Are you going to be giving your baby cow's milk at 12 months or older- or at all?

[mom2happy]

Just curious.

Will you be giving bottle or go straight to sippy cup or regular cup?

What will you put in it?

I gave both of mine bottles because they still needed to suck when they weaned (at 15 & 18 months)

I mostly gave them homemade almond milk, organic rice, or soymilk. I would top off their bottles with a little olive oil and rarely a tiny bit of whole cow's milk for fat.

Most of the time I did not give them cows milk because I just don't think its meant to be consumed by human babies.

People think I'm crazy that I don't find it religiously necessary. It's like they are scared that I'm harming my children or breaking the law that all good mom's know they have to follow.

[~Charlie's~Angel~]

I am one of the rare MDCers that DO give my kids cow's milk (or soymilk and/or almond milk for my dairy allergic guy) however, I don't give it nearly as much as my MIL thinks I should.  lol  I am not on either side of the fence when it comes to cows milk.  I give it yes, but hey, if another mom doesnt want to, far be it from ME to say thats the WRONG thing to do.  KWIM?

[love4bob]

 

I give it to mine if they want it. I'm not against cows milk, but I don't think it's 100% needed to keep them healthy. DD1 hardly ever drinks it because she just doesn't really like it(has a slight lactose intolerance), and she is perfectly healthy. DD2 and DD3 however, do like milk(and DD3 likes it a lot, lol!), so they drink it more often. I go straight to sippy cups after a year, and DD2 refused to use a bottle at 10 months. She was FF, so I started putting her formula in sippys, then went to milk at a year.

[P.J.]

I am right there with you- I think it's kind of weird the way people drink cow's milk straight up. I am not vegan and I do eat cheese, but I have always hated milk and had an allergy as a baby. For that reason I am not going to give it to my baby now for sure, but even beyond that I just find it gross, and besides that there is loads of research (see John Robbins' work) that it is not healthy to drink cows milk.

So no, no cow's milk here. Other plant-based milks, sure, although for now (DS is 8 mo) we only give him water in a sippy cup, and of course breastmilk.

[Greenlea]

I gave my DS cows milk not too long after 1 year.  He weaned at 10mths at which point he was already on organic formula part time.  We made the switch to organic whole milk when he was only taking a bottle before bed time.  Once we got him weaned off that night time bottle we stopped milk completely.  We don't drink milk in our house, so neither does DS.  If I was able to keep nursing him, I wouldn't have given him cow's milk at all.

[Parker'smommy]

Nope. I am not. I predict that we will still be nursing ( nursed the older two for 3 and 4 years) at that time and why would I give my human baby a cow's milk when she is getting human milk? It doesn't really make sense in that context. If my baby had weaned ( and I do not forsee that happening as I will not lead weaning at that age) I might give it. I'm not sure. I do give my children dairy though. They will eat cheeses and yogurts, and have cereal in milk. But that's about it. Oh, and they LOVE chocolate milk when we go out for dinner somewhere. But that's about it. It's not necessary. My children get plenty of calcium from the sources I mentioned and from leafy greens. 

[Adaline'sMama]

We arent using a bottle or a sippy cup right now, mainly just because DD doesnt respond  to them by sucking. She just bites the mouth and then throws it on the floor. She drinks from an open cup- with help. Hopefully, in the next month or so she will be able to drink from her shot glass alone.

I plan to give a mixture of things. I dont drink cows milk, because I dont like it. DH does, and he loves it. I will probably give her cows milk if she likes it, but it will have to be raw, hormone free milk from our local dairy. Im sure MIL and my mom will think it is soo ridiculous that they cant just give her regular old vitamin D Dean's Milk, but I dont want my kiddo drinking all those hormones. I will allow them to give her milk from Stoneyfiled farms or Horizon just to please them. That will be an every now and then thing.

I drink coconut milk, and I love it. DD scarfs it down when I occasionally give it to her.

One thing that I have found, is that now that she is eating solid food, everyone except for me and DH is constantly asking her if she is thirsty and then trying to get her to drink stuff. She isnt thristy. She nurses plenty and that should be all the hydration she needs! I will give water every couple of days, but its mainly to pratice with the cup. MIL is always like "Oh, let me give you some water to wash that down", refering to washing down DDs food. Grrr....(totally OT, sorry).

[Terrilein]

Definitely not regularly before 12 months since I'll still be packing the goods. A taste here or there can't hurt, but I don't see many opportunities for it since we are not a milk drinking family.

