Breastmilk to Whole Milk... Is 11 Months Ok?

Totally fine. My doc recommended introducing whole milk while you still do breast milk. We did alternating breast milk and whole milk from around 11 or 12 months until 14 months. No harsh transistion for my son. He never refused the whole milk.

I introduced whole milk at 11 months, but not very often. Anyway, we didn't have any troubles with it. :)

It should be okay. We had to put our second son on milk at 11 mos. even though our first had severe food allergies. There has been no allergy problem for him. We used Carnation Instant Breakfast to make up for the lack of minerals and such. I hope everything turns out well!

FWIW, my two boys were ravenous eaters and when I started them on solids, even though I was committed to breastfeeding them after their first birthday, they just were bored and not satisfied with the breast anymore. I started by using whole milk mixed in their cereal and they were weaned and on whole milk at 10 months. They are fine now, 9y and 5y, without any milk or other allergies and we have no milk allergies in our family.

Best wishes.

As long as he tolerates it I would say not to worry about it. I have 3 kids and have had no issues with trasitioning prior to a year. My son started stealing my daughters sippy cup with milk in it at around 10 months and once he tasted that he wanted nothing to do with the formula. None of my kids have had any allergy issues and have continued to grow just fine. I had talked to my pediatrician about it and he said that every doctor you ask will give you a different answer so within reason you should make what you feel is the best decision and as along as they are growing well and it does not make them sick there is really nothing to worry about.

Hi S.,

When I was transitioning my son, I mixed whole milk and prepared formula together. Then gradually through the month as he got closer to a year I put less and less formula in. This way I was not worried about the benefits of the formula and he was still getting used to the taste of whole milk. It was the easiest transition ever. Good luck with your medical situation and this new transition. I hope everything goes well for you!

S.

I weaned all 3 of my children at about 11 months and they went right to whole milk. I never had to wean them from a bottle. They went straight to a sippy cup. It was great! Best wishes!

I would assume that is fine, and one less change for him. You can always call and ask the nurse at your pediatricians office to make sure.

S.
Mother to Kai
www.HomeWithKai.com

Yes whole milk is fine at 11 months. No worries.

Many children have trouble transitioning to cow milk, and as far as what I've been told, it's a bad idea to introduce it before 1 year—allergies can develop. As I've posted elsewhere, a good alternative is Nestle's Nido, which is available at Walmart in the Hispanic foods section for a fraction of other toddler formulas: $3.58 per small can vs. $15 a can and up in the baby department. After weeks of experimenting with soy, cow and other milks when I was weaning my fourth child, and having horrible days and nights of "illness", we found this product and he drank it in a sippy cup for a year and a half. And still wants it, even though he calls it "baby milk". Might be worth a try.

when my son was 10.5 months old i was continually having breast infections and decided to stop nursing because it was just too painful. I tried to give my son formula but he absolutely refused any type i tried (and i tried a ton of 'em.) Anyway, my doctor said that he was close enough to a year to give him whole milk and that if we didn't have any allergies to milk ourselves, he should be ok. (we had also given him bites of icecream, yogurt, and other dairy products and he had no reactions to those.) So i think that you could give him a little bit of dairy products now and if your son has not had any reactions to them you should be safe to switch over to whole milk.
Hope that helps. :) Good luck. :)

I was always a person who adhered strictly to medical guidelines. Pediatricians are well-studied and I respect that. Keeping that in mind, I wouldn't hesitate to follow your instincts on this one, and skip one month of formula.

BTW, lots of people transtition to sippy cups and then keep the children on those for years, sometimes all the way through kindergarten! You can teach your child to drink out of a regular cup soon, and save the sippy cups for car travel. I did that with all three children, and wherever we went, my very small kids were fine with cups, and all the other children had sippy cups, as if the other parents never figured out that they'd missed a developmental stage.

Hi, S.. I'm no doctor, but I started slowly weaning my baby girl to whole milk just after she turned eleven months, and she's none the worse for wear. I would go on and try a little bit of whole milk, mixed in with breastmilk in the same bottle, and see if your baby takes it without digestive trouble. If he does, then there's no point in putting him on formula for a month. Consider buying organic milk, though, or milk produced without growth hormones. Good luck!

My son is 11-months. Although I did not breastfeed (due to health reasons), we are alternating between formula and whole milk. I honestly think he is more satisfied on the whole milk, though.

Good luck,
J.

Hi, S.. I have a 9 mo old myself and am also nursing & his doctor just reiterrated to me during his check up the whole milk "not until a year" bit. My advice would be to either try mixing formula with your pumped milk in your bottles for that month to make sure your little guy is getting all the nutrition he needs that cow's milk does not offer, or mix whole milk with your breastmilk & make sure to add the liquid vitamins in if you decide to do cow's milk.

