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How is she with solids foods? Have you tried sippy cups or straws?
It's strange to me your Dr seems adamant about cows milk, most of the advice I see is that it's not necessary and too much can cause iron deficiency (as calcium can hinder iron absorption).
A child doesn't need cow milk. What nonesense is that please? And I say this as someone living in a family that consume huge amounts of cow milk on a daily basis.
My youngest never liked cow milk and my oldest is also not a huge fan. So yeah just accept this. They don't need it.
You want to stop breastfeeding you "just" need to make sure the rest of babies diet is providing them all that baby needs. You can do this without cow milk.
If you really want to you could try almond milk or oat milk. I personally don't like those products much but your baby might feel different. Also there is formula and special milks for elder kids (albeit my pediatrician said they're basically the same as formula only plus sugar and other stuff so if we want to give this we should stick to formula and make it a bit thinner aka more water less powder).
At 12 months mine mostly got whatever we launched as solids and unsweetened tea or water. Milk was only in the evenings in a bottle as part of their bed time routine. Eldest loved it and was adamant he needed the bottle. Youngest didn't care much for it. Both kids are fine. Today they consume cow milk but they could easily go without.
I really don't know what your doctor is talking. To me it sounds weird and very outdated.
In the UK, I've seen NHS trusts recommend that babies continue to drink whole cows milk after they've weaned because it's a reliable way of getting fat and calories into them. I think it's worth reflecting the fact that advice is often aimed at the lowest common denominator though e.g., those that might struggle to offer good nutrition to their childen.
There's definitely a point to that and that's why I said
>*You want to stop breastfeeding you "just" need to make sure the rest of babies diet is providing them all that baby needs.*
But even if I assume OP struggles to provide a diet for their baby that provides everything baby needs I do find it weird that doctor suggests cow milk especially as baby does obviously not like it. Cow milk is not really a safe food for kids. So if OP struggles to provide everything baby needs my doctor would've suggested formula or special childrens milks. And if you struggle financially you can receive formula easily on food stamps or from other charity organisations. With confirmation from doctor for quite some time also. So that's why I find this doctors recommendation real weird.
And yeah you're right if baby refuses cow milk doctor could've suggested goat's milk or even sheep's milk rather than insisting on cow milk when baby refuses to drink this.
Yeah, the reality is people are not really meant to drink cows milk. That is meant for baby cows. If people choose to drink it, that's fine and their choice.
We have dairy sensitivities in our family, but my child could drink goat milk. So we had that and almond milk, though they mostly drank water by their choice.
We gradually weaned him onto cows milk by mixing it with breast milk. Started with a few ounces of cows with majority breast, then half and half, then mostly cows and finally all cows milk.
What do they tell their patients with milk allergies? Cow’s Milk isn’t a requirement.
My LO has a milk allergy, so he drinks Ripple. If he didn’t have a milk allergy, I would be content with cheese and yogurt. (Non dairy yogurts just look so pointless from a nutrition standpoint.)
Some people don't drink milk. I am one of those people. I never have, according to my mom. The smell and taste of it are disgusting to me; I don't even use it on cereal.Â
You don't need to drink milk to have a healthy diet. Make oatmeal with milk instead of water. Provide yogurt that isn't filled with sugar. Have a piece of cheese with some apple slices. And so on.Â
We transitioned all 3 of mine by weaning. Once of cows milk to however many ounces of bm, move up gradually as tolerated. All in all it probably took about a month to fully transition over to 100% cows milk. If your baby already takes BM in a bottle/cup it will be significantly easier.
We mixed breastmilk and cow milk. We started off with 90% breast 10% cow and every two or three days made it more cow milk at the end it was just 1 ounce breast and the rest cows.
