Struggling to feed formula/fresh milk

1

1510

Registered User
Hi mommies. My gal is 1 year now and is still bf twice a day now (morning and night). She loves solids but has not been drinking much formula since 9 months. The past 2-3 months we added cereals into her formula and thankfully she's not been constipated at all. I just started giving her fresh milk and she's also not interested. She eats 3 meals of solids a day. I suppose i should be grateful that she loves solids, however, i read that they should continue drinking fresh milk/formula even after they turn 1 year old. Has anyone experienced this? Any comments will be much appreciated. Thanks :)
 
I am a bit confused. If your daughter is still breastfeeding, why must you supplement with formula? Everything I've read says that experts recommend continuing formula feeding or breastfeeding at least up until 12 months. From thereon, it is up to the mom how to get calcium and calories into their child. Breastmilk has everything a baby could need as far as nutrition goes--the only nutrient it may be lacking that I have heard of is vitamin D--but our bodies can synthesize that from the sun so as long as your baby gets a bit of rays in her life it shouldn't be a problem and if you're really cautious you can supplement with a liquid vitamin that is age-appropriate. If your baby is still breastfeeding a couple of times a day she should be getting what her body requires in addition to the solids that she loves to eat (which is a really great thing!) I have a friend who breastfed her daughter until she was 2-years-old at least a couple of times a day for the added immunity benefits. Your baby probably just prefers your milk to formula or cow's milk. Recently we began weening my son off of formula onto goat's milk which is closer to human milk and more easily digested--and he really likes it! My guess is that unless your daughter seems hungry or ill-content, she probably is eating just enough for her and with your milk she's probably doing just fine. :0)
 
Thanks MLBW. We supplemented formula at 9 months on the PD's advice because her weight was below average and she was losing weight. Since 9 months, she was easily distracted and doesnt want to latch on in day time. I keep bf twice a day (when she just wakes up and before she goes to bed at night) when the room is pitch dark and quiet. Now (1 year old) her weight is a bit above average so i try to take things easy. I guess i am just puzzled that she is not into milk (fresh milk/formula) because i have always thought that children drink milk growing up. I mean I still drink milk almost everyday.
 
Maybe she might not prefer it right now but later she will--tastes change--or maybe she has an allergy to it? Sorry to hear that she had trouble with her weight but glad that it's up to normal now--some kids are a bit skinnier but as long as she's healthy, I think it's good for you to keep just taking it easy. Kids do need calcium but there are other ways to get it--a stalk of broccoli for example has almost half the calcium of a glass of milk. Does she like milk in other forms--such as yoghurt, cottage cheese or hard cheeses? Personally, my husband and I both have slight lactose intolerance to milk so it isn't a steady part of our diet--we just have to be careful to keep calcium in our diet in other ways.
 
I breast fed my daughter until she was 14 months. I regularly tried her with formula and fresh milk (after 1year) , but she was interested in neither. About a month after stopping the breastfeeding she suddenly decided she liked fresh milk from a bottle?? I think the breast feeding was enough for her at the time. I believe after 1 year old then as long as they eat enough other dairy sources like cheese, yoghurt maybe milk in cooked food then you do not need to worry that they are not drinking milk. However I am no expert so maybe check with your doctor.
 
Hi, 1510

I have been exclusively BF my 13.5 months old son and still BF him twice a day (morning and night). He has never been interested in formula milk. I tried different bottles, teats, cups and different brand but he was just not interested so I thought it means my breast milk is enough for him. The reason why I tried to introduce formula to him was just as a back up plan if anything happens and cannot BF.

I have been trying to introduce cow's milk to him since he became 12 months old. He drinks few sips but that's it. So I was bit worried if I stop BF him, he has nothing to drink other than water.

I consulted with LLL leader Sarah about this issue before and below was her reply.

***********************************************
Once your baby is 12 months old it is fine to give cow's milk - so you don't need to worry about formula at all.

Also remember that there is nothing in milk that can't be got from other foods.
So if you son doesn't like milk it is fine not to give it. Indeed there is a school of thought
that believes children who are allergic or have some other problem with milk will refuse to drink it -
so it may be that insisting that a child who doesn't like milk drink it is not a good idea.

Milk is a very convenient food as it has lots of nutrition in it but as I said you can get everything in milk from other sources.

I think that the Milk Marketing Boards around the world have done a brilliant job with their advertising.
Everyone seems to think that milk is an essential food (even the doctors).
But in fact it isn't. I believe that the quantities some older babies drink is much too high.
When you compare the amount a breastfeed child drinks with formula fed babies
it is clear to me that many formula fed babies are drinking too much milk.

************************************************

I am not too worried about it now. I am still trying to introduce cow's milk to him. I noticed he drinks bit more if I mix formula and cow's milk (half and half) so I have been doing it for few days now. I am planning to reduce the amount of formula little by little so he will end up drinking only cow's milk at the end.

Anyway, good luck!

Sucellia
 
Thanks for the input :) really appreciate it. We're first time parents.
MLBW, my gal was allergic to A+ so we gave her Nan HA. We tried switching to S26 and no allergic reaction although she's still not interested. Her PD told me to bf as long as i can, which i plan to do, and continue to give her formula/fresh milk on regular basis though she only take a few sips. On positive note, she loves yoghurt and cheese. I also try to add milk/cheese stuff into her solids. Thanks again for the assurance.
 
Hi, 1510

My son loves solids so I also do the same as you.
I think we do not have to worried about it too much.
As long as our babies get breast milk and eat solids 3 times a day (+ little healthy snucks), they should be just fine!

Sucellia
 
Hi MLBW, where do you get your fresh goats milk?? I've been looking for ages as wanted to try my LO on it and cannot find any.

Thanks!
 
LeahH said:
Hi MLBW, where do you get your fresh goats milk?? I've been looking for ages as wanted to try my LO on it and cannot find any.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Hi Leah,

Well...right now I am in the States so it's not as hard to find goat's milk here. I also happen to be from a state that is really agricultural so there are suppliers that raise their own goats and you can sometimes buy milk from them. However, right now as we're entering winter here, I am using Meyenberg evaporated goat's milk. It is also available in a powder. Recently I have another thread going on asking where to buy this type of thing in HK. Not sure quite where to buy it but if you look through the threads you can find that one, I think--it's recent--within the past few days.

One thing I learned yesterday is that if you're going to solely use goat's milk with your child it's a good idea to make sure they are getting enough B vitamins in their diet as goat's milk is deficient in B vitamins. For this reason I just bought a vegetable & fruit derived children's liquid vitamin at the health food store today to add to my son's diet. Just thought this might be useful.

Let me know if you locate a good place to buy goat's milk. :0)

:thanks
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top