What's the point of cow's milk? Do you need to give baby cow's milk? I'm going to wean LO off the boob at 1 year. It's hit or miss whether he'll take a bottle from us so I'm thinking of skipping it. Do they absolutely need it?
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From what I understand, yes. They need something that's going to make up for the lack of nutrients, fats, etc they stop getting when they don't have breastmilk. But there's tons of options on how to do that (different types of milk or paying careful attention to the solid foods they eat). I do think that just weaning breastmilk or formula without anything else to take its place isn't how it's supposed to go.
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I'm likely to skip cow's milk altogether, but I am planning on nursing beyond 1 year.
I think it's fine to not offer a "milk" substitute, as long as you are diligent about baby getting those nutrients from other sources. Don't quote me on that though, I'm not a doctor
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With a well balanced diet, no it's not (cow milk is for cow babies), and there are other dairy alternatives you could look into as well.
We still nurse at 17 mths, but also give P hemp milk. I drink cow milk but will be going back to a substitute myself here again soon
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No, they don't need it. You can give him full fat yogurt, avocados, olive oil, cheese, etc. to give him the fats he needs. My doctor said they do need fat for brain development but you can get it from other sources than cow's milk.
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@runsyellowlites: I'd ideally like not to give my LO cow's milk either, but I'm curious how you feel about calcium and vitamin D? Do you give any supplements to your LO? Is hemp-milk fortified? Sorry for all the questions!
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@sotofamilia: We eat other things for calcium, she does have cheese, and we live where it's sunny most of the year (spend alot of time outside). Also, hemp milk has a bit less protein, but compares quite nicely to cows milk for fat/calcium/vit d. Mrs. Bee actually did a blog post on it!
http://www.hellobee.com/2012/07/12/hemp-milk-the-best-alternative-to-cows-milk/
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@runsyellowlites: thanks for the response - I'll take a look at the blog post!
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@lepamplemousse: You can give almond milk or soy milk. we use almond milk, we also give plenty of cheese and yogurt.
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We're still nursing at 14 months but give almond milk once in a while and tons of yogurt.
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Thanks everyone. Right now DS has breast milk 4x a day (bottle at daycare and boob at home and on weekends). He has 3 meals of solids a day too. I usually include some cheese or yogurt but it may not be enough. When he transitions to another milk, should I just give that to him in a bottle at the same times? Or maybe a sippy cup? I'm just worried about the logistics of weaning.
When do you reduce the times they have milk (cow or whatever) in a day? -
No. There are plenty of other great sources for calcium (almonds, greens, yogurt, cheese, etc), protein (lentils, meat, beans, etc), and fat (avocado, nuts, yogurt, etc).
There is no reason a child MUST have milk. Cow milk is for cow babies, human babies don't require it.
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I don't think that they do. To be fair, I'm still nursing my daughter past 2. But even if she'd weaned at one, I wouldn't have stressed out about milk. She never took it. I give her lots of yogurt and cheese, so I figured that she got plenty of calcium and protein.
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No, it's not absolutely necessary to give cow's milk as long as LO gets the nutrients from other sources. But just out of curiosity, what will you give your LO to drink then? Water, juice?
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I think cow's milk is for a lot more than cow babies (unless you are vegan or eat no dairy). Let's not be too over-simplistic.
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We don't give LO milk of any kind (she refuses it), and have talked to her pediatrician several times about it, and he said it wasn't a concern as long as LO's diet makes up for the calcium, vitamins and minerals in daily milk drinking. She eats both cheese and yogurt every single day (usually 2x a day for each), and eats a lot of dark leafy greens like spinach, legumes, avocado, and takes a multi-vitamin too. Like anything, while it isn't necessary, if you take milk off the table you just need to make sure you're adequately making up for what the item (milk) provides.
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@Mrs Green Grass: I agree. I'm a little confused with all of the posts lately about skipping cow's milk. I'm genuinely curious - why skip cow's milk unless there's an allergy?
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I give LO cow's milk daily. She gets about 10 oz a day during the week and less on the weekends. I think there are good fats and calcium she gets from the milk. It's all there, I know she gets it. With her iron issues already I'm not about to mess with another nutrient that she needs.
We're not a huge cheese family so her other main source of calcium is in yogurt.Personally, I love milk from a moo moo.
@lepamplemousse: my LO still gets cow's milk in a open cup at the same times she would have gotten a bottle. We first went from bottle to straw cup and now open cup. if I remember I also give her milk during dinner. We also nurse 2x a day and more on the weekends.
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@swedishfish: I skipped it because my daughter didn't like it and I didn't see a reason to push it. I'm a fan of it in general - I drink it. But I don't view it as this crucial dietary thing when you're getting calcium and protein elsewhere.
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@sarac: oh, I agree. There's no need to push it if your LO doesn't like it...I just don't understand deciding to skip it when a child hasn't tried it yet. Maybe that's because I'm a milk fiend.
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Our first never did cows milk.
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We skipped due to allergies. LO drinks hemp and almond milk.
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@Mrs. Amethyst: I was planning on just giving DS water in a sippy cup at mealtime.
I just want to ditch the bottle completely because he's never been such a fan, even if there was breast milk in it. He doesn't seem to get that much from the sippy cup so I didn't think he'd consume enough cow's milk to make a difference anyways. I was kind of thinking of just doing the "don't offer, don't refuse" thing to wean him off of the breast and then give him more snacks of regular food? I don't know. I don't know how this whole weaning thing works.
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@lepamplemousse: good post! My daughter is only 6.5 months but we are planning on skipping cows milk. I'm also planning on nursing past her first bday but would skip it either way.
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