introducing milk - if, when, how

[lmh2402]

DD will be one in two weeks (yikes!!)

we're still nursing, but i'm considering whether to start introducing milk in the next few weeks.

DS doesn't drink cows milk. we give him a concoction of almond milk, coconut milk and protein powder - seems easier for him to digest. should i just try to give her that? it's pretty thick so maybe not

i'm a bit worried about cows milk b/c of our early MSPI issues

but while i'm not in a rush to wean, and i plan to continue nursing, i would like to maybe broaden our horizons - i'm struggling to get her to nurse 4/5 times a day and she never nurses for long except at night, and that is mostly comfort. so i'm concerned she's not getting much/enough.

plus, she's biting a lot and honestly i'm kind of tired of caring for open wounds on my nipples

sooo...what to do - if you offered cow's milk, when did you do it? how much did you offer? how much do babies need, ultimately?

thanks!

[edurnemk]

I'll be following this thread since I'm facing the same decision. DD will be 1 on Sunday! I have mixed feeling about cow's milk.

[jam224]

What about goat's milk? That's what I give DD. I also wasn't keen on giving cow's milk.

[rin]

What about goat's milk? That's what I give DD. I also wasn't keen on giving cow's milk.

Just curious, but why did you (or anyone else) want to avoid cow's milk, aside from concerns about allergies/intolerances? DD2 is just 1, and today I gave her a small glass of cow's milk (which she hated). She's still nursing and I have no plans to wean right now, but I've been planning to start offering her cow's milk occasionally.

[jam224]

Just curious, but why did you (or anyone else) want to avoid cow's milk, aside from concerns about allergies/intolerances? DD2 is just 1, and today I gave her a small glass of cow's milk (which she hated). She's still nursing and I have no plans to wean right now, but I've been planning to start offering her cow's milk occasionally.

I wasn't confident in the nutritional value of cow's milk, so I sought an alternative option. I learned that goat's milk is closer to breast milk than cow's milk, so that's why I chose it. I Googled it and found this article, if it helps: http://www.mtcapra.com/benefits-of-g...k-vs-cow-milk/.

Good luck with the transition, mama! The road is bittersweet!

[rin]

Thanks for the article!

[edurnemk]

Just curious, but why did you (or anyone else) want to avoid cow's milk, aside from concerns about allergies/intolerances? DD2 is just 1, and today I gave her a small glass of cow's milk (which she hated). She's still nursing and I have no plans to wean right now, but I've been planning to start offering her cow's milk occasionally.

Because there's more and more concerns about the long term effects of drinking cow's milk. They don't really need it, and the human body is not made for drinking milk after about 4 yo (much less another animal's milk), so I wonder why introduce it in the first place if there are alternatives. I'll come back later with some links. I haven't decided yet, but I'll be discussing it with her Ped next week. I can't get goat's milk where we live.

[marymoo86]

Just curious, but why did you (or anyone else) want to avoid cow's milk, aside from concerns about allergies/intolerances? DD2 is just 1, and today I gave her a small glass of cow's milk (which she hated). She's still nursing and I have no plans to wean right now, but I've been planning to start offering her cow's milk occasionally.

Generally unless you can get straight from the farm milk with no hormones, etc almost all of the actual nutrients are processed out of the milk. I don't trust it and you don't need it as you can get calcium from food or other sources. Dairy is also one of the biggest causes of inflammation in the body aside from gluten. That's why no cow's milk here. We do greek yogurt as the protein and bacteria are beneficial and sometimes do goat milk yogurt.

[YouAreTheFocus]

We did the same thing as psimpson 3-5 and it worked great for our DS. At that point he was drinking 6 oz bottles, so it took us a week longer, but we followed the same idea of adding 1 oz of milk per week. We decided to tackle the switch over to milk first and weaning off the bottle second. He had a morning bottle everyday until his 2nd bday. His milk intake really took a dive when we switched to cups, so giving him that one bottle/day eased my mind to some extent.

[Philly Mom]

I know I wrote about this in another post but could not find it. To make the switch, the first morning, I gave 4 oz of formula with 2 oz of milk in a straw cup. It was the first thing she had in the morning. I had tried to give it to her at another time of day and she wanted nothing to do with it so I tried first thing. Worked like a charm. Next day I did 4 oz of milk, 2 oz of formula, and the last day 6 oz of milk. It worked so well, I transitioned her from formula a week before her birthday because it worked quicker than expected. My ped said 16 oz for a 1 year old. She gets 8 oz in the morning and 8 oz after her nap on most days. I am not sure what they do at school TBH though. She may get milk with her lunch at school and less milk after her nap. It really does not faze me. We buy the organic milk from Trader Joes. It is not ultra homegenized so it still keeps a lot of the nutrients. I never put milk in a bottle and I never warmed it. Eventually, DD started to drink it. By 1, she was eating lots of things including greek yogurt and cheese so I was not concerned if she was getting enough.