[tzs]

mine is 16 months but i did start giving her cow's milk in a regular cup alittle before a year...before that it was water. 

i personally think drinking milk is just kinda gross and have never liked it, even as a kid. and in theory i think it's a little weird for humans to drink another mammel's milk but i have done zero research in even the most superficial way to back up my natural feelings about it. 

i give it to dd because i'm not the greatest at making sure she get's calcium and other vitamins in other ways and although i love cheese and other dairy, kosher dairy of any kind is kind of hard to come by for us, not so yummy, and very expensive.

unfortunately and maybe because i started her on water with meals, that is what she prefers and while i think it's a great choice i would like to see her drink more milk. she's already dropped from just under the 50th percentile to the 15th and this is a kid who eats like crazy. she basically finishes adult-sized portions (for lunch right now she just ate 3 eggs, a piece of toast, avocado, and potatoes and i'm about to get her fruit for dessert...this is after a midmorning snack of a banana and a cereal bar and breakfast of oatmeal!) and i make sure she gets extra fat wherever i can add it.

the only explanation we can come up with is that she's just not getting the fat and calories that other kids are getting from drinking tons of milk with every meal. so because of that i do see the value of giving kids cows' milk. (although i do substitute almond milk or coconut milk and have resorted to adding a bit of chocolate to mask the yucky milky taste

[Jenille]

I would never give my little ones cow's milk. After all, it's the perfect food for baby COWS not, baby humans. As I child, I suffered from many of the health-damaging effects of drinking cow's milk like chronic sore throats, ear infections, gas, bloating, and constipation. My children don't suffer from any of these conditions, and I'm sure it's because they don't consume dairy products, and never have.

[Buzzer Beater]

We will not give cow's milk at all. We don't have it in the house. Later, some yogurt and cheese in small amounts.

[Mawood]

I think the drinking milk as a beverage is very "American" if I may say so. Haven't seen a glass of milk with supper in other countries. I grew up in Germany where milk is more like meal than a drink. I will probably give it to my daughter in the ways I had it as a child (in baked goods or as an ingredient in a dish, chocolate milk on hopefully rare occasions) but not as a drink with a meal. I myself love joghurt, kefir, buttermilk and my husband and I both enjoy cheeses a lot so she will probably have that soon. I am planning on breast feeding for a while so that will be the milk she gets :)

[Knitting Mama]

Probably not at all, unless she really wants it when she's old enough to ask for it. We're not vegan or even vegetarian, but cow's milk for babies just sort of squicks me out.

[Perdita_in_Ontario]

Originally Posted by Mawood 

I think the drinking milk as a beverage is very "American" if I may say so. Haven't seen a glass of milk with supper in other countries. I grew up in Germany where milk is more like meal than a drink. I will probably give it to my daughter in the ways I had it as a child (in baked goods or as an ingredient in a dish, chocolate milk on hopefully rare occasions) but not as a drink with a meal. I myself love joghurt, kefir, buttermilk and my husband and I both enjoy cheeses a lot so she will probably have that soon. I am planning on breast feeding for a while so that will be the milk she gets :)

I grew up first in Scotland, and then in Canada but obviously with a British family, and we had milk to drink at least twice a day - breakfast and supper. So not just American :)  I have lactose intolerance, though, and have my suspicions that DD is also developing it, so there isn't a lot of milk-drinking in this house.

I was just thinking about this last night. I nursed DD until she was 3.5 and plan on nursing DS for a long time yet. There's no particular reason that DS should drink cow's milk and I certainly won't be offering it in a sippy because they're difficult to clean. At some point I'm sure he'll taste it - I'm not against it, but there's no compelling reason for him to have it either except if he tries it and likes the taste. So - "not yet".
 

[MJB]

I will give whole cow's milk or milk-based formula as a beverage until at least 2, when I am not around to nurse her. It is a little weird to drink another mammal's milk but I think it's healthier and less weird for babies than vegan alternatives. The big kids and grownups in my family drink soymilk but babies need animal milk IMO. I do plan to nurse her until 2 but I'm in school and have other obligations as well. She gets solids and water also but I really think animal milk (ideally, human) is important for babies, and going all day without it isn't ideal. 

My oldest son couldn't tolerate dairy as a little guy but he nursed until 5 so I think it evened out. My middle kidlet loved cow's milk as a toddler. Neither of them drink milk now, except for the occasional chocolate milk. 

[SeattleRain]

I definitely plan on giving Daniel whole milk. He's FF and I have no interest in feeding him formula beyond a year, if he was breastfed I would feel differently. I know some people who FF feel more comfortable giving a breastmilk supplement up to the point they would breastfeed for (2-3 years) but I don't feel comfortable with that. Unlike many of the posters here, I find cows milk to be quite delicious and healthy, particularly whole milk. Faced with the choice of feeding Daniel a chemical cocktail of formula and a whole food like milk, I'll be choosing the milk thank you very much! So at a year when I can switch, I'll switch to an organic whole milk.

