Cow's Milk question

crene84

I posted on his birth month board but thought I'd get your thoughts too if you don't mind.  I started weaning DS a couple weeks ago and for the past week he's been on whole milk only.  I didn't think to spend a long time transitioning because DD didn't have any issues going from formula to cow's milk.  DS seems to like it, drinks a good bit of it, is happy and sleeping well.  However, he has started pooping several more times a day and is dealing with diaper rash.  He had pretty much constant diaper rash as a baby forever..probably like 5 months..it was insane.  My dr and I tried everything on his bum but in the end, the only thing that helped was when he had more solids and stopped pooping so much.  He hasn't had a rash since until now.

I am thinking it's his system adjusting to the cow's milk.  I am wondering how long this will go on, or if I just need to try soy or almond milk? I hate to transition him again since he's doing well in every other way, but I feel bad for his little bum!

tinyhumantoe

Hmmmm.....  I would maybe let it go another week to see if it balances out.  I'd hate to potentially be close to him getting used to it, then switch, and start over with getting used to a different milk that might cause the same issue.  Are you feeding solids?  (I forget how old DS is).  If so, maybe do no fruits except bananas for  the next week so it might slow the stool and make it less acidic?

For the diaper rash, have you put diaper cream with a layer of vaseline over it?  That soothes the rash but blocks moisture.  Also Viva paper towels in a solution of water and dial soap instead of wipes?  W had terrible diaper rash issues. 

I pretty much forget everything about babies, so this might be bad advice. 

tinyhumantoe

Do you have any frozen breast milk? 

crene84

tinyhumantoe said:

Do you have any frozen breast milk? 

Thanks! Yes he is eating tons of solids and has been for a long time.  I do worry about his poop being more acidic but I typically give him fairly bland foods. Unfortunately I don't have any frozen BM.  And yea I do vaseline over other creams.

tinyhumantoe

  Well shoot.  I would probably give it another week.  I hope someone else weighs in on this!  It's a hard decision.

bosha711

I agree it's just his body transitioning & would give it another 2 weeks max before considering another transition. GL!

melody921

Another vote here for giving it a little more time. And maybe just give him a little less milk each time he gets it. As for the rash, what worked best for DD was powder covered with a thick layer of Triple Paste.

crene84

I just noticed this morning that he has two molars coming in (his first molars!) so now I'm wondering if the extra pooping was due to teething.  Maybe it was a little of both..regardless, he started doing a bit better yesterday so fingers crossed!

kelbel527

Glad to hear he's doing a little better!  I wouldn't go to soy or almond right away but instead just scale back on the amount of milk he's getting. 

DS2 still hasn't grown out of his milk allergy, but when we transitioned DS1 from soy formula to cows milk, we started a little at a time.  If you aren't continuing to see improvement, you may actually want to switch back to doing a mixture of formula and cows milk.  We started crazy slow w/ DS1 (1 tbsp milk to 6oz formula).  But you could do 1/4 milk, 3/4 formula and increase the milk over the course of a couple of weeks.  

crene84

kelbel527 said:

Glad to hear he's doing a little better!  I wouldn't go to soy or almond right away but instead just scale back on the amount of milk he's getting. 

DS2 still hasn't grown out of his milk allergy, but when we transitioned DS1 from soy formula to cows milk, we started a little at a time.  If you aren't continuing to see improvement, you may actually want to switch back to doing a mixture of formula and cows milk.  We started crazy slow w/ DS1 (1 tbsp milk to 6oz formula).  But you could do 1/4 milk, 3/4 formula and increase the milk over the course of a couple of weeks.  

I nursed DS so he's never had formula and I don't have anymore BM.  Looking back, I would have transitioned him much slower but DD had no issues and all my friends and family did fine switching to cow's milk so I didn't even think about it. Hopefully he continues to do better.

kelbel527

crene84 said:

kelbel527 said:

Glad to hear he's doing a little better!  I wouldn't go to soy or almond right away but instead just scale back on the amount of milk he's getting. 

DS2 still hasn't grown out of his milk allergy, but when we transitioned DS1 from soy formula to cows milk, we started a little at a time.  If you aren't continuing to see improvement, you may actually want to switch back to doing a mixture of formula and cows milk.  We started crazy slow w/ DS1 (1 tbsp milk to 6oz formula).  But you could do 1/4 milk, 3/4 formula and increase the milk over the course of a couple of weeks.  

I nursed DS so he's never had formula and I don't have anymore BM.  Looking back, I would have transitioned him much slower but DD had no issues and all my friends and family did fine switching to cow's milk so I didn't even think about it. Hopefully he continues to do better.

Got it.  I missed that in the original post, I saw the comment about when your DD went from formula to milk and didn't read properly.    You could also try mixing non-dairy milk w/ cows milk to ease him into it.  But I know that's introducing two new things at once...

Kids are hard, yo.  Good luck!