EBFers: did you DREAD giving "other" milk?

[etwahl]

i'm so dreading giving lauren any milk besides breast milk. not because i'm against another milk per se, but because that's "our" special thing, kwim? i just can't imagine me giving her that first glass of milk. UGH!

how did you all do it? did you have the same feelings of weirdness? did some of you wait and not give another milk at one year?

also, do you just give it in the sippy or straw cup? (she's in a straw cup, so for her it would be straw cup)

Tammy,
Mom to Lauren Genevieve
03/12/2003
www.evantammy.com

[lfp2n]

Tammy

I have all the same feelings, seems so weird and I know this sounds selfish but I feel depressed and not needed, up to now only I could do it and now I feel anyone could feed my girl-am I stupid or what!

I'm going to try and keep cows milk in some kind of sippy cup not a bottle (although she won't eat drink much at all at the moment so I guess I may do whatever it takes). I'm going to start as soon as she turns one.

I was going to post this as a separate question but I was wondering whether people who wean totally off breastmilk at 12 months - or babies that are already ff- do you go to 100% cows milk as soon as you can (obviously with a short transition). I guess I was thinking that some people bf part-time longer than a year because they think its better than cows milk. Formula is also be better than cowsmilk, so does that mean that if you now use formula not bm you would keep some feedings formula and some cows milk, I'm confused. It just seems weird that up to the one year mark cows milk is not good enough, and bm or f is better, and then overnight cows milk is good enough.

Lucy (3/03)

[stillplayswithbarbies]

I'm having the same feelings, but I also feel that breastmilk is better for her than cow's milk, so I am going to keep giving her breastmilk.

I am going to start cow's milk for one bottle at daycare though, just so I can go to one pumping at work per day instead of two. I feel a little guilty about that because it is a purely selfish reason.

I really want her to keep getting the antibodies in breastmilk for as long as she is willing to continue to nurse, so it makes sense to keep sending some breastmilk to daycare too. I have about 50 bottles in the freezer, so even if I stopped pumping I would still have a few months of breastmilk for her at daycare. I guess I could stop pumping altogether . . .

...Karen
Jacob Nathaniel Feb 91
Logan Elizabeth Mar 03

[etwahl]

wow karen, you have quite the stash!

my bfing goal is 2 years. she loves to nurse still and i love it too. but i do wonder if giving her another milk will make her wean sooner than later. i hope not. yeah, i agree that breastmilk is better than cow's milk for sure and that's another hesitation. i keep thinking if BM is better, then why bother giving another milk at all until we wean? is there really a reason to change what we've got going on right now?

Tammy,
Mom to Lauren Genevieve
03/12/2003
www.evantammy.com

[nitaghei]

Yes - it's weird. Having said that, I am transitioning Neel to cow's milk for one feeding right now - the one I usually pump. I am SOOOOO sick of pumping (I've been doing it since he was 4 days old). I've been switching 1 oz of EBM to 1 oz of cow's milk in that bottle per week. We're at week 3 - it's a 6 oz bottle. Once it's all cow's milk, I'm going to switch to a sippy. He currently only drinks water from a sippy. I might then, over another month or so, switch to cow's milk for the mid-morning nursing session, where I go in to daycare. But I'm going to follow his cues about weaning, and not force him to wean from that or any other nursing session. I just want to be done with pumping!

edited for grammar
Nita
mom to Neel 01/05/03
dog mom to a cocker and a PWD

[COElizabeth]

I understand those feelings, but right now I have somewhat of the opposite problem. I am gradually weaning James, who is 17 months, and he will have nothing to do with cow's milk, whether plain, chocolate, strawberry, or orange cream flavored! I am scared he will be like his dad and never drink milk and I will constantly worry about his calcium intake! I know, cheese and yogurt are good sources, too, but it's hard to get enough calcium from those alone without eating a lot, and they don't have the Vitamin D I am worried about (and neither does BM). I wasn't worried about rickets, but there has been a lot of press recently about Vitamin D deficiencies being linked to all sorts of other diseases, including some in my family. So honestly, I would be thrilled at this point if he'd start drinking some organic milk!

Elizabeth, Mom to James, 9-20-02

[Karenn]

I remember being SO anxious about giving Colin "other" milk. It took me days (maybe weeks!) to work up to it. I think part of it was that I had worked SO hard to make BF successful, that I still had that mentality of it's being a fragile thing that would be easy to "mess up." Once I finally convinced myself that it wouldn't mess up our nursing relationship, it was a little easier to offer that first cup of other milk. I was also totally worried that it would cause him to wean sooner than I wanted him to- that worry also turned out to be totally unfounded in our case.

I did give him milk in a cup and it worked out fine. It didn't really affect Colin's nursing at all. He kept nursing for several months beyond that first cup of milk and weaned at a time that seemed right for both of us.

[sntm]

i wouldn't worry too much about Vit. D deficiency. it takes only 10-15 minutes a day of "indirect" sunlight (so even sitting in the shade) to make all that you need. and they fortify foods left and right with it. cow's milk is fortified to give it Vit. D -- it isn't a natural component (I'm 99% certain on this, if not, I'll correct myself later.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
shannon
not-even-pregnant-yet-overachiever
trying-to-conceive :)
PREGNANT! EDD 6/9/03
mama to Jack 6/6/03

[stillplayswithbarbies]

Tammy, if I wasn't working, I would not give cow's milk until she weans. The only reason I am doing it is so that I can cut down on pumping, and eventually stop altogether. I hope to nurse her for at least 2 years, but I sure don't want to be pumping for 2 years.

