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Hawaii Babies
Transitioning to cow's milk
A was diagnosed with a suspected milk protein allergy at around 3 months of age and has been getting hypoallergenic formula since weaning last month. We don't think he was/is extremely allergic, since it took a couple months to discover and he was OK getting the occasional dose of regular formula early on. We're hoping he's grown out of it by now.
Anyhow, our pedi recommended we wait till 1 year to do dairy, just to be safe. And now that's right around the corner.
I'm curious how you all transitioned to cow's milk, whether or not your baby had a sensitivity. Did you do it slowly (e.g., a bottle a day, half-half each bottle) or just transition all at once?
Also, when did you start replacing bottles with sippy cups?
TIA!
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Re: Transitioning to cow's milk
We're doing this right now, so I'll chime in with my experiences so far.
We've given them sips of regular full fat milk - not instead of their bottles at this point, but in addition to them just so they can get used to the taste (e.g., in a sippy cup at breakfast). Honestly, they're not crazy about it; however, I was talking to a friend today and she recommended warming it up a bit since her daughter wouldn't drink cold milk until she was nearly 2 years old. Will and Dash don't mind ice cold water (they actually enjoy ice cubes in it!) so I hadn't thought of warming the milk until now and I'm going to give it a try to see if they like that better...we'll see how it goes.
I've toyed with the idea of slowly introducing it via the formula - first 1/4 milk and 3/4 formula, then increasing the ratios. However, I've discarded this idea for one reason: the only thing they drink out of bottles is formula. They already have water and the tastes of milk in their sippy cups, and since I want to get rid of the bottles soon-ish (we'll see how they go - I know it takes some babies longer than others), I figure if I can get them drinking milk out of their sippy cups then I'll be able to nearly stop the bottles cold turkey once they're off formula.
So I guess in answer to your question about replacing bottles with sippy cups - we haven't actually done this yet. They do drink out of sippy cups all day long, but their formula is still in bottles so technically we haven't replaced one with the other.
We started with dairy products...cheese, cottage cheese and yogurt when Libby was around 8 months. She's never had issues, thank goodness. At nearly 14 months she's just coming around to drinking cow's milk. We've been offering it to her by cup (not a sippy, just a regular cup...actually a small, acrylic shot glass) since that's how she's taken my BM since she was about 8 weeks old (refused all bottles and most sippys).
Since A has exhibited sensitivity, you might start with yogurt since it seems to have less negative affects on LOs. We just do organic, plain yogurt (Stonyfield) and will sometimes add fruit. But they also make YoBaby and have a "drinkable" version that works in sippy cups, if you prefer to try that.
TTC/PG Blog | Mommy Blog
like Lori said, yogurt may be a good option to start with (maybe give it a week before cow milk) because most brands have less lactose than milk, which is often the cause of a dairy allergy. Hard, drier cheese is the same way. Goat milk, yogurt and cheese are also good.
I would just recommend starting slowly since there might be an issue, because I never really figured out that J's skin reaction was due to dairy until introducing cow and goat milk (he handled small amounts of cheese and yogurt up to that point) I just did the switch and about a week later he developed a whole host of reactions that his body is still working on getting rid of after almost 3 weeks of a total dairy elimination diet.
We started with yogurt too, and since LO didn't do well with that, we transitioned to soy milk (from soy formula) and it went pretty seemlessly.
Thanks! I never thought of starting with yogurt, but that seems smart. I also like the idea of giving a few tastes of cow's milk first. He's a pretty flexible eater, so I hope the transition is smooth -- and no more allergies, most importantly!
Oh no. What kind of milk are you giving him now?
We're not there yet for the milk (also waiting until 1yr to introduce it) but I think the the yogurt idea might be a good one because I remember when my OB suspected that I was pregnancy-induced lactose intolerant, so she suggested that I do yogurt instead of milk for part of my calcium intake.
