Switching to cow's milk

kikijbunny · March 2012

For those of you with older preemies, when did you switch to cow's milk, at adjusted age or actual age? DS was a late preemie born at 34w1d and will be a year old in little over a month, so I'm starting to think of transitioning. As far as liquids go, he's primarily breastfed, though I need to supplement with formula at day care, as I never was able to build up a reserve.

What did you do? I plan to keep breastfeeding at home for a bit longer beyond a year but would like to wean myself off the pump soon. When will it be okay for DS to just have cow's milk at day care (i.e., no more formula)? And how much cow's milk are they supposed to drink per day to start?

I'll ask his pediatrician but I am curious to know what other mothers have done. TIA!

meldoo2002 · March 2012

We switched right at a year. The boys were a good size and getting a decent amount of their nutrition from table foods. They were 9.5 months adjusted and dealt with the change fine. I have heard to stay under 24 oz. per day of whole milk, but we never really got that close so I didn't worry about it.

kikijbunny · March 2012

That's good to know; thanks!

Natalie_may · March 2012

We also switched at one year actual. They were and still are great weights and got most of their nutrition from table foods. They drink at most 20 oz of milk a day.

katie4253 · March 2012

It will depend on your LOs weight gain. That's how it seems pedis determine this. And, it seems here, pedis often have LOs go on pediasure if they are still not gaining great (rather than wcm or stay on formula). Your pedi is your best resource on this topic, because weight gain is so individual.

kikijbunny · March 2012

katie4253:
It will depend on your LOs weight gain. That's how it seems pedis determine this. And, it seems here, pedis often have LOs go on pediasure if they are still not gaining great (rather than wcm or stay on formula). Your pedi is your best resource on this topic, because weight gain is so individual.

Good point. I guess I had been thinking a more general rule would apply, but that makes sense. A lot of the time, my DS's pediatrician has not treated him like a preemie, and I wasn't sure if this was one of those instances where prematurity would factor in more heavily. But DS has been growing well and steadily, so maybe that's why.

Thanks for your thoughts!

WaitingforGrace · March 2012

I asked this a couple months ago and most of the answers said that their pedi says actual age was fine, but most of the developmental and NICU docs said adjusted no matter what. My pedi said whatever we wanted to do was fine. We are eating table food find and are down to about 16-20oz of formula so I feel confident when we switch in a month we'll be fine.

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