Breastmilk can be frozn and used up to 6 months later if it is frozen right away and kept in a strong freezer (sounds like yours).

I went through something similar with my son. He was done nursing at 11 months. Just wouldn't sit still for it! He was already drinking well out of a cup (not a sippy cut, just a regular one.) And I thought it was silly to get formula for one month. But the pediatrician said that, while introducing a bit of cow's mile was ok at 11 months, he should still drink formula or breast milk for the main part of his milk intake until he is a full 12 months old. I had been freezing milk all along but I'd used most of it for cereal and when I was at school. So I bought one can of formula and gave him that until he was a year. It wasn't a really big deal.

And I would suggest you start teaching your son to drink from a cup now, if you haven't already (again, not the sippy, just a regular cup). He can learn to drink his milk/formula from a cup by the time you are drying up. And by then, he can also be drinking juice from a cup once a day, as well as water, and eating plenty of solids, so he won't be needing more that about 16-24 oz of milk a day.

I started transitioning my daughter from breastmilk to whole milk at 11 months. I did it gradually, replacing a few ounces per meal and then waited 3 days before increasing it. For example, if taking a 8 ounce bottle per feeding, then what I did was this...7 ounces breastmilk/formula and 1 ounce whole milk per bottle. Waited 3 days to make sure everything was fine. Then 6 ounces breastmilk/formula and 2 ounce whole milk per bottle and waited 3 days again. Then 5 ounces breastmilk/formula and 3 ounce whole milk per bottle and waited 3 days again. And so on until you have completely transitioned to whole milk. I would recommend that by the time you get to 4 & 4, start using a sippy cup with the soft tops that way you are also on your way to cutting out the bottle. My daughter took to this transition fine without any reactions to the milk and was on whole milk right around 12 months and also on a sippy. She stopped using a bottle mid way thru the transition mentioned above which was great. I also mentioned this process to her pediatrician at her 12 month check-up and he was completely fine with it and mentioned that it was good that we did it gradually as well as that we had started when we did so she was off the bottle. If your family & baby have shown no problems with allergies to this point, I would go for it.
Good luck to you!

As long as your boy is doing ok with yogurt, etc, then I wouldn't worry. If you still have some reservations, you can try going to goats milk (make sure you know it either comes from a store, or you know that the milk has been well taken care of). Its easier to digest. Many kids who have a hard time with cows milk have had no problems with goats milk.
Just a thought.

S.,
My son and I are still breastfeeding at 10 months, but about a month ago, I expreinced a very tramatic and devestating loss, and the stress reduced my milk production. We tried to purchase some formula to supplument, but my son HATED formula. I was devestated and didn't know what to do. I called my pedatrician, and they advised to just keep trying the formula... gave me the whole wait until they are a year deal. Well it just wasnt working, so a friend of mine suggested vanilla soy milk. My son has been on that for his mid day bottle, and sometimes as a supplement after his night nursing. He LOVES it, and we have had no problems with his tummy. He actually is doing better with it, than he was when we were trying to force formula down him. and a funny turn of events, it turns out my family LOVES soy milk as well. So instead of weaning him onto cow's milk, the family has been coverted to soy!

I would speak to your Pediatrician. I think breast milk can only be good frozen for two months. Any longer and I think it goes bad, not sure about this 100% though.
I am confused, does he turn 2 or 1 in July? You stated he turns 2, if that is the case whole milk is fine.
That one month is still crucial I believe if they don't eat much solid food, if he is eating a lot of solids then I would think even that close to the year mark he will be fine with well balanced meals and snacks and whole milk. I think it truly depends if he is eating good solid foods now. They have toddler type formulas you can mix with whole milk, you can give him a Pediasure once a day with the whole milk for added nutrition.
I would just talk to your Pediatrician and see what they advise.

I started transitioning my kids from breastmilk to whole milk at 11 months. I did it gradually, replacing one feeding a week with whole milk so that at 12 months, they were fully on whole milk. I did this, by the way, with the blessing of my pediatrician. If your family & specifically your baby have shown no problems with food allergies to this point, I would have no qualms about moving straight to whole milk. My kids did just fine. I did introduce the milk with a sippy cup - I wanted my kids off the bottle by 1 year.

Incidentally, at my last visit a couple of months ago, my pediatrician let me know that the latest research shows that kids get enough fat in their diets that whole milk is no longer necessary for kids from 1-2 years of age and I should just go with 1% for my at that time 14 month old baby. Verify with your doctor, but I just thought I'd throw that out there.