As for the sippy cups, B loves using them. We use these OXO ones and take out the valve (the valves kinda don't work well anyway) to allow him to learn how to control the flow and it's messy but he loves it and learning well on it. But for BM, we still use the bottle, so I got these instead and they work really nicely. They were the only sippy spouts that I could find that fit standard bottles (and I love the fact that they're silicone and not plastic). They have the valve flow like sippies though so he's not getting the "practice" that he is with the OXO ones with the valve taken out, but it's okay because I don't want to risk losing BM anyway since my freezer stash is nearly gone =/
A didn't have any milk issues, so by the time she was 1 yr she had already had yogurt and other dairy products.
To transition to organic whole milk, we mixed it in with her existing bottles for about a week. By that point, she was doing part BM and part formula. So we just added the cow's milk to the formula. We continued to heat the bottles. She had zero reaction, drank them like normal.
So then when my BM ran out and our can of formula was done, we went all cow's milk. We continued to heat the bottles. She continued not to notice.
I would add that heating the bottles was KEY... She'd polish off a heated bottle in a few minutes, but take forever to sip on cold milk and never finish it.
After we transitioned to whole milk, we started transitioning to sippy cups. Again, she didn't really seem to care. As long as her milk was warm, she was good. We put it in the microwave for 30 seconds, then swirl the milk in the sippy and put the lid on. HTH!
Malia & Dave & Alexa
Happily married since 2-17-08! Three since 9-9-09!
Baby Blog
we didn't introduce cow's milk until she was almost 14 months old... i was going to just switch cold turkey but then MH said i should transition her to avoid any stomach upset/diarrhea. so we did 25%/75%, then 50/50 then 75/25 and then 100%. Miss A doesn't have any dairy allergies so I can't say much about making the switch with a LO with dairy allergies....
as for the cup we went straight from the bottle to cup when she was about 6 months old b/c she hated the bottle. when she was about 9 months old we introduced a tommee tippee cup with straw to teach her to drink from a straw. she used it for about 2 wks but then she stopped wanting to use it - i think just b/c the flow is better/easier w/a cup. but we went to the straw cup and didn't use a sippy b/c it isn't recommended by the AAP or ADA b/c it can predispose them to cavities....
Jaime & Brent
Oahu, Hawaii | Sept. 9, 2005
My Food Blog - Good Eats 'n Sweet Treats
I believe this is because many people put juice in sippy cups, which has sugar in it that causes cavities. Also, some people let their kids walk around all day with sippy cups filled with juice or milk and it's the daylong sipping that causes the problems. You can avoid these issues by putting ONLY water or milk in the sippy cup and giving them the sippy cup ONLY during mealtime or for limited periods of time and NOT to walk around with. Here is an article with more info:
https://www.iloveindia.com/parenting/kids-teeth/sippy-cups-and-cavities.html
Malia & Dave & Alexa
Happily married since 2-17-08! Three since 9-9-09!
Baby Blog
This is what my doctor said as well - that sippy cups were OK, but only for water or milk and only at supervised times (meals/snacks, sips if they're thirsty, etc.). My dentist mentioned the same thing...I don't know if perhaps there is newer research that says otherwise?
I know, it was a bummer. He never appeared to have digestion issues or be really uncomfortable (did have more gas) but his poor skin is was like sandpaper. It's started getting better lately. I just wish I had stepped into it more slowly, but it's probable that his skin would have did that as soon as we stepped up dairy regardless.
We opted to go with rice milk and I still BF 2-3 times a day. I personally even limit my soy intake after hormonal issues so I didn't really feel comfortable giving him large quantities daily.
I know what you mean about soy. I hope he takes well to the cow's milk because every alternative seems to have some kind of challenge, especially since we're not nursing anymore. Our pedi skipped the soy formula and put us right on the hypoallergenic one, which is good, but oh so costly. Oh well, crossing my fingers...
good luck!
I know, nothing is "safe"
I also plan to try coconut and almond but still have high hopes that goat milk will eventually be ok once his system matures more.
I like this. I bought organic plain yogurt today and gave him some with dinner. He gobbled it up. I think I'll continue that for a few days and, if all looks good, start mixing the whole milk into his formula in portions like you suggest. Thanks!