We're not vegetarians and we enjoy milk in all forms (cheese, yogurt, and milk) and meats. I see no reason not to foster a love of those foods as well. I'm curious as to why the posters who are not vegetarians are so reserved about feeding children milk. I think if you're going to make the case that milk is not for baby humans than you have to make that case about a lot of things. I don't think milk should be the sole diet for baby humans as it is for baby cows, but I don't have a problem with it. Daniel is going to be a meat eater, why shouldn't he eat all parts of the cow?

[Buzzer Beater]

Originally Posted by SeattleRain 

We're not vegetarians and we enjoy milk in all forms (cheese, yogurt, and milk) and meats. I see no reason not to foster a love of those foods as well. I'm curious as to why the posters who are not vegetarians are so reserved about feeding children milk. I think if you're going to make the case that milk is not for baby humans than you have to make that case about a lot of things. I don't think milk should be the sole diet for baby humans as it is for baby cows, but I don't have a problem with it. Daniel is going to be a meat eater, why shouldn't he eat all parts of the cow?

 I'm not veg, tho I was vegan for 3 and veg for another 10 or so... raised dd1 for several years that way. I just think there are so many foods to eat that are better for you than animal products. We cook from scratch (except bread products, way too lazy) and have just developed a way of cooking around animals for the most part. DH is veg, tho not militant. In fact, I'd be the one more likely to raise dd2 vegan the way I did dd1. I just believe it's healthier to avoid those fats, proteins and possible other unknowns, especially for babies. I haven't done a ton of reading on the subject, but have loaned John Robbins' Diet for a New America to a number of people.

[SeattleRain]

Originally Posted by Buzzer Beater 

 I'm not veg, tho I was vegan for 3 and veg for another 10 or so... raised dd1 for several years that way. I just think there are so many foods to eat that are better for you than animal products. We cook from scratch (except bread products, way too lazy) and have just developed a way of cooking around animals for the most part. DH is veg, tho not militant. In fact, I'd be the one more likely to raise dd2 vegan the way I did dd1. I just believe it's healthier to avoid those fats, proteins and possible other unknowns, especially for babies. I haven't done a ton of reading on the subject, but have loaned John Robbins' Diet for a New America to a number of people.

I can totally understand why someone who is veg or vegan or has those tendancies would avoid giving their child milk. Obviously there is something about meat that they object to, and that is totally fine. It makes sense that if they don't consume a lot of animal products that their children wouldn't. What I don't understand are people who regularly consume meat products, but object to milk for the baby.

I also don't really understand the argument "Well I don't really like milk, so I don't feed it to my baby either." I don't really like peas, but I feed it to Daniel. I feed it to him so he'll develop tastes for healthful things that maybe I don't like. My husband hates fish, but I still plan on feeding it to Daniel. Daniel and I are different people and have different preferences.
 

[Knitting Mama]

Originally Posted by SeattleRain 

We're not vegetarians and we enjoy milk in all forms (cheese, yogurt, and milk) and meats. I see no reason not to foster a love of those foods as well. I'm curious as to why the posters who are not vegetarians are so reserved about feeding children milk. I think if you're going to make the case that milk is not for baby humans than you have to make that case about a lot of things. I don't think milk should be the sole diet for baby humans as it is for baby cows, but I don't have a problem with it. Daniel is going to be a meat eater, why shouldn't he eat all parts of the cow?

There are a few reasons I don't want to give cow's milk to Cecilia. One, she has had breastmilk her entire life so far, and that won't stop when she's over 1. It's not been mine all along either; my low supply has meant that she has had donated milk nearly her entire life. I will continue to give her as much breastmilk as she wants, until she doesn't want it anymore. Two, organic, raw cow's milk or goat's milk is expensive, and we frankly cannot afford it. Yet, I do not want to give her milk that could be loaded with extra hormones, chemicals and other things that she does not need. I would much rather give her almond milk or hemp milk instead.

[CookAMH]

My DS actually had some cow's milk around 11 mo (now 22mo), and in our house, he only drinks raw milk. When we visit ILs, we can't get raw milk there so he drinks store-bought milk.  With our next, if we visit ILs when our new babe is around a year, we wouldn't give commercial milk, just water and mamma's milk.

I would venture to guess that those mamas who had issues as a child were not fed raw milk, and there are numerous benefits for humans to drink raw cow's milk (read The Untold Story of Milk).  I can understand the hesitation to give young toddlers pasteurized, homogonized milk.