Cow's milk... Is 8 months too early?

[Cicho]

I am considering slowly weaning my DD2 on to cows milk from formula due to her slow weight gain... she is 8 months old.

Has anyone started their bubbies on cows milk early? What were the pros and cons?


Thanks in advance :D

[luvmyboys]

Cows milk is nutritionally inferior to formula, they add a lot of vitamins, minerals and fats to normal cows milk to make it more suitable for human babies. I think bubs would probably gain less weight on plain cows milk. There may be an additive or different type of formula you could use if you are concerned about weight gain.

[Me]

I think 8 mths is too early. If your dd is gaining weight slowly, Imo, you should be seeking the advice of a paed about what is best nutritionally for your child.

A babies gut isn't mature enough for cows milk generally until 12 months and introducing it earlier can lead to allergies due to the fragile state of their developing tummies.

IMO, without a paed recommending it, I wouldn do it. Your bub needs as much nutition as possible and formula contains a lot more nutritionally than cows milk.

[Myztiks#1Fan]

i personally wouldnt change over to cows milk to about 11mths or even longer. i would also do it very slowly as in one bottle per day for a few days then increase it to 2 bottles and so on for another few days until fully on cows milk. i personally think its best to stay on formula til at least a year but each to their own

[ontheway]

Cows milk is nutritionally inferior to formula, they add a lot of vitamins, minerals and fats to normal cows milk to make it more suitable for human babies. I think bubs would probably gain less weight on plain cows milk. There may be an additive or different type of formula you could use if you are concerned about weight gain.
:iagree:

I would think 8months is way to young for cows milk and if DD2 is slow gaining weight I would leave her on formula longer.

[Cicho]

Thanks everyone for your advice... The nutritional benefits of formula would far outweigh those of cows milk, but it is the weight gain issue that has me concerned.....

I may take her to the GP and discuss with him... I don't do CHN's all that well so avoid the baby clinic like the plague LOL


Thanks again :)

[pennylane]

My DD2 is on cows milk now and she's nearly 11 months and has been on it since 10 months. It's not something I planned to do but out of nowhere she completely refused her normal formula and after tries of different formulas we were advised to try her on cows milk as she wouldnt have a bar of anything else.

She hasnt looked back.I have NO idea why she weaned herself off her formula because we werent even using cows milk for her cereals so she didnt have the taste for it or anything.Only thing I can think of is that her older sister was sneaking her sips of her cows milk and she liked it better.lol

I wouldnt advise it to anyone but I just wanted to let you know that it hasnt slowed her weight gain,its probably made her a bit fatter actually lol and shes still sleeping right through the night etc'.All babies are different though so Im not sure what would happen with yours but if its something you end up having to do,I just wanted you to know that it hasnt had any significant affects on my DD (and yes I know there could be long term affects for anyone about to jump in and tell me that lol,but it was either cows milk or water and water didnt seem enough to me so cows milk seemed the lesser of two evils :) )