Re: Should I give my DD organic cow's milk after I wean her at 1 year old?

[cmiller77]

I'm not sure if this thread goes here or not but I have been researching and researching and have not come up with a clear answer. I know most Americans drink cow's milk and most parents give it to their kiddos but I am not sure what kind of milk to give my DD after I quit BF when she turns 1 year old. I have thought about soy milk but then I have read studies on the dangers of soy (only because they do not have the strict processing guidelines for soy that they used to) and then I thought I would give her organic cow's milk. I read that any cow's milk regardless of being organic or not has a protein in which humans cannot break down or digest. So, what am I supposed to give her besides water after I stop nursing her??? Thanks in advance for any advice!

[Therese's Mommy]

Why are you weaning her? Breastmilk is still best for a 1yo.

[earthmama369]

I'm trying to tread lightly here, but if there isn't a compelling medical reason to wean your dd at 12 months, would it be possible to simply continue nursing her? In my own experience, nursing through those early toddler months was so much easier, in terms of continuing a vital connection and having a really easy "tool" in my parental toolkit for calming down an upset or tired kiddo.

But if you do choose to, or need to, wean at 12 months, I would go to an organic formula. A lot of 12-month-olds really don't eat enough solid foods, in enough variety, to meet all their nutritional needs, and straight animal or nut/rice/soy milks just don't provide enough nutrition to make up for the lack of breastmilk.

[erinsmama]

Organic Cow's Milk

Well, ultimately make your own decision here, but my daughter drinks quite a bit of cow's milk & she is 18 months. She probably drinks about 20 oz of cow's milk per day, with meals and a bottle at night. We don't give her organic because we can't afford it, but we do give her milk from local farms without the artificial growth hormones in it.

My daughter is very healthy & seems to digest it just fine. She takes in a variety of healthy foods which are mostly unprocessed.

Good luck!

[cmiller77]

Thanks you all for the advice! And as for continuing bf after 1 year it has always been my goal to go 1 year bf so unless I change my mind when it gets closer, then I still plan on weaning around that time. One of the main reasons for this decision is because I really know my boss would not go for continuing to allw the pumping sessions at work twice a day after a whole year of doing so. I have been back at work since my baby girl was 6 weeks and have been pumping religiously twice a day at work and every morning after I nurse her before I got to work. I really don't want them to use this against me which I have given no reason to because my productivity is still high. If I were fortunate enough to be a stay at home momma doing (which has always been my dream to do photography and raise my DD) then that might be a different story

[RasJi7]

I wish you were feeling more empowered about the pumping thing. Can you take a half hour lunch and take morning and afternoon breaks? They don't need to know what you do on your breaks. Also some Moms can nurse before and after work successfully and their little one gets solids during the day.

The World Health Organization recommends nursing for minimum of 2 years. This is my goal, not sure how we will do weaning at that point (if we will do CLW, child-led weaning or Momma led)

[azdesertrn]

With my DS I quit pumping at work at 15 months and he still nursed for years (I'm embarrassed to say how many years)

DD just turned 12 months- I work part time and quit pumping several months ago since she never took a bottle. I pump once in the morning before work so she can have a few ounces with a straw. My body has adjusted to going 9 hours without nursing/pumping twice a week and I still have plenty of milk for her when I am home.

I do plan to introduce DD to small amounts of raw organic cow's milk this week- but not to replace nursing, just as another beverage option. I don't do juice - she gets water, weak herbal teas, and an occasional bit of yogurt smoothie.

If your little one is eating well you don't have to add any milk products if you don't want to.

[cmiller77]

I wish I could but I'm a project manager in sales and my boss has made it pretty apparent that because I am the customer's point of contact that I need to be there at all times.

[cristeen]

Originally Posted by cmiller77

I wish I could but I'm a project manager in sales and my boss has made it pretty apparent that because I am the customer's point of contact that I need to be there at all times.

Well... whether your boss likes it or not, that's not legal.

Check with your state labor board - but last I checked the federal labor laws required 2 - 10 minute breaks and a 30 minute lunch for every 8 hour shift. He legally cannot require you to give those up. Nor can he punish you for taking them.

[stormborn]

At that age you might be able to breastfeed while you are home even if you stop pumping at work. I only work part time but I pump before the baby (11mo) wakes up on my work days and that plus table food is enough for her until I get home. I leave work with a bigger bra size than I clock in with, but my supply is still good.

