Infant and Dairy Products

I am a mom of 3; 9y, 4y & 22 month old, I have in the past given a little vanilla ice cream to them before age 1 at parties but never made it a usual event. My kids are fine! Good luck!

Hi M.~
Wow. I just read all the posts from your question. I can't believe the number of people getting so high and mighty! Giving your baby a taste of ice cream is not going to turn him into a garbage gut. It will not damage him internally. It will not create poor eating habits. If your son drinks formula or breast milk, that shows he probably doesn't have an intolerance for lactose.

It all boils down to a judgement call. Do you want to give your baby some ice cream? If you do, then do it. I gave both of my sons little tastes here and there when they were babies and one likes sweets and the other doesn't. It's who they are.

All those posts about not giving dairy until after one... what? I've only heard not to REPLACE breast milk or formula with milk until then. My boys had yogurt, cheese, oatmeal (made with... you guessed it... milk) when they were younger than one. All with Pediatrician consent.

I think getting uptight about it all is worse than offering a little taste of things early on. Your stress will affect your baby much more than a little taste of ice cream. I certainly agree that a balanced diet is important for healthy habits, but so is a stress free life and playing outside. Balance. That's what it's all about. Not denying things. Have you ever tried to lose weight? Those denial diets... where you can't ever have one certain type of food... that's ridiculous. A healthy diet is a way of life... and life should be sweet. Just as you shouldn't beat yourself up over having a little bit of sweets now and then, you don't need to deny your children a little bit of sweets now and then. Just be responsible and teach them to do the same.

Sorry for the soapbox... I usually see such great advice from this site, I just feel like you got a lot of lectures instead of advice. So I suppose I had to offer my lecture as well. ;) Be well. Be happy. Enjoy a little ice cream with your son.

Assumning your baby has not had an intolerance or an allergy with breastmilk or formula, dairy products like yogurt are very approriate as a first food. Milk is not appropriate until one year. I wasn't sure how to explain so I am just cutting and pasting an explanation below I founsd online. My own daughter gets plain whole milk yogurt or 4% cottage cheese every day. It is a good source of protein and brain-healthy fats.

Ice cream? I don't see anything wrong with a taste or two off your spoon. But not a serving just for him - too much bad stuff in it and he may not even like it because of the cold. 7 months does seem a little young in terms of being appropriate, but it won't hurt him.

Internet blurb: The process of culturing the yogurt breaks down or removes milk proteins that many babies would have a negative reaction to, and the lactose is changed into lactic acid. This is why many adults with lactose intolerance cannot handle milk but are ok with cheeses and yogurt.
I highly recommend buying a large container of full fat PLAIN yogurt, since flavored yogurts (even the Yobaby ones) have added sugars, and cost more than a single container in the long run. Plus you can add anything you want to jazz the yogurt up (although my daughter also loves it plain). My girl's favorite additions are blueberries, applesauce with cinnamon, mashed bananas with cinnamon, mashed potatoes with dill, avocado, and pumpkin puree with cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla. Yum!!

Actually that is the last thing you want to give a baby. You should not give a baby under 12 months of age anything dairy. The sugar in the ice cream is also not a good idea. Why where you giving it to the baby?

Dairy products in general? Wait, then start with whole milk plain yogurt.
Ice cream? Why would you want to fill up that tiny tummy with fat and sugar when it needs so much else?

Hi M.,

Technically you're not recommended to give you babies milk related products till they turn one. But you can start on things like cheese and yoghurt with them around 7months. I gave my child some ice cream at 4 months - he loved it, then broke out around the mouth, we tried again around 6-7 months and he still broke out. He's 12 months now and is now starting to get over the dairy breakouts. I don't know if this is because I didn't wait or if he's just sensitive to dairy. But I have heard that when you feed your kids certain foods earlier than recommended they're likely to develop allergies against it. Good luck!

No, ice cream contains cow's milk and pediatricians do not recommend giving cow's milk until after the child turns one.

Treats here and there are perfectly fine. Yogurt, cheese and other milk products are fine after 6 months. Milk should not be offered until they are 1, but only because their bodies need the nurtients in breastmilk or formula and by allowing your child to drink milk would fill them up and then they wouldn't want the formula/breastmilk.

My son is 10 months and he gets tastes of everything we eat!

