a1 or a2 milk????

[queenbee]

why a1 or a2 milk? is it higher in iron than other cfows milk?

the formula i use contains 1.1mg of iron per bottle. cow's milk only has 0.5mg per bottle.

just curious if anyone else uses the a1 or a2 milk?? my BABYLOVE book says babies are fine on full cream cow's milk at this stage. is this correct?

[Trillian]

I've raised three children so far on ordinary full fat cows milk and they are perfectly fine and healthy. I will do the same with my 4th. All this milk with extra crap in it is just a rort to make us part with more money under the premise that it is better for us (sorry, bit of a rant there but I hate that there is 50million different types of milk these days). Regular full fat milk will be fine.

[queenbee]

Thanks Trillian, my DD had only 1 bottle per day last week of cow's milk and 2 bottles per day this week, I am introducing it slowly. Do you think I should wait until the 12 month mark? She's been good so far but I'm worried about iron??

[BellyBelly]

Full cream milk is much better for growing bodies than skim milk.

[Spring Angel]

I just had this conversation with my GP today. DS is weaning (I think) and so I've been giving him some full fat cows milk. The GP told me to put him on toddler's formula because he could get anemic (sp?) on cows milk. I thought those toddler's milk were a rort but now I'm doubting myself.

I'll be watching this thread with interest.

Spring

[Trillian]

Personally Queenbee, I would wait till she is 12mths old before giving her too much cows milk - in cooking or on cereal etc it will be fine, but to have bottles of it may be too much for her gut to properly digest.

Spring, is he having a good enough diet of solids? Toddler milks tend to fill up their little bellies too much so IMO toddlers who have the formula toddler milks rarely eat solids all that well. So if his diet is pretty good with red meat etc, then there should be no real need to worry about iron unless you are vegetarians

[*Efjay*]

ummm A2 milk is different to A1 milk because of the protein in it. Has nothing to do with extra iron etc. A2 milk is easier to digest. Some people like my DH can'thandle the protein in normal milk. But he can have A2 just fine.
I hope this link is ok to post a2 Milk: natural, original milk rich in beta casein
Have a read of it. I think there is a fair bit of confusion about what A2 milk actually is.

[Spring Angel]

Queenbee: I agree with Trillian, I'd be inclined to hold off on giving her cows milk as a drink until 12 months.

Trillian, he eats like a horse and will chow down on what ever I put in front of him. I'm thinking I"ll do so reading but I'm fairly certain I won't go down the track of toddler formula.

[queenbee]

Firstly, thanks so much for your input. I am so confused! My BABYLOVE book says to start introducing full fat cow's milk at 9 months but I read something today regarding anemia amongst little ones. My DD has been drinking 2 bottles out of the 4 bottles per day of full fat cow's milk, dairy farmers brand, not A1 or A2.

I'm really thinking of just continuing with her formula now (she has Nan Gold - 6 months over) until she is 12 months old and eating more solids. She does have cereal in the morning (heinz apple/oatmeal), a vegemite/cheese or cheese/avo sandwich for lunch with yoghurt and normally a 120g heinz jar of mum's recipe or organics meal at night with some strawberry yohghurt dessert. She will eat some fruit through the day also and has plenty of water.

I just don't think she is having enough IRON in her diet as solids as yet to cut out the formula, do you all agree? I hope I'm not obsessing with this, just don't want my little one to get anemia!

Thanks for your help.

[*Efjay*]

All milk that isn't the brand A2 is A1 milk. Its still full cream milk its just the type of protein in it A2 that makes it different to the rest in the fridge.

I wouldn't stress too much about her iron intake. As the others have said A healthy diet is all you need to worry about & it sounds like she is doing just fine.

eta - try looking up the nutritional value of the things she does eat. you may find she is getting alot more then you think.
For example, you mentioned she has avacardo, look at all the good stuff she gets from that alone


Carbohydrates 8.53 g
- Sugars 0.66 g
- Dietary fiber 6.7 g
Fat 14.66 g
- saturated 2.13 g
- monounsaturated 9.80 g
- polyunsaturated 1.82 g
Protein 2 g
Thiamin (Vit. B1) 0.067 mg 5%
Riboflavin (Vit. B2) 0.130 mg 9%
Niacin (Vit. B3) 1.738 mg 12%
Pantothenic acid (B5) 1.389 mg 28%
Vitamin B6 0.257 mg 20%
Folate (Vit. B9) 81 μg 20%
Vitamin C 10 mg 17%
Calcium 12 mg 1%
Iron 0.55 mg 4%
Magnesium 29 mg 8%
Phosphorus 52 mg 7%
Potassium 485 mg 10%
Zinc 0.64 mg 6%

That info is off wikipedia.

[Trillian]

There are plenty of ways to introduce iron into her diet without using milk like that. Until she is 1, milk is the single most important part of her diet, so I would continue with the formula until then and start introducing iron-rich foods in to her solids (the Rafferty's Spinach, broccoli, peas and pear is fab). The thing with iron though is that what is available in some foods isn't easily absorbed by the body, like even with formula, the iron is completely different to the iron they would get from breastmilk, which is absorbed easier. She sounds like she has a great variety of food for her age though and you could start to introduce some red meat if you are concerned as well.

ETA - Spring, he sounds like he's doing really well. I've never had to resort to using toddler milks with my older children and they are all healthy and robust.

[Michelle71]

Spring - my DS hates the flavour of toddler milk (vanilla - a DH purchase, for reasons we will not go into, that didn't work ) We only have a night bottle since he self weaned and it is just plain full cream cow. The diet is the main thing and your little man is such a good eater he should be fine.

As for the A1 / A2 milk I don't drink it so I am a milk novice.

[queenbee]

decided to hold off on the full cow's milk until she is 12 months old, in cereal etc is fine but i just don't want her to get iron deficient because she is not eating a lot of iron rich foods at the moment so i rely on her formula to get the iron she needs