[OnesOnTheWay]

I am curious, say your 2 year old "self weans" do you move them onto cows milk? Or do you express milk for them to put