When starting a wee one on cows milk, do we just stop the formula or gradually introduce the milk?

Question

Child almost a year old and would love to hear how other parents got on introducing cows milk. Whether gradual or straight change from one to the other.

Answer 1

I started it with brekkie! Gives him the whole day to be upset rather than at night if there is any adverse reaction. Good luck - most of them are just fine with it.

Answer 2

You should gradually introduce your child to cow's milk. An ounce or two at a time is fine. He/she may not take to it right away, but don't give up. :) You can start by using milk in your baby's cereal and see how they like it. It took my daughter a month to get used to cow's milk, but the problem with her not accepting it was because it was cold. I warmed it up a little and gradually made it less warm until she liked drinking the milk cold.

Answer 3

Were in a the same boat, our lil girl is 1 in a few weeks & we are looking forward to getting her off formula & onto cows milk. She's had cows milk in her breakfast since 8 months & has n't had a reaction from it, she just doesn't really like the taste when we try a bit on the spoon.
Also we don't know if as soon as she's 1 do we swap it completely?

Answer 4

Definitely introduce it gradually, oh and warm it up too! I didn't mix the cows milk with the formula milk, I just offered small amounts throughout the day. Eventually my little one got a taste for it.. Its just a case of persevering and being patient! Good luck!

Answer 5

We added it to the formula and then slowly increased the amount of milk in comparison to the formula. For example if your child drinks 6 ounces, start with 5 ounces formula and one ounce milk, and then keep changing the amount until it is all milk.

We did this with our daughter and it worked well. This way the change of taste wasn't so shocking that she refused to drink the milk. It took about 2 days of gradually phasing out the milk, but there we no problems.

Answer 6

I would do it gradually, just because any sudden change of diet can upset any stomach, and one year-olds still have quite delicate digestive systems. Maybe you could give a little each morning and evening alongside a slightly reduced formula feed, than if that seems OK try alternating formula and cows' milk?

Some babies don't tolerate cows' milk well, and find goats' milk more palatable.

Answer 7

I gave my children cows milk once I decided to stop feeding them formula however based on paedatricians advice you must boil the milk first for at least one minute or microwave until it is very hot wait until it is cool enough i.e. warm to drink.

boiling the milk breaks down certain enzymes and allows children to digest the milk easier.

If you dont want to go straight to cows milk you can buy formula for older children but I have never used it so im not sure how good it is.

if you are still unsure talk to some experts and see what they have to say.

Answer 8

My daughter was already having cows milk with cereal in the morning, so at 12 months we just switched to straight cows milk after the tin of formula was finished.
Good luck.

Answer 9

I gave my children half and half, made up half a bottle of formula milk and added cold cows milk to it - you could give it straight to the child as it was cool enough

Answer 10

If your toddler has been on a cows milk based formula (most are cows milk based,except soy), it is fine just to offer straight full cream cows milk to him/her. he/ she may have been having small amounts on cerial anyway. Just go for it.

Answer 11

Keeping it brief.. My health visitor told me... cows milk for breakie and formula at night then just change over at roughly 12 months.