Whole Milk at 9 months?

[soozy87]

At our 9 month appointment our ped suggested that we slowly make the transition to whole milk and by 12 months Z should be totally off formula. I trust our doctor and I have always felt confident with his advice, but I have never heard of this. Everything I have seen on here and read elsewhere say to start whole milk at a year. Anyone else's pediatrician in agreement with this?

[Deleted]

In Canada, the official stance is that you can intro milk at 9 months *as another food not as a primary nutrition source*. I introduced WCM at 10 months, went back to work at 10.5 months and let her just do WCM during the day. Still nursing part time, though. (About 50/50 would be my guess on the mix right now).

[dancingirl21]

Nope. Ours said no WCM until 1 year. Our transition only took about a week. 3 months seems extreme.

[pig's eye]

My pedi told me no WCM until 12 mos because of the lack of nutrients. Formula or breastmilk (plus vitamin D supplement) only was her advice. 

[speckledfrog]

That's funny because my pedi told us just yesterday that new guidelines suggest no milk until 1 year. Dairy is fine, but not cups of milk. I didn't ask why, but I'm guessing so people don't replace breastmilk/formula with WCM.

[kategm]

Is this where I chime in and say that I started drinking WCM at 9 months when I self-weaned? It's one of those "we must have been such awful parents" lines I get from my mom when I tell her about current guidelines/recommendations.

[hski2349]

I started doing 1 part WM to 3 parts formula at about 10 months. I slowly transitioned over about 1 month and a half. DD was fine. By transitioning you are not going from all formula to all wm. My thought, do what you are comfortable with.

[Deleted]

I started giving DD1 cups of milk at 10 months. She was still primarily breastfed but I don't think it hurts to intro it. She had maybe 1-2 oz in a cup a day for the first month or so as she was learning to drink from a straw. I don't think it's a big deal as long as you aren't replacing formula/breastmilk with it.

Wait a month or 2 if you're not comfortable with it though.

[gibbinator]

That is the current rec in Canada. Although moreso for formula fed babies than breastfed babies (in which case, as token mentioned, it's more like a new food to add rather than a replacement for nursing). Formula babies would be switched 100% to wcm by their birthday. I'm assuming that's because most formula is based in cow's milk anyway.

We started giving him small cups around 10 months but noticed quite quickly it constipated him and made him quote gassy. So we used alternatives (like goat's milk) until he tolerated dairy better around 18 months.

[Alyssa]

I waited until a year and then made the transition. There's no rule that states the baby MUST be off formula or BM by their birth date. We made the transition and it only took a few days, you don't need months.

[linz]

I'm sure guidelines have changed just like everything else, but my mom and I were actually recently talking about this. She had us start milk at 9 mos. Her Dr told her it was fine because we were getting enough nutrients from food - since she was giving us the correct portions of veggies, fruit, meat, etc. That still seems a little early but we turned out fine.

[soozy87]

Yeah, he said to start weaning off of formula and onto whole milk. I just thought that it was odd, but obviously not unheard of.

[SallySparrow]

A was on mostly whole milk around 10 mos. The pedi was okay with it, she was eating table food at that point. We gave her formula at night still until a few weeks ago. And she's been fine. No constipation. Not malnourished.

[lilybug]

I think I started to introduce it at 11 mos. Not as a replacement for any breastmilk or formula, just in addition, to get them used to the taste. Then at 12 mos they were ready to switch altogether.

[kangaroo11]

Aug 20, 2014 13:31:00 GMT -5 kategm said:

Is this where I chime in and say that I started drinking WCM at 9 months when I self-weaned? It's one of those "we must have been such awful parents" lines I get from my mom when I tell her about current guidelines/recommendations.

Ha I'm in the same boat! My mom proudly states how she bfed me until 9 months and I refused the bottle. I asked what she did at 9 months since I didn't take a bottle and she looked at me blankly. She'd forgotten! Lol We assume I was on milk at that point. 

[Jalapeñomel]

Aug 20, 2014 13:28:40 GMT -5 speckledfrog said:

That's funny because my pedi told us just yesterday that new guidelines suggest no milk until 1 year. Dairy is fine, but not cups of milk. I didn't ask why, but I'm guessing so people don't replace breastmilk/formula with WCM.

Ours just told us this the other day too.