Cow's Milk or Formula?

[laceymr]

My baby girl is a week shy of one. Nursing has slowed down but she still nurses at the three meals and before bed and sometimes at 2 a.m.
We are going out of town for two nights and will be leaving her with my sister. I will pump while away so that I can keep my supply up but I will not have enough pumped before we go for all of her 4-5 feedings per day. Would you recommend that I introduce cow's milk at this age to supplement? Or should I introduce formula? Any other recommendations?

[cristeen]

At this age, she should still be relying on you for the bulk of her nutrition... cows milk does not contain everything she needs. If you wont have most of what she'll need in BM, i would absolutely say formula.

[Marissamom]

I would do as much pumped milk as you can and formula for the other feedings. and I would also figure out how many feedings worth of your milk you would have and spread out the formula as much as possible, just because she may not take it as well. I would make sure she has your milk for bedtime and if she wakes during the night, because when she's tired she's less likely to accept a substitute. 

[PatioGardener]

If it were me, I would pump like crazy and leave full fat cow milk for the feeds that weren't breastmilk.  A few feeds over 2 days and then back to breastfeeding would not make me buy formula.  I would, however, try out cow milk before I went to test for allergy.

[JudiAU]

If she doesn't drink either, I wouldn't assume that she would drink them when you are away. How does she do with a bottle/sippy. If she doesn't routinely take one your sister may have a struggle on her hands with just the bm. Probably she will be solids-heavy those days.

Assuming this is a special trip and that you will be back to nursing regularly, I wouldn't bother with formula. Why buy a container of something she doesn't eat now for 2-3 bottles? If she was going to be getting a lot of milk for a much longer period I might consider.  I might not even bother with the cow's milk if you are leaving close to enough bm. It sounds likes she is into solids and two days with more solids will be fine.