Weaning to cow's milk, formula, nothing, other? - Page 2

[Averys_mom]

Firstly, from one EPer to another, congratulations for making it this far. I EP'd for 15 mos (recently stopped due to pregnancy), and it is an incredible feat that no one but us EPers can understand. Good for you!!!

I understand your problem perfectly, except my dd hardly ate any solids at 12 mos (and still doesn't really). My advice? Wean to infant[/U] formula.

Follow-up formulas are too sweet and do not have the milk protein broken down like infant formulas do. Infant formulas do have slightly more fat and less calcium, but I say don't worry about the fat and it sounds like your little one is getting enough calcium through diet.

It is best to keep from introducing milk until two years old (cheese and yogurt are cultured differently, so continue to offer these) and the complete whole nutrition of formula is good insurance for these vital developing years. Most of all, you want to be sure your child gets a good daily source of DHA, the fat responsible for optimum brain and nerve development. The brain is laying the "connectors" in the first two years that will last your child's entire life, and it needs this DHA for that proper development. DHA is readily offered now in more formulas (look for it) and is extremely difficult to get in the diet otherwise (purified cod liver oil is a good source, though).

Cow's milk and goat's milk do not contain DHA. MM and formula do. I chose DHA fortified infant formula for my toddler for this reason and I intend to continue until she is 2.

Again, congrats on the pumping. You are awesome!

[loraxc]

Thank you so much, Avery's mom and kerc! EPing is so flipping hard. I feel guilty for wanting to stop, but it has taken so much out of me, and it has taken a toll on my family as well. Like you, Avery's mom, I can't wait to have another one and have a good nursing relationship (ours has been so hard and full of pain and tears).

So far I think I am planning on keeping her on the infant formula a while longer. Opinions on the follow-up stuff seem mixed. I may add goats' milk or organic cows milk to the mix later on.

It's funny because I think as a supplementer, I see this totally differently than the typical mom who BFs till 12 months and then weans.

[cmb123]

I just wanted to give you another applause
My pp on this thread was short, and I did't take the extra second to comment on that. It takes an unbelievable amount of dedication to accomplish what you have! Once you've been giving the best for so long, it's a tough choice to figure out what to move to...I can understand your feeling "guilty" for wanting to stop (it's a Mom thing ), I hope you can move past that. You have gone above and beyond.
Good luck, I know you'll find something out of all of these choices that works for your family.

[mollyeilis]

I personally would look at the individual nutrients listed on the labels of milk and formula that you think are needed, and then use foods to achieve those nutrients.

Personally, although I'm fully addicted to cow's milk myself, I see nothing of value in it for anyone but a baby cow. The A and D are *added* to it, Earthsave says that the calcium found in milk is more than completely used by digesting the animal protein in the serving of milk (and so there's no calcium at the end of it and the drinker ends up with less calcium than before drinking the milk)...I just see nothing faboo about cow's milk. Unless you're a baby cow.

Don't know about goat's milk, though my mom tried to get us to drink it when we were little and we refused.

Raw cow's milk tastes better than regular cow's milk. But it's hard to find.

IMO if one is worried about the estrogens in soy, what's the info on estrogens in cow's milk?

I once heard that rat's milk is actually the closest to human milk. But bleah, you think pumping yourself is hard! Gosh that visual makes me giggle...pumping a herd of rats...

Rice milk makes me itch so I can't really speak about it. :

All that to say again, I'd look at all that they add to cow's milk, look at the nutrients put in formula by the nutritionists that come up with formula's formula, and figure out if there's a way to give her that in non-liquid food. Hope my thoughts help.

[dido1]

Slightly OT but...

Just want to point out that the concept that soy is bad because of estrogen is very flawed. Many generations of Asians have been raised on soy with no ill effects as were three generations of Americans who live on "The Farm" in Tennasee (sp?), home of midwife Ina May Gaskin (this community eats a soybased diet). The article that was in Mothering flaming soy was terribly, terribly flawed and written by someone affiliated financially with the american dairy industry. My mother is a vegan cookbook author who thrives on researching soy and I'd be happy to pass on her extensive list of scientific studies that disprove the "extra estrogen" theory about soy. Please don't be afraid to feed soy to your children...it has tremendous benefits.

I'm not a vegan or vegetarian pushing a soy agenda (quite the carnivore in fact), just don't like soy getting a bad name

[majazama]

The article written in mothering was someone affiliated financially with the american dairy industry??? Really? Do you have proof?

I have the same blood type as the majority of Asians (B), and I find that I can't eat soy products. Miso is fine, but tofu makes me super tired and feeling depleted, KWIM? I think the article I read in mothering about soy confimed my feelings that I already had about it.

You can send me the pro-soy info to [e-mail]