Breastfeeding coming to an end....what's next?

sopheesjoy15 · August 2016

Hello moms I have a question, my son is 11 months old and I plan to stop breastfeeding him when he turns one. What's recommended for babies that are weaned off from the breast? I'm not interested giving him cow's milk....all suggestions are welcomed

kmcshane0211 · August 2016

Hi!

Can an you clarify what you mean by "what's recommended"? Like, for milk? Solids? Just in General?

I think it depends who you ask. The WHO now recco's breastfeeding until 2. Most ped's recco whole fat cow's milk. We're doing a mix of high fat dairy (whole fat yogurt and cheese) and almond/coconut milk with supplements in her Water or milk.

Mpho2910 · August 2016

We use follow-up formula for age 1 to 2. We are currently using Isomil which is cow's milk free and lactose free. This is purely because of the silent reflux though to see if it gets better otherwise we will be using Nan follow up formula.

Mpho2910 · August 2016

Planning to stop breastfeeding at the end of this month since she turned 1 last week. We have been supplementing though from birth.

dmbfan46835 · August 2016

I fully weaned last week and give
him freezer milk with almond milk and a little cows milk. Once my stash runs out I plan to continue with a mix of the two but more heavily on the almond milk side. He's a skinny dude and ped said the almond milk alone isn't fatty enough for him

cmommy13 · August 2016

Just wondering why everyone is against whole cows milk? I've heard people recommend goats milk as it is said to be easier to digest

wannabeamongoose · August 2016

I second @cmommy13. Our doc recommends whole cows milk and all my friends give it to their kiddos, but it seems like on this forum there are a lot of mamas who are going with alternatives. Just curious why (aside from those babies who already have lactose issues - that one is pretty obvious).

ETA - I should have said all sensitivities (not just lactose) to dairy are obvious reason.

dmbfan46835 · August 2016

MIL and BIL are super allergic to the proteins in cows milk, not the lactose. DH and I are sensitive in that it upsets our tummys and makes us gassy. So that's part of why we use a combo of almond and cows milk. But also, the hormones and stuff they give the cows to produce milk long term have been shown to be bad. My BF at work has a 3 yo daughter who developed breasts buds because of the hormones. She was advised to cut out dairy and they completely disappeared. We are not really meant to consume dairy in mass quantities. The makeup is not for humans, like human breast milk, it is made to nourish cows. Plenty of people switch to milk and their kids are perfectly fine. It's just not for us. But I also still make all his food and he's still not had any processed foods but puffs and i don't plan to change that anytime soon, even tho I work full time and am tired! Lol

With all that said, do give some cows milk but it's organic and from grass fed cows to ensure no antibiotics and hormones. That is recommended to avoid the bad stuff that the cows in those big facilities pass along thru their milk.

kfry22 · August 2016

@dmbfan46835 I wanted to clarify a few things. I am originally from the October board but lurk on this one because it is much more active.

First, I work in the diary industry and previously worked on a dairy farm as a herds woman. Diary cows are given antibiotics, but their milk can not be sold if there are antibiotics in it. Most farms milk these cows into separate "pails" and the milk is thrown away. If a farmer accidentally milks a cow into his system with the rest of the milk that has been treated with antibiotics, all of his milk has to be dumped down the drain. If this would happen and it is not caught before being picked up at his farm and loaded onto the milk trucks, the entire load of milk would be dumped and the farmer would be fined heavily. For cows treated with antibiotics, her milk is withheld for the maximum number of days that it takes to completely clear her system and then her milk is tested before it is allowed to go back in with the milk from the rest of the cows. So, the chance of a consumer drinking milk treated with antibiotics is HIGHLY unlikely.

As for hormones given to cows to produce more milk, this is illegal in most states. This hormone that you are thinking of is called BST (bovine somatotrpin) and was previously given to cows to produce more milk. It is a hormone that is naturally produced in the cows body. The states that do not have laws against hormones (namely BST) do not have a lot of milk processing plants or milk cooperatives (who purchases the milk from the farm) that will accept BST milk. So, this is generally not an issue.

