Breastfeeding past a year...

[haurelia]

I know that this forum says it's focused on the first year of breastfeeding, so please move this if it's not appropriate.

I am wondering about something, though. I nurse my son, who is 11 months old, on demand. What do mamas do about introducing cow's milk to their LOs when they're still getting mama milk on demand?

He still nurses 4-8 times a day and once or twice at night, eats like a horse most days, and drinks water from a cup sometimes. Is it even necessary to offer him other drinks when he still nurses this much?

Thanks in advance for weighing in.

[fruitfulmomma]

The bf'ing beyond infancy forum is here...

http://www.mothering.com/discussions...play.php?f=310

But to answer your questions, I think it is fine to introduce milk and other dairy now if you want to, but I don't think you really need to do it. My 12mo likes it but she just takes a sip or two. She really loves yogurt and cheese though.

As far as water I would offer sips of it while he is eating solids and maybe a few times a day if it gets too hot, but bm is almost entirely water so as long as he is stil bf'ing a lot he doesn't need to drink a glass of it or anything like that.

ETA: I suspect the big push for getting children onto whole milk at a year old is probably because many ff'ing parents are going to stop giving it around this time and go solely with solids. Since you are still giving whole, raw milk that was made perfectly with *your* baby in mind, a substitute isn't necessary.

[luvmybaby333]

I would not worry about it unless you really feel that he'll be needing cow's milk supplementation. My daughter is 1½ years old and she gets nothing but water and breast milk (straight from the tap on both counts. ) I did offer her milk when she was around a year. However, just once or twice was enough to tell me that her little system just wasn't ready for it. (Read: diarrhea and a generally unhappy tummy.) Upon further research I realized that it was not necessary for toddlers to have-- even if they are NOT getting breast milk. There are plenty of other ways for children to get calcium and fats. My daughter happens to love cheese, so that satisfies any concern on my part.

I will mention that I receive WIC. They adore my daughter there. They always comment on how healthy and precocious she is (they don't get very many breastfeeding babes through their office, unfortunately.) It amazes me, though, that they KNOW she's so healthy and they love everything I'm doing with her-- and yet the nutritionist still tries to talk me into offering her more whole milk. She even suggests that I add chocolate to it to make it more appealing. I gently try to explain that we do plenty of cooking with milk, and that my daughter eats lots of cheese... but she can't seem to get past her preconceived notions about how "vital" milk is for toddlers. But it's simply not so.

Anywho... I dunno. I guess I kinda went off on a tangent. I'm so sorry. If you do choose to start supplementing your breast milk with cow's milk (after a year) you could try to offer one sippy daily now. If you son doesn't take to it, try again after his first birthday. At that point it may be safe to offer pasteurized honey mixed in with the milk. I have heard many people say that this works for them when their booby-baby snubs his or her nose at plain cow's milk. I have gotten my daughter to drink milk on a couple occasions using that trick... Of course, now I am skipping the cow's milk altogether.

[luvmybaby333]

Originally Posted by fruitfulmomma

The bf'ing beyond infancy forum is here...

http://www.mothering.com/discussions...play.php?f=310

But to answer your questions, I think it is fine to introduce milk and other dairy now if you want to, but I don't think you really need to do it. My 12mo likes it but she just takes a sip or two. She really loves yogurt and cheese though.

As far as water I would offer sips of it while he is eating solids and maybe a few times a day if it gets too hot, but bm is almost entirely water so as long as he is stil bf'ing a lot he doesn't need to drink a glass of it or anything like that.

ETA: I suspect the big push for getting children onto whole milk at a year old is probably because many ff'ing parents are going to stop giving it around this time and go solely with solids. Since you are still giving whole, raw milk that was made perfectly with *your* baby in mind, a substitute isn't necessary.

Sorry... I guess I took too long writing my response. Pretty much what she said. ^^^

[4Jet]

I agree with PP. You can intro cow's milk if you want but even at 2, DD isn't a fan unless it's with cereal.

[isabchi]

If you baby continue nursing there is not need of supplement with other mammals milk. You can offer if you like it, but for the nutritional purpose mother's milk still past the year the best whole milk that your baby can get.

[mrsfrenchy]

You don't need to by any means, but my DD (almost 18 months) gets water or cows milk with each meal. Now that she can say 'water' and 'milk', I normally let her pick which she wants--I don't worry about getting a min. amount of milk the way you would if she weren't nursing

[haurelia]

Thanks mamas! And thanks, fruitfulmomma for pointing me to the correct forum.

I hadn't really given it much thought before now, as his b-day is creeping up. I really don't see any reason to start giving cow's milk, unless he drops nursing (I don't see why he would do that at this point...he loves his milk!). I don't have a huge supply stashed, and pump on my 2 work days just to keep up with what he drinks while I'm gone (that's another story), but I'm fine continuing this as long as he needs it.

He likes cheese, yogurt and cottage cheese, so I'm fine with just keeping it to cultured dairy for now, and maybe offering him milk here and there as he gets older. We don't really drink milk in our household, just use it to make yogurt, and sometimes to cook with or make hot chocolate.

[Ruthla]

I always thought of cow's milk as a new food to introduce, not as a replacement for breastmilk. My babies got a few sips of cow's milk in a cup to go along with a snack of cookies, or a little bit poured on cereal. DS didn't start drinking the stuff by the cupful until he was almost 4 and weaning, even though he had his first sip around 10mo (on Daddy's lap, from Daddy's cup, while sharing Daddy's plate of cookies.)

There's certainly nothing wrong with offering cow's or goat's milk to a toddler, but there's absolutely no *need* for it either, if breastmilk is always available in sufficient quantities.

You can probably stop stressing about "pumping enough' each day. Defiinitley keep on pumping at work (unless you're feeling burnt out by the pumping) but you don't need to worry quite as much if you're a little short- he can get cow's or goat's milk while you're working if you weren't able to pump quite enough one day.

Really, you have three options with the pumping: you can just send what you're able to pump, and have the DCP feed him extra solids and water if he's still hungry or thirsty, you can top off bottles of ebm with cow's milk if you're "short" that day, or you can send all the ebm you have and then an additional bottle/sippy cup of cow's milk in case he finishes the ebm and still wants milk. Oh, and of course, the 4th option of adding in pumping sessions during the day (even at home if needed) to get the needed amount of ebm for daycare. That's what I'd suggest if you had a young baby and trouble pumping enough, but I'm not sure it's worth the extra hassle for a toddler.