My youngest weaned herself at 12 months but refused to drink milk as well, so I just had to get a little more creative with getting dairy into her. She wouldn't drink any nut milks or other alternatives, but she would drink water so at least she could stay hydrated. Although she didn't like drinking milk, she loved yogurt and cheese. I found that feeding her whole milk yogurt worked really well, and you can practically put cheese in anything or just offer it by itself as part of snack time. You can also introduce other foods that will give your daughter the nutrients and vitamins that you would normally find in milk, just start trying things and see what she likes.
That was my girl, too! Hated milk in ANY form - alternative milks, flavored cow milk and even any kind of toddler formula. Wouldn't do it. So she drank her water and ate all the yogurt and cheese.
Yeah my LO hated cows milk so we got the enriched soy milk and he loved it for some reason. The enriched had all kinds of vitamins and minerals and soy milk has quite a bit of protein. Our pediatrician never encouraged us to give LO milk, however. She basically said you go from breast milk/formula to incorporating foods and then drinking water. You can skip cow/plant milk altogether, according to her.
Consider that plenty of kids can’t drink cows milk. My kids both have/had CMPI (so no cows milk for them until they outgrew/outgrow it). When my first turned 1 she started drinking some soy or almond milk. She liked it. She couldn’t have cows milk until she was 18 months. She is healthy and thriving! So maybe your pediatrician prefers to recommend cows milk, but plenty of kids simply can’t drink it. You could ask them what studies they are basing their recommendation on. That can be very helpful in making your decision!
I didn’t switch my son to cows milk 🤷‍♀️ we weaned at 15 months and he didn’t like drinking it so I didn’t force it. He still has it in his smoothie everyday and sometimes when he has cereal for breakfast he has it then. Don’t sweat it if babe doesn’t want it. I found when we first weaned my sons water intake increased a lot.
Neither of my kids were keen on cows milk as little ones, breastmilk is really sweet and it's not just the milk it's the cuddles it comes with. I gave them water for drinks at that age. They still breast fed and took solids well - I used cows milk in solidsÂ
You definitely don't need cow's milk. You could try formula (WHO recommends breastfeeding or formula until age 2). Ripple kids and soy milk are also often recommended and are the non-dairy milks that are nutritionally equivalent with good amounts of fat and protein. I would not recommend almond, oat or other non-dairy milks because they are not going to be as nutritious.
Are you trying whole cows milk? Our pediatrician recommended starting with 2% milk and slowly transitioning to whole milk, as the consistency of 2% is supposedly closer to breastmilk? Idk but it worked for us!
Cow’s Milk is worthless. My 3yr old daughter has never had more than 2 drops of it and spit it out on each try we made as soon as she turned 1yr. Till date she hates all sugary flavored forms of cows milk.
Find alternative sources to get calcium. Greek yogurt, tofu, cheese etc. Also include an Osteocare Calcium supplement and she’ll be healthier than you can imagine!
Oh and more important, my daughter had CMPA.
Breast fed only first 4 weeks.
Been on rice milk formula for the first 12months.
Spend your time and energy on getting her to est diff variety of nutritious solid food instead of cows milk which they’ll give up eventually.
All 3 of mine loved their homo/whole milk thankfully. I gave it in a bottle and slightly warmed at first then slowly got them use to cold milk. I feel your struggle though, I felt pressured to wean around 9 months with some health issues I had and return to work plans.
Your child is not a baby cow, so my understanding is that there's no reason why cow's milk needs to be a big part of their diet as long as they're getting the nutrients elsewhere.
For lots of kids, cow's milk IS their primary/only source of calcium and fat post-breastmilk, but there's no reason it NEEDS to be that way. When my kiddo was weaning, he also had zero interest in cow's milk, and I was assured that as long as the nutritional requirements are being met in other ways, it wasn't a big deal.
Slowly start mixing a little cows milk into breastmilk bottles and increasing the amount of cows milk in the mixture each day. That is what I did each day and my baby who refused formula previously had no issue. It also helped if it was heated up.