[ursusarctos]

You could also try goat's milk. It's easier for humans to digest than cow's milk because the fat molecule is smaller, closer to human milk (if I remember correctly ).

[weliveintheforest]

I give my toddler goats and cows milk, but I try to get organic and raw milk as much as possible.

[mamadelbosque]

I started giving DS og raw milk when he was ~15 or so months old. Mind you, at 27 months he's still nursing though he's cut down to just once a day. Just because you stop pumping at work doesn't mean you *have* to wean - you can still nurse when your home. Sure, your supply will decrease, but it won't go away completely untill you actually wean.

[dogmom327]

If for some reason I wasn't able to breastfeed at that point, I'd make raw goat milk formula using the recipe at www.westonaprice.org.

[zinemama]

My ds was ff and we switched to organic cow's milk at one year (couldn't wait to get away from the formula!). He did just fine. My second nursed for 3 years, but he, too, started drinking some organic milk (mostly in cereal) around 1yo. He did fine, too.

As for weaning, I am certainly not going to tell you to keep pumping. Doing it for a year is something to be tremendously proud of. But just because you stop pumping doesn't mean you have to wean at 12 months if you don't want to. (If you do want to wean, no judgement here).

But if you enjoy your breastfeeding relationship and want to keep nursing mornings and bedtimes, weekends, with your dd getting most of her nutrition from organic milk during the day, that works, too. It doesn't have to be all or nothing if you don't want it to.

[eclipse]

Just for the record, you can pump wean without weaning. Stopping pumping at work does not mean that you ultimately have to wean at home.

All that said, if I stopped breastfeeding at that age, what I did in its place would depend upon the type of diet my kids ate. If they were eating very little in the way of solids, like my boys were at that age, I'd opt for a (preferably organic) baby or toddler formula. If they were eating a varied diet, like my dd was, I would probably feel okay with cow milk.

[1littlebit]

you might consider giving milk of some kind while you are at work (i feel you on pumping.. i'm SAHM but i re lactated and pumped... i hate my breast pump i want to smash it with a hammer most of the time) and nursing while you are home. i do not think milk (especially pasteurized and homogenized) provides enough nutrition for a child that young. if you do opt to wean and give milk i recommend raw and if you can't get that i would go with unhomogenized. and i agree with PP who said goats milk is easier to digest for people... it would be great if you could get raw goats milk.

my ds gets formula mostly... and we still give him formula at 16 mos b/c i don't think cows milk is an acceptable BM sub. and we can't get raw.. at least not without taking out selling a kidney and driving 3 hrs round trip.

[staceychev]

I went back to work when DD was 14 months. I nursed her at home and she had organic cows' milk at daycare. She nursed for years afterwards.

[Ruthla]

Whether or not you continue pumping at work, you can continue nursing your daughter during the times you're together. Whether or not you'll then need to give her some kind of breastmilk substitute while you're working depends on a lot of factors. How many hours per day do you work? How much nursing does she do the rest of the day and night? What's the rest of her diet like?

If she's not getting very much breastmilk when you're together, and/or she's not really into solids yet, she'll need formula (or a mixture of formula and whole milk.) If she nurses really well at home, plus eats a wide variety of solids during the day, then she may not need an alternative milk source at all. If it's somewhere in between, then whole cow or goat milk is a reasonable choice.

I definitely suggest that you introduce the new kind of milk before you stop pumping, so you can easily go back to breastmilk only if she doesn't tolerate it.

[Mrsboyko]

My DD is allergic to cow milk, soy milk, and goat so when I decided to stop pumping at work, we gave her hemp milk. I too was back at work at 6 weeks but I pumped till I think 14 months with her. She weaned at 23 months when I was 5 months prego with my DS.

After BF'ing for a year, weaning doesn't have to be all or nothing. It is not like the early months of "use or loose it". Your body will get used to it. I think I dropped one pumping at around 11 months, then the second one was weaned out around 12 months. I went down to 4x a week, then 3x, then 2x, then only when i really needed to. My body is a little slow in getting the message so that is why it took till 14 months to be really free of the pump. And on weekends when she would eat during the day, my body still had enough at night. It was pretty amazing.