Whole Milk Reaction?

[jk3]

My DS has been on whole milk for about a month. Initially, I gave him a mixture of whole milk + formula and upped the percentage of whole milk every couple of days. During the last two + weeks his BMs have changed considerably. Before the whole milk he used to go once in the morning. After the whole milk it switched to twice a day initially and now about 4-5 times a day. This might be TMI but it's really, really loose + sometimes yellow. I spoke to the pediatrician (something I rarely do) and he said that variations were normal + that it takes some time to get used to the whole milk. I'm not really satisfied with that advice because it doesn't seem normal. Plus my DS is very skinny-just in the 5th percentile wightwise + he was exclusively formula fed initially-so I'm concerned that he's loosing weight. He has had yogurt and cheese for months w/o any problems so I don't know if it's really the whole milk or not. Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks!

Jenn
DS 6/03

[JElaineB]

From my experience DS's BMs did change when we switched to whole milk, but after a while they went back to more normal looking. We switched from forumla also, but over a 3 week period of time, so I'm not sure if your switch was a little faster. Also pretty soon after we switched to 100% whole milk DS upped his solid consumption cosiderably and we went to a full 3 meals/2 snacks a day schedule and he cut down to 2 bottles of milk (16 oz.) a day. So it is possible DS's BMs went back to more normal because he cut his milk consumption way down fairly quickly. DS was also small, around 9%th percentile in weight at 12 months. He was just above 10% at 15 months and jumped up to 25% at 18 months. You might consider tyring to up his solids intake (at least offering more frequently if you are not yet doing between meal snacks) and cutting down to just a couple of bottles a day. We are finally on sippy cups for milk and DS gets one sippy of milk after lunch/before nap and another after dinner/before bed.

ETA: If you are really concerned about his weight (and we were too right during the switch to whole milk) you can spike each bottle of milk with a tablespoon of heavy cream. It will up his fat and calorie consumption considerably without bulking up the amount of food he is eating. We did that for a while after the switch to whole milk but stopped when we realized he was eating plenty of solids and gaining fine. Also, there is an old post by Rachels floating around where she has ideas from her nutritionist on foods to give to increase fat and calorie consumption in toddlers. I'll try to find it and post the link.

ETA again: Here is the link to Rachel's original post. It isn't directly related to your orignal question, but might give you some ideas for overall feeding if you are concerned about your son's weight.

http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=11&topic_id=9542&mode=full

Jennifer
mom to Jacob 9/27/02

[stillplayswithbarbies]

we had a similar problem when we tried whole milk. She would get really fussy in the evening and then have an explosive poop.

So we stopped the whole milk and tried again in 2 months and then she was fine.

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

[jk3]

We switched slowly over a few weeks + the change happened gradually. DS is eating more solid foods but he is resistant to drinking milk from a sippy cup. He loves his bottle! He has dropped about a bottle a day + he drinks less at each bottle feeding. Thanks for the link. I remember reading it awhile back but it wasn't applicative at the time. I've also read through Child of Mine + I've tried some of those strategies especially using butter in DS's meals. He eats enough, I'm pretty sure, he is not gaining weight from what I can tell and he might be losing some. I'll give it a few more days + if nothing changes I'll take him to the doctor to get weighed and for some suggestions.

Jenn
DS 6/03

[JElaineB]

Personally I say don't worry about having him drink his milk out of a sippy cup at this point if he likes his bottle and you are worried about getting calories into him. I felt the same way and didn't want to switch off the bottle when we had so much else going on, like the switch to whole milk itself (even though the ped told us to get him off the bottle by a year, and then DEFINITELY by 18 months. I ignored her.) DS stayed on the bottle (2 bottles a day) until earlier this month, 21 months old. Not that I didn't try earlier, but I didn't see the harm in a few more months on the bottle. It isn't like he is going to take it to kindergarten with him. By the time we completely switched to the sippy cups for milk (we use the Nuby soft spout cups) he really didn't care one way or the other. DS always did use a sippy cup or straw cup (what we use now) for water though.

ETA: You might want to check with your ped about how much milk your DS should be drinking at this point. Our ped says 16 oz. for between 1-2 years (not sure what she will say at the 2 year mark). I know other people's ped's say 12 oz. with 16 oz. max. So if your son is drinking well over that then he may be drinking too much milk instead of eating solids, and that may impact his weight gain. Over 1 year solids should generally be the vast majority of their diet, including plenty of fat.

Jennifer
mom to Jacob 9/27/02

[jk3]

Thanks for the information. I'm not tossing the bottle anytime soon even though the pediatrician told me to get rid of them + DS's pacifiers at a year. I let him know that he was welcome to move into my house for a week or two to enable this to happen but I wasn't going to do it just yet! He is probably drinking too much milk so I'll try to add a few solid snacks each day in addition to regular meals.

I spoke with a different doctor in the office and he suggested stopping the whole milk for 3 days to see if that's what's really triggering the changes. He suggested water or juice (other than apple) in DS's bottle. I have a feeling that my DS is going to flip out but we'll see!

Thanks for your help. =)

Jenn
DS 6/03