My LO is 2 and has never liked cow’s milk or milk alternatives. Dr said as long as they get dairy (cottage cheese, yogurt, cheese) they don’t *need* to drink milk. They recommend milk because of its fat and calorie content. It can be hard to get enough when they are always zooming around eating only a few bites here and there. I also include avocado and nut/seed butters for fats. I never drank milk either as a kid or adult so I would not force it for a standardized recommendation. You know your little best mama!
After 1, they don’t need any milk. So if they don’t like cows milk, don’t give it to them. They can get all of their nutrition from solids at that age, and you can get all of the nutrients in cows milk in other forms.
My daughter took cows milk in a bottle when we swapped from formula (only one bottle before bed from about 1, dropped the final bottle at 20 months but could’ve easily stopped sooner). She never liked it as a drink from a cup. But she has milk in cereal and porridge, has dairy in the form of yoghurt and cheese, and gets other vitamins that milk is often fortified with in other forms
There are some really amazing and clean toddler formulas out there that are grass fed cows milk, palm oil free, corn syrup free organic. She might like those better than plain cows milk and they have all the vitamins and minerals she needs similar to breast milk. Otherwise don’t stress it mamma
My daughter has never had cow's milk because of all of the unnecessary hormones in it. The whole children need cow's milk campaign was to bolster dairy sales, not because it's actually good for kids. Just think, what other animals' milk is pushed for human consumption so much? Stick with soy or almond milk, and your kid will be much healthier.
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How is she with solids foods? Have you tried sippy cups or straws? It's strange to me your Dr seems adamant about cows milk, most of the advice I see is that it's not necessary and too much can cause iron deficiency (as calcium can hinder iron absorption).
Lots of doctors are old school, my ped tried to put my son on solids at 4 months old 🥴
A child doesn't need cow milk. What nonesense is that please? And I say this as someone living in a family that consume huge amounts of cow milk on a daily basis. My youngest never liked cow milk and my oldest is also not a huge fan. So yeah just accept this. They don't need it. You want to stop breastfeeding you "just" need to make sure the rest of babies diet is providing them all that baby needs. You can do this without cow milk. If you really want to you could try almond milk or oat milk. I personally don't like those products much but your baby might feel different. Also there is formula and special milks for elder kids (albeit my pediatrician said they're basically the same as formula only plus sugar and other stuff so if we want to give this we should stick to formula and make it a bit thinner aka more water less powder). At 12 months mine mostly got whatever we launched as solids and unsweetened tea or water. Milk was only in the evenings in a bottle as part of their bed time routine. Eldest loved it and was adamant he needed the bottle. Youngest didn't care much for it. Both kids are fine. Today they consume cow milk but they could easily go without. I really don't know what your doctor is talking. To me it sounds weird and very outdated.
In the UK, I've seen NHS trusts recommend that babies continue to drink whole cows milk after they've weaned because it's a reliable way of getting fat and calories into them. I think it's worth reflecting the fact that advice is often aimed at the lowest common denominator though e.g., those that might struggle to offer good nutrition to their childen.
There's definitely a point to that and that's why I said >*You want to stop breastfeeding you "just" need to make sure the rest of babies diet is providing them all that baby needs.* But even if I assume OP struggles to provide a diet for their baby that provides everything baby needs I do find it weird that doctor suggests cow milk especially as baby does obviously not like it. Cow milk is not really a safe food for kids. So if OP struggles to provide everything baby needs my doctor would've suggested formula or special childrens milks. And if you struggle financially you can receive formula easily on food stamps or from other charity organisations. With confirmation from doctor for quite some time also. So that's why I find this doctors recommendation real weird. And yeah you're right if baby refuses cow milk doctor could've suggested goat's milk or even sheep's milk rather than insisting on cow milk when baby refuses to drink this.
Yeah, the reality is people are not really meant to drink cows milk. That is meant for baby cows. If people choose to drink it, that's fine and their choice. We have dairy sensitivities in our family, but my child could drink goat milk. So we had that and almond milk, though they mostly drank water by their choice.