It may be OK, I'm not a doctor so can't answer the question regarding the implications of that type of dairy (cheese and yogurt are OK, but not milk and cream, etc)
But there are other things in the ice cream that I would not be comfortable giving my baby! The overload of sugar, salt, perhaps chocolate, etc. There are so many other beneficial things that they could be eating! I'd save ice cream for when they are much older and have already developed good eating habits!!

Why would you want to start with ice cream? Full of sugar...Usually babes are given breast milk, and/or formula until they are 1. After 1, babies are usually put on whole fat milk (lots of people use soy or organic or rice milk...individual choice here...) Full fat milk is good for babies brain development and growth. No where have I heard that it is a good idea to give babies ice cream. They just do not need to be introduced to such sugary sweets this early. Plenty of time for treats later in life once they get the hang of fruits, veggies, milk, grains...

I had to stop my dh from offering our baby yogurt last month. NO dairy products until 1 year. Their little tummies are not ready for it and can cause milk allergies/lactose intolerance. At one year you can give him whole milk and a little ice cream to celebrate that big day.

Enjoy! This is my 3rd time around and I still have questions! lol.

No, it's really not ok. First, he probably wouldn't like it, since it's freezing, but aside from that, he's not ready for cow milk, sugar, or salt (salt is one of the reasons they can't have cow milk, btw). It would be very hard on his system, and I lean toward the group of doctors that think that early exposure to foods increases the likelihood of food allergies (some docs disagree).

I gave my son a taste of ice cream for the first time 2 days ago, and he's 18 months.

I gave tastes of ice cream to my kids when they were babies. Certainly not a whole bowl full, and obviously as a treat, not as a meal. But I think a little is fine every once and again as long as they want it. My younger one didn't (and still doesn't) like ice cream very much until it's completely melted because it's too cold for him. And my older one asks if he finishes all his ice cream can he have more broccoli. Go figure.

I hate to say it, but I have to agree. No dairy under a year (it might seem like they are fine with it, but it can actually cause internal damage that you will not be aware of). Also, I agree that there really is no need for a baby or young child to have unhealthy snacks. Why give him a sweet tooth? He doesn't even know that taste exists so he doesn't miss it or crave it? A treat to him might be beans or cheese or brocolli or something with nutritious value. It's our own hang-ups about needing something sweet or needing dessert after a meal..no need to pull our babies into that so early!

Are you talking about a little bite off your spoon or a whole bowlful to himself? If it's a little bite it probably is fine...from what I've read they don't really recommend giving children dairy products until they are 8 months old. After that, they can have yogurt and cheese, but for drinking they should only have breastmilk or formula until 1 year old. That being said, if your child has a taste if ice cream before then they would most likely have no problems. If they are lactose intolerant they might have some tummy issues, but giving him a bite of ice cream will not cause him to be lactose intolerant nor will it make him have milk allergies. Once babies can start eating they can pretty much have ANYTHING! You obviously don't want to give them something they can choke on like jelly beans, and if you have a history of food allergies in your family you may want to wait and carefully introduce foods a little later (that way if he had a bad reaction, his body might be better equipped to handle it), and honey is probably a bad idea because of botulism. I'm sorry to go on a little rant here, but I get really irritated when people present things as black and white when it's really a grey area...anyway, it's up to you, but you won't permanently ruin your son with allergies or obesity or anything else by giving him a bite of ice cream.

My son is 6 months old and eats yo-baby almost every morning for breakfast. He has also has a little ice cream. If your infant is on formula and has had no reaction than i would think that is would be fine. My son is BF and gets formula every now and then and he has had no reaction.
I asked my pediatrician about giving yogurt and he said that it was fine!!

You may encounter diarrhea if you do so. My mom gave my daughter 1 tiny bite of icecream at that age and within minutes it went right through! Their bodies can't handle the proteins in the milk yet.

By the time I had my third, I think he was eating everything we were by that age. With the exception of OJ, milk, and peanuts. I think anything in SMALL doses is fine! I gave all three of my kids cheese at that age, just small amounts. My oldest is allergic to anything you can name, but my other two are completely fine! I think it depends on who you talk to what kind of response you will get. And how many kids they have. Use your own judgement. Yes, ice cream is not great for you - but everoyne has it at some point in time...and babies do need fat in their diets to help them grow. So like I said, my advice is anything in small doses is fine!

Why would you want to? Teach healthy eating habits young.