Starting Child on Whole Milk

My Dr told me to introduce whole milk about a month before my sons 1st b-day. I did and he was fine. I would give him 1 bottle of milk a day for the first couple of days.Then two for a few days, then I started alternating formula and milk.Then by the third week I only gave him 1 bottle of formula before bed and first thing in the morning. By his b-day he was only drinking milk. He has done great. Good luck.

Hi M., I started my now 17 month old on whole milk at 10 months. It will only constipate them but you can add Karo syrup to it to prevent that until he gets used to it. My now 17 month old is also still breast fed so he does not drink much milk at all. I give him rice milk or soy which is better for their sinus cavity. Whole milk tends to clog them up and cause runny nose more. He also started eating table food from my plate at 7 monhts and never ate baby food so you just have to try it and see if he will take it.

M.,
I don't know what the medical reasoning behind waiting until they are exactly 1 year is; however, we didn't wait that long for any of our children (we hav 3) and they didn't have any side effects. Like your child they ate solid foods early, were able to eat and tolerate other dairy products (ice cream, cheese, yogurt) so at around 10 or 11 months I put them on whole milk (they were all breastfeed until put on whole milk).

Good luck,
A.

I'm noticing a trend among mothers today-complaining about the price of formula therefore wanting to start their babies on whole milk way before their bodies are ready for it. smh But in any case the reason why doctors say wait until 1yr to give a child regular milk is because it can increase milk allergies, it can cause internal bleeding, has less nutrients than formula and can cause iron deficiency. Most importantly regular milk contains proteins that babies' digestive systems can't process properly.

When switching over from formular to regular milk it's best to add half and half-half formula and half regular milk. IF you do decide to use regular milk and it causes constipation you might want to use soy or rice milk (the ones with the added calcium and vitamins)so that your child won't be constipated. IF constipation occurs it means your child's system can't handle the regular milk yet. Good luck!~

I started to do that exact same thing because of the formula my daughter was on was so expensive. My doctor said that it can cause internal bleeding. It is only another two months. I would continue the formula. BabyCenter.com has some great article that may help. Milk does not have all that the formula does and even though the child is eating food, it still may not be getting all from it. hope all is well missy

Hello M.. I stated my children on milk when they were three months old. I would mix it in with their cereal, and they were fine. They are now three and two, and are healthy kids who drink milk a lot. Hope this helped!

Hi M.,

I started my daughter on whole milk about a month ago. (She will be one Sunday).

I started mixing half with whole milk and her formula until she began to take the milk alone. She got really constipated, so I started to mix half whole milk, and water to ease her bowels. She has been doing great!

Children usually don't take whole milk alone at first because its a different taste, and texture. I also continue to warm the whole milk to make the transition easier.

I actually started my son on 2% at 10 months. My doctor actually recomeneded the 2% instead of whole because he was at 95% for weight. My pediatrician explained that the reason they put toddlers on whole milk is for the fat content. However, unless your toddler is extremely small they would rather they not drink whole milk. I have talked to other doctors about this and they think that my pediatrician is crazy however, when I got done with my research it was 50/50. They all told me that as long as he was still gaining weight and not losing then he was fine with 2%.

Good luck

I was able to start my son on whole milk at 11 months. He ate foods early as well. I simply had a hard time finding the formula he was on, so I called his doctor and she suggested that I give him whole milk. He has done great with it and it sure helped me from going crazy trying to find his formula. hope this helps

M.;

I started all my kids on milk before they were a year old. especially they are eating solids it shouldn't be an issue. Besides, milk is cheaper than formula, so if you're not receiving on WiC, it makes perfect sense.

My pediatrician recommended starting on 2% to be sure they didn't have any lactose allergies, or other stomach/digestive issues, and then slowly moving up to whole milk. The extra milk fat can sometimes be an issue in the beginning.

Also, when you take your son off formula, he will probably need to take a vitamin supplement. Formula is very fortified and milk isn't.

P.S. not to sound dumb, but what does DH stand for?
Good luck!

Before we had formula mothers who weren't able to breast feed used canned milk! Now it's not formulated to be best for an infant so companies came up with formula my point is my grandmother used it with her kids and all of them are fine but from what I have been told is that whole milk is hard on a infants digestive track and can be known to make the linning of the stomach to bleed now whether or not that is true and my sources are mags and my kids ped if your child is already consuming dairy and he is 11 months old then I am very sure he will be fine with it!

Hi M.,

When my son was about eleven and a half months, I asked my pediatrician about introducing milk, and he told me that there isn's some sort of magical moment that happens on the baby's first birthday; rather, it is an average guesstimate for the normal baby. He said if my son was tolerating other dairy products to try it, and I did. My son was fine, and now he loves his milk!

Whole cow's milk has fewer nutrients, which won't be an issue if his diet is healthy and varied or if you give vitamin drops, but it also has much more sodium than formula does. Too much sodium can be rough on their little kidneys.

But honestly? You're only a month away. I don't think it will do any damage, and my pediatrician approved the switch from soy formula to soy milk (my daughter had allergies) when she was 10 1/2 months, soy milk having about the same sodium as cow's milk. I'm pretty sure at least half of moms out there switch to cow's milk a little early, to save money and cut down on bottle prep time. So go for it, but watch to make sure he does't have any bad reactions to it.