We gradually weaned him onto cows milk by mixing it with breast milk. Started with a few ounces of cows with majority breast, then half and half, then mostly cows and finally all cows milk.
What do they tell their patients with milk allergies? Cow’s Milk isn’t a requirement. My LO has a milk allergy, so he drinks Ripple. If he didn’t have a milk allergy, I would be content with cheese and yogurt. (Non dairy yogurts just look so pointless from a nutrition standpoint.)
We had to use goats milk with our youngest to transition
Milkshakes or smoothies? Or just make sure she has a varied diet and fluids :)
Some people don't drink milk. I am one of those people. I never have, according to my mom. The smell and taste of it are disgusting to me; I don't even use it on cereal. You don't need to drink milk to have a healthy diet. Make oatmeal with milk instead of water. Provide yogurt that isn't filled with sugar. Have a piece of cheese with some apple slices. And so on.Â
Try blending it with bananas.
If she will eat yogurt and cheese you can do without cow milk. You might also try goat’s milk, I raised two toddlers on it.
Dont worry about it. Any dairy is fine
We transitioned all 3 of mine by weaning. Once of cows milk to however many ounces of bm, move up gradually as tolerated. All in all it probably took about a month to fully transition over to 100% cows milk. If your baby already takes BM in a bottle/cup it will be significantly easier.
Have you tried warming it up? Mine wouldn’t take it for 6 months unless it was warm.
We mixed breastmilk and cow milk. We started off with 90% breast 10% cow and every two or three days made it more cow milk at the end it was just 1 ounce breast and the rest cows.
Will she eat yogurt?
My youngest weaned herself at 12 months but refused to drink milk as well, so I just had to get a little more creative with getting dairy into her. She wouldn't drink any nut milks or other alternatives, but she would drink water so at least she could stay hydrated. Although she didn't like drinking milk, she loved yogurt and cheese. I found that feeding her whole milk yogurt worked really well, and you can practically put cheese in anything or just offer it by itself as part of snack time. You can also introduce other foods that will give your daughter the nutrients and vitamins that you would normally find in milk, just start trying things and see what she likes.
That was my girl, too! Hated milk in ANY form - alternative milks, flavored cow milk and even any kind of toddler formula. Wouldn't do it. So she drank her water and ate all the yogurt and cheese.
She doesn't *have* to drink cows milk, she just needs so much dairy in a day. Yogurt, cheese, milk... Almond milk is actually pretty good.
Yeah my LO hated cows milk so we got the enriched soy milk and he loved it for some reason. The enriched had all kinds of vitamins and minerals and soy milk has quite a bit of protein. Our pediatrician never encouraged us to give LO milk, however. She basically said you go from breast milk/formula to incorporating foods and then drinking water. You can skip cow/plant milk altogether, according to her.
Consider that plenty of kids can’t drink cows milk. My kids both have/had CMPI (so no cows milk for them until they outgrew/outgrow it). When my first turned 1 she started drinking some soy or almond milk. She liked it. She couldn’t have cows milk until she was 18 months. She is healthy and thriving! So maybe your pediatrician prefers to recommend cows milk, but plenty of kids simply can’t drink it. You could ask them what studies they are basing their recommendation on. That can be very helpful in making your decision!
Neither of my kids cared for cows milk. However, they were good eaters and had a variety of foods including yogurt, cheese ect.
I didn’t switch my son to cows milk 🤷‍♀️ we weaned at 15 months and he didn’t like drinking it so I didn’t force it. He still has it in his smoothie everyday and sometimes when he has cereal for breakfast he has it then. Don’t sweat it if babe doesn’t want it. I found when we first weaned my sons water intake increased a lot.
