Can I stop breastfeeding my baby at 6months?

Question

I'm finding feeding her myself at the moment increasingly tiring as I also work from home. She is now 5months and eating 3 solid meals a day and just about going sleeping through the night. Would it be ok to replace her breastmilk feeds with goatsmilk at 6months? I don't really want to give her formula milk.

Answer 1

It will be tiring at about this age as from my experience of my 3 they all had growth spurts at about this age, it gets easier again after a couple of weeks or so. Shes very young to be having 3 meals a day, wow!
If you havent noticed any food intolerances, goats milk is probably the best milk to try apart from yours. It makes more sense than formula. Although if you look at all other mammals, they feed their babies until they are weaned and then dont supplement their diets with milk from other species - I dont know why humans started this strange behaviour!

Answer 2

You can stop breastfeeding, but it is NOT ok to replace breastmilk with goats milk. Goats milk is not a complete food for infants. Babies need either breastmilk or some kind of formula up to 1 year. If you want to, you could use formula that is made from goats milk (although this is not recommended by some doctors) but you cannot just go and buy goats milk from the supermarket and give that to your baby. It does not contain all the nutrients your baby needs.
Formula is just dried milk that is fortified with extra vitamins and minerals. Why do you have such a problem with it? And why is the milk of a goat different to the milk of a cow?

Answer 3

I don't think you should give goats milk as a drink until a year old. a baby still needs nutrients which are only found in breast or formula.
I too work at home and have a 6 month old as well as 6 other children. I considered putting the baby onto formula, i bought an organic one, believing I was doing the right thing Unfortunately he is allergic to cows milk, which formulas are made from. so back to breast feeding.
have you thought of expressing, then you get a small break.

Answer 4

A baby should be soley breastfed / bottlefed for the first year of their life due to the nutrients it provides to the child. Normal milk (or goatsmilk as you mentioned) does not contain the vitamins and nutrients the baby needs. I understand not wanting to feed your daughter formula milk but you will be doing her a favour by giving her the formula instead of the goatsmilk as you will be building her immune system and providing her with all the vitamins and nutrients her little growing body needs. You could also express your milk and store it in bottles in the fridge? This way it would not be as "hands on" and she could hold her own bottle?? Good Luck!

Answer 5

Ask your Dr., but I have always been under the impression that the baby needs either formula or breast milk for the first year (along with solids as the baby grows older). Then at one year you can transition into milk products.

Have you considered pumping? You can build up a supply that way and not have to breast feed as much.

Answer 6

you can stop breast feeding anytime you want but you would need to replace it with formular and just gradualy reduce the amount untill she is totaly on solids you shouldnt really stop formular completly because it has all the vitamins in she needs. If you do stop the formular early then you should really give her a bottle of follow on milk for babys 6 months+ which will make sure she is getting everything.
Mine started to refuse formular from about 6 months old cause they loved real food so much but i made sure they always had a bottle of follow on milk first thing in the morning and another one last thing at night.
If she dosn't take to the formular but will happily eat solids then you cant force her but you would need to talk to your health visitor to see if you can get some kind of suppliments for her, dont let any health visitor or doctor try the "scare tactics" to try and get you to continue breast feeding, you have your own health to think about and if your getting worn out or stressed then thats going to be worse for baby than stopping breastfeeding .

Answer 7

When you choose to stop breastfeeding your child is up to you. However, she should only have breastmilk or formula made for infants until she is 1 year old - then you can switch to WHOLE cow's milk.

I've never heard of anyone giving their child goat's milk - except when it is a formula derived from goat's milk prescribed by the pediatrician when the child cannot digest regular formula or soy (had a friend whose daughter went through that).

Answer 8

don't give her goats milk unless her doctor tells you to.
You can stop breast feeding whenever you want to, but for the first year she needs breast milk or formula.
Formulas are much better than they were in the past

Be sure you are ready to stop breasting feeding. Because you might miss it. It is such a good healthy bonding time for baby and mom.
Be sure and talk to your baby's doctor

Answer 9

What's wrong with formula milk? Some women are unable to breast feed and it's been specially developed to be the closest thing to breast milk - gotta be better than giving her milk designed for a totally different species! She's very young to be eating 3 solid meals a day. What does your health visitor say?

Answer 10

There is no right or wrong time to stop breastfeeding. The most important time is the first few weeks anyway. Some parents us formula from the start it's just personal preference.