. I think most people recommend introducing it with formula so it is a gradual change over. Good luck with it all!!

I actually introduced it before 1, but it was in his cereal. He tried it watered down in a bottle a few months back but didn't really care for it. He's only just in the past week tried it again, full strength and drank about 60 ml the other night. That may be because I was out with the girls from our mother's group for dinner and he didn't get boob?? Anyway, I think small amounts to introduce and preferably mixed with something.

Thanks guys - I didn't know you could mix it with formula and will definitely give that a go!! Its all so confusing but we'll see how we go. Might just buy one more tin of formula!!

Kelly xx

My DS had terrible trouble changing over to cows milk. It gave him the runs when we swapped. Our GP said most people make the change to cows milk too soon and that 12 months isn't a magical age, especially for FF bubs as they don't get the antibodies from Mum. We took it really slowly and mixed his formula with cows milk til he was just under 2. He's fine with it now. My advice would be go as slow as your little one needs you to, his poos or vomits will soon let you know if he's coping!

Introducing it slowly sounds like a good idea. Just a note that food allergies usually show up straight away, but intolerances can take hours or days. So IF the vomitting was related to the milk (and it might not have been), it is an indication of an intolerance. This is harder to diagnose, as it doesn't happen straight away, it's not so obvious what is causing the problem. But other signs you might want to watch out for are apparent belly pain, bloating, diarrhoea and/or constipation.

Hi Kelly,

I have been introducing cow's milk slowly - we started with a small amount on cereal, then mixed with formula. First 1/4 cows to 3/4 formula and now we are up to half of each in each bottle. We haven't had any problems and I will probably switch to full cow's milk when the tin of formula runs out. As MantaRay said watch out for any changes in bowel movement or bloating/tummy upsets. Good luck!

I don't understand why there would be a problem introducing cow's milk to a FF bub since formula is cows milk anyway? Not saying anything against FF, just wondering why they would react to normal milk if they have been drinking powdered cows milk without a problem previously?

Artechim - formula tastes different to cow's milk and I know of a few babies who refuse cow's probably for that reason. So mixing the two together gets them used to the taste difference gradually IYKWIM? Apparently switching can cause some digestive issues as well but I'm not sure why, somebody who knows more than me might be able to help lol!

I think the reason is that the more processed the milk is, the less problems it causes. So cheese and yoghurt which are more highly processed can be fine, but milk not. I would assume that the process of creating formula powder from cows milk and adding things in would work in much the same way - it is more processed than full strength milk. Not 100% sure, but that's what I would think.

tried to introduce cows milk a few weeks ago, started VERY slowly, just with one bottle with a bit of milk in, and gradually worked up to one bottle with about 60% cows milk 40% formula... after about 2-3 days she was constipated and up in the night, which she hadn't done for ages, and had never been constipated... i stopped with the cows milk and now a few weeks/months(?) have started trying again, low and behold the first couple of days she woke up VERY early, and then last night she was up from 230am... today she did a hard yucky poo.
i don't know what to make of it, whether to give up on the cows milk or keep persevering very very slowly until she gets used to it. i don't want her to be on formula for too long as its bloody expensive and i just feel like she 'should' be drinking cows milk... (i dunno why)
any advice would be much appreciated... am working full time at the moment so the night wakings are killing me.

Hey!! I thought I might pop my question in here as this is something I will be doing in a few months time..

How do you introduce the cow's milk if your baby is being exclusively breastfed?? I am only breastfeeding to 12 months and I dont have the option to mix it in with formula as DD hates the stuff! So in this case, is it just a matter of expressing BM, adding milk and giving it to DD in a bottle?

Ngala, I have heard that rice milk tastes more like BM. Maybe try that in a bottle or cup and if she takes that then you could start adding cows milk to it?

After 12 months babies don't need either formula or cows' milk. They can get calcium from other sources - 3 serves a day of dairy sources such as yoghurt and cheese or there are plenty of other sources such as brocoli and pine nuts, as well as other milk types - goats, rice etc. So personally, if the milk is upsetting your child, I would recommend not giving it at all. They can drink water, and just make sure their diet includes enough foods for them to get their calcium allowance. There are lots of kids out their with dairy allergies/intolerances that get plenty of calcium without dairy.

Ngala, you can just try her with straight cows' milk, it doesn't need to be mixed or diluted.

Great! Thanks MantaRay - I will try that when the time has come :)

Well, just thought I'd let you all know that it looks like we've got Luke completely on cows milk already!! In the end, he didn't want the formula and seemed to be getting a little confused as every bottle tasted different (between the cows milk and formula)!! I started by just replacing his bottle before his afternoon nap with cows milk and leaving the rest as formula. He was drinking the afternoon bottle no problem at all and then started fussing and pushing the night time bottle away - he just didn't seem to want it. So, in the end, we just started offering cows milk for all bottles. Once he realised that it was all cows milk, he drank away and all has been perfect!!

I hope its as easy as that for us - I think I might of made it a lot more difficult than I needed to and it goes to show that some things can be quite simple afterall!!

Good luck everyone - I hope its that easy for you all too!!!

Kelly xxx