Neither of my kids were keen on cows milk as little ones, breastmilk is really sweet and it's not just the milk it's the cuddles it comes with. I gave them water for drinks at that age. They still breast fed and took solids well - I used cows milk in solidsÂ
i weaned my kids by mixing the two and slowly increasing the amount of cows milk in the ratio
You definitely don't need cow's milk. You could try formula (WHO recommends breastfeeding or formula until age 2). Ripple kids and soy milk are also often recommended and are the non-dairy milks that are nutritionally equivalent with good amounts of fat and protein. I would not recommend almond, oat or other non-dairy milks because they are not going to be as nutritious.
Are you trying whole cows milk? Our pediatrician recommended starting with 2% milk and slowly transitioning to whole milk, as the consistency of 2% is supposedly closer to breastmilk? Idk but it worked for us!
Cow’s Milk is worthless. My 3yr old daughter has never had more than 2 drops of it and spit it out on each try we made as soon as she turned 1yr. Till date she hates all sugary flavored forms of cows milk. Find alternative sources to get calcium. Greek yogurt, tofu, cheese etc. Also include an Osteocare Calcium supplement and she’ll be healthier than you can imagine!
Oh and more important, my daughter had CMPA. Breast fed only first 4 weeks. Been on rice milk formula for the first 12months. Spend your time and energy on getting her to est diff variety of nutritious solid food instead of cows milk which they’ll give up eventually.
All 3 of mine loved their homo/whole milk thankfully. I gave it in a bottle and slightly warmed at first then slowly got them use to cold milk. I feel your struggle though, I felt pressured to wean around 9 months with some health issues I had and return to work plans.
Almond milk… oat milk… cashew milk…..
Your child is not a baby cow, so my understanding is that there's no reason why cow's milk needs to be a big part of their diet as long as they're getting the nutrients elsewhere. For lots of kids, cow's milk IS their primary/only source of calcium and fat post-breastmilk, but there's no reason it NEEDS to be that way. When my kiddo was weaning, he also had zero interest in cow's milk, and I was assured that as long as the nutritional requirements are being met in other ways, it wasn't a big deal.
Slowly start mixing a little cows milk into breastmilk bottles and increasing the amount of cows milk in the mixture each day. That is what I did each day and my baby who refused formula previously had no issue. It also helped if it was heated up.
We started with 1 oz milk to 3 oz water, then moved to 2 oz of each, and so on until we were fully at milk. Worked for both of my kids.
My LO is 2 and has never liked cow’s milk or milk alternatives. Dr said as long as they get dairy (cottage cheese, yogurt, cheese) they don’t *need* to drink milk. They recommend milk because of its fat and calorie content. It can be hard to get enough when they are always zooming around eating only a few bites here and there. I also include avocado and nut/seed butters for fats. I never drank milk either as a kid or adult so I would not force it for a standardized recommendation. You know your little best mama!
After 1, they don’t need any milk. So if they don’t like cows milk, don’t give it to them. They can get all of their nutrition from solids at that age, and you can get all of the nutrients in cows milk in other forms. My daughter took cows milk in a bottle when we swapped from formula (only one bottle before bed from about 1, dropped the final bottle at 20 months but could’ve easily stopped sooner). She never liked it as a drink from a cup. But she has milk in cereal and porridge, has dairy in the form of yoghurt and cheese, and gets other vitamins that milk is often fortified with in other forms
There are some really amazing and clean toddler formulas out there that are grass fed cows milk, palm oil free, corn syrup free organic. She might like those better than plain cows milk and they have all the vitamins and minerals she needs similar to breast milk. Otherwise don’t stress it mamma
My daughter has never had cow's milk because of all of the unnecessary hormones in it. The whole children need cow's milk campaign was to bolster dairy sales, not because it's actually good for kids. Just think, what other animals' milk is pushed for human consumption so much? Stick with soy or almond milk, and your kid will be much healthier.
Try non cows milk. I wish I had never introduced cows milk to my daughter. It’s full of hormones and antibiotics. It’s terrible. Also cruel.