(I started building my stash when she was 5 weeks old, but I didn't go back to work full time until she was 4 months old, so I had lots of time to build up a stash. I'm glad I have it, it was insurance all this time so I didn't have to worry if I had trouble pumping one day or had to go away on business. And now it will allow me to stop pumping almost three months sooner than if I didn't have that stash.)

...Karen
Jacob Nathaniel Feb 91
Logan Elizabeth Mar 03

[COElizabeth]

You're right - it's added to cow's milk. And I hadn't previously been worried, as I said, but an article I read the other day suggested that it's practically impossible to get enough Vitamin D from sun exposure in some climates during the winter, that vigilant use of sunscreen can also prevent getting enough even during summer, and that more people are at risk of deficiency than previously thought (partly because the recommended levels of Vitamin D may be too low). We live in a very sunny climate, but still, there are many days when it's cold enough that DS doesn't get much sun - definitely less than 15 minutes. I do NOT know if the research that was being quoted is well done or not, so I probably shouldn't mention it, but like I said, it did catch my attention because the diseases mentioned include MS, which my mom has and which is much more common in Colorado than in other areas, and because DH is always accusing me of "treating DS like veal" by covering him up too much. But that's getting way off-topic! Sorry, Tammy!

[Rachels]

From what I've read, the climates where that applies are not in the continental US. It's more of an issue in places that simply go without sunlight for large parts of the year.

Tammy, I felt skeevy about milk at first, too. Don't think of it as replacing breastmilk, though. It's just another addition to solid foods, and a totally unnecessary one if you don't want to give it. Abigail does drink a little milk now-- probably three or four ounces a day-- but it goes along with her meals or snacks and has not had any effect on our nursing relationship at all. Truthfully, if she hadn't had weight concerns, I think I would have just held off on the cow's milk.

-Rachel
Mom to Abigail Rose
5/18/02

[cinrein]

I felt strange about it too, but I have to say that once Anna learned to drink milk from a cup it was liberating. I thoroughly loved feeding her, but I also felt this awesome responsibility. She basically refused anything in a bottle at 7 mos, so I was the only game in town. The neurotic in me worried that something would happen to me and Anna wouldn't be able to get milk.

We started with water in a sippy. Once she got that down, I switched to breastmilk in a sippy which she had trouble with. I guess she was confused about getting her Mama's milk in a sippy? I don't know, but when I realized we were dumping a lot of precious breastmilk down the drain, I used the free formula cans to "teach" her how to drink milk from a sippy. I needed at least 3, preferable 4 ounces of liquid in the cup before she could easily get at it and decided I'd rather dump the extra formula out than my milk! Once she was reliably drinking 2 ounces or so from the sippy, we switched back to breastmilk.

We recently started cow's milk and she loves it. I only needed to mix the cow's milk and the breastmilk for about a week--now she takes straight cow's milk. I still give her breastmilk from my stash and she nurses once a day. I read in Kathleen Higgins' weaning book that when you decrease the number of nursing sessions/day, your breastmilk actually becomes richer with antibodies!

Cindy and Anna 2/11/03

[lizajane]

i am totally uncomfortable with cow's milk. so we are giving him soy milk. but i have been pumping at night to build a sippy cup stash. so that i can replace the middle feeding with a sippy of EBM before i got to a sippy of soymilk. i have already tested soymilk and he tolerates it just fine. but i thought the transition might be easier for him if the cup had ebm in it first. but i plan to hang onto the morning feeding for a little while longer than the 2nd and 3rd feedings. (we JUST went down to 3 feedings on tuesday!) we will see what happens. he may hit 12 mos and decide he doesn't want to have anything to do with nursing, in which case i will let him make that choice. but if he doesn't want to stop, we will go another month or so in the am only.

[lisams]

Yes, yes and yes!!! It actually turned out that DD hates cow milk -the first time we gave it to her she gagged, grabbed her tongue while making this awful sound and then threw her sippy cup. The 2nd time we offered it, she said "no, no, no" and started signing our sign for nursing. So, at 16 months she has never (except that one sip) had cow milk. She loves cheese and yogurt so I'm not too worried right now. Everything just seemed to work out. She was sick a week ago and she would not eat or drink anything - which made me so greatful we are still nursing since that was all she would take in, and it was the only way to truly comfort her. It's also reassuring that she is still getting my antibodies. I totally understand how you feel, I felt the same way when I tried offering the cow milk. It isn't necessary if you are breastfeeding and Lauren in getting calcium and fat from other food sources.

Lisa

[Melanie]

Oh yah, can't stand the thought of it, but it's more b/c I don't like milk, I think.

Right now he's started drinking (chocolate - bad mommy!) soy milk. I bought it for me, but someone gave him some and now he likes to share. It doesn't bother me at all...just the animal milk does. I give it in a cup or with a straw. We only use sippys for water b/c I don't want them getting all gunky or anything.