I'm not trying to tell you to "drink milk, there are no hormones or antibiotics." I just wanted to share my knowledge of the dairy and ag industries to clear up some very common misconceptions. I myself don't even drink much milk beucase I just don't care for the taste. I do however support the dairy industry with my love for cheese and ice cream

tviste · August 2016

@kassyfry, you rock!!

dmbfan46835 · August 2016

@kassyfry thanks for the info! I always appreciate a different point of view. Still not gonna do a lot of fairy in our house tho, personal preference

I def miss ice cream but cashew cream is almost as good, for real!

LoveLee85 · August 2016

cmommy13 said:

Just wondering why everyone is against whole cows milk? I've heard people recommend goats milk as it is said to be easier to digest

I wouldn't say I'm against it but we don't drink cows milk in our home. Almond milk for us. If peds think LO needs the cows milk then he will get it!

yellow1daisy · August 2016

The reason we are not doing cow's milk is because what you find in the store is pasteurized and stripped of many nutrients. Plus dairy cows are typically not living under the best and most comfortable of conditions. I support farmers who give their cows room to pasture and graze and eat the food they're meant to eat--and that's not the multi-BILLION dollar dairy industry.

I know now most people shy away from raw dairy and I probably sound horrific for giving it to my child but it's more beneficial for her and I would only buy from a source I trust. And it's hard to get a steady supply of raw cows milk here. So when she's not getting breastmilk, we give my daughter raw camel's milk that ships frozen from desert farms (feel free to google). It's SUPER expensive so not practical for everyone. We also give almond milk (homemade usually).

kmcshane0211 · August 2016

For all the reasons @dmbfan46835 and @yellowdaisy mentioned, I will not be giving my daughter much cow's milk.

Cow's milk makes MANY people's stomachs upset... Including mine. I listen to my body to tell me what I should and should not eat. If something makes me sick, it's a pretty sure fire sign it's not for my body. There are many signs of a mass intolerance/sensitivity to dairy yet many continue to drink cow's milk.

I have always included dairy in my diet. When I was first nursing my daughter I eliminated it bc it was upsetting her. When I reintroduced it I had serious cramping and diarrhea. It leads me to believe I've always had a sensitivity but my body has just gotten used to feeling sick. It makes me wonder how many people have a sensitivity and just don't know it bc were so used to consuming it. Our bodies aren't made to digest things that make us sick. Period.

I could go on for days, as I'm very passionate about diet and what goes in my child's body. I don't care if the dairy industry "says" it's safe. Perhaps, others are fine with it...but deductive reasoning tells me from my experience it is NOT safe for my body or my baby's.

jen83mn · August 2016

Lizlann said:

I second @cmommy13. Our doc recommends whole cows milk and all my friends give it to their kiddos, but it seems like on this forum there are a lot of mamas who are going with alternatives. Just curious why (aside from those babies who already have lactose issues - that one is pretty obvious).

ETA - I should have said all sensitivities (not just lactose) to dairy are obvious reason.

I love cow's milk and my husband is obsessed! We actually started LO on cow's milk 2 weeks shy of his first birthday since he was refusing to drink his formula (he'd been on breastmilk only until 10.5 months and then I had to supplement with formula, which he never liked much). His pediatrician ok'd it. He loves cow's milk, and anything dairy (yogurt, cheese, etc.). He's never had any digestive issues with it though, so I have no problems giving it to him. To each their own!

Yiggle09 · August 2016

I love that we're having this debate especially when the Olympics is being sponsored by milk. It's so strange to see the milk commercials. My husband did some research and we only do organic cows milk. We live in a huge cow farm area here in new York so we have access to local milk fresh as well. Even raw if I wanted. I could even go visit the cows that make my son's milk if I wanted to lol. We also have a 1 yr old supplements bottles too

Mpho2910 · August 2016

I had to cut out cows milk from my diet and my child's because the Doctor wanted to see if it will make a difference to her reflux and there has been an improvement so she obviously won't having cows milk anytime soon. Happy to let her be on Isomil until she is 2 years even though it's so expensive. I for one looked my milk and for that reason and others will be weaning her off the breast soon because I can't do without my diary. No cheese, yogurt, black coffee, no butter....I can't deal.

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