Switching to Whole Milk - Virginia Beach,VA

It's 13 days, go for it. But why not drop the bottle and do sippy cups? My kids started with sippys around 6-8 months and were pretty prroficient around 12 months.

I do not understand the "one year old and it's time to change" thing. There is no magic about the first birthday that makes a baby need breastmilk less than the week before. It is very normal to breastfeed to at least 2 years old, and often longer, in most parts of the world. 2 would be a minimum in my book. The child may be on solid foods, but still needs the very important nutrients only your milk can provide, as well as the most amazing comfort that a child needs at that age.
Switching to whole milk may be a recommendation of pediatricians--most of whom have very little, if any, training in nutrition or holistic health, such as how absorption of nutrients or source of nutrients can affect health--but many babies have bad reactions to cows milk, even if they are not outright allergies.
Why gamble with it? This third baby of yours could be the one who gets to nurse until she is really finished needing that from you.

I started transitioning my boys at around 11 month, by mixing small amounts of milk in their bottles and slowly increasing the amount of milk to get them used to the taste. With 13 days to go, I would start adding it too her bottled breast milk now so she can begin to get used to the flavor difference. By adding a little at a time to her breast milk you can also watch for any reaction she may have should she be intolerant to it. There is nothing wrong with continuing to breast feed, but there is also nothing wrong with transitioning to cows milk at this point, it is a personal decision, and either way her health will be fine as long as she is not lactose intolerant.

We started the transition about that time. I did 1/2 whole milk 1/2 breast milk in a bottle. I gradually decreased the amount of breast milk. In hindsight, I should have skipped the bottle and done the cup. I'm kinda regretting that one!

Hi K.---Before you decide to start giving our daughter whole milk, please explore these websites: www.pcrm.org, www.strongbones.org and www.notmilk.com.

I am a reformed cows milk drinker. I gave up dairy after taking a series of wellness classes taught by a Naturopath who has her PhD in Nutrition. She shares compelling evidence and long term research showing the ill effects of cows milk on human health. After all, if you think about it, the milk of any mammal is formulated specifically to help the newborn of the species grow quickly to live on it's own. Cows milk is highly allergenic, being one of the biggest risk factors for developing type 1 diabetes. It also increases the risk of prostate cancer and skim milk increases that risk even more. I also recommend reading The China Study by T Colin Campbell.

Where does the advice to drink milk come from? The dairy industry and the USDA, an organization set up to promote agriculture. Note that they are not in the health business. They are in the business to sell dairy. And you can't blame doctors for not knowing any better. They know very little, if anything, about nutrition. They don't know what they don't know.

Just have your little one drink water when she is at daycare. We don't drink enough of plain, filtered water anyway. Calcium needs can be met with food in her diet. I have a great chart with a list of plant based sources of calcium, among them being broccoli, kale, bok choy and sesame seeds. Just let me know if you have any additional questions, I'd be happy to help.

Just keep breastfeeding as long as the both of you want to. It's the best. Good luck and be well, D.

Test the milk at home and see how she does.. Let her try it out of a sippy cup. Pretend you are drinking from it and see if she wants to try what mom is drinking..

Yes, it's OK...she's only 2 weeks away from 1.

She can take breastmilk for as long as you want.
Or both.

I breastfed both my kids until they self-weaned. My daughter self-weaned at about 2.5 years old, and my son at about 1 year old. They were by then, on whole milk and solids and other liquids.
BUT, when younger and especially for the 1st year, I breastfed primarily.

Maybe try other bottle brands. My son, did well with the "MAM" brand bottle, from Amazon. It is widely used in Europe. Not sold in stores here much. But Amazon has it. It is BPA free, and has natural nipple... not one of those huge bulbous shaped nipples that look like Christmas tree ornaments.

all the best,
Susan

if she only wants milk from you directly then only give it to her that way. kids her age dont have to have milk, only calcium. give it to her in other ways like yogurt. have you tried ovultine? thats the only way i could get my oldest to drink milk.

Yes, it is ok to start giving her milk when you want to give a bottle (or cup) instead of breast milk. It is almost time to wean from the bottle anyway.

i think it's just fine to do so, so long as you can get her to take it cheerfully. and she will, it will just take a little time if she already dislikes the bottle and sippy cup. start by mixing tiny (tiny! like a teaspoon!) amounts of whole milk into your breast milk for her bottles. keep it at that level until she's okay with it. if she's already resistant to anything but the breast, trying to persuade her to use a bottle or cup AND get used to not-mama-milk is just too much. just make the transition slowly.
if you can get raw milk from a good producer, it's often more palatable to babies (and everyone else) than processed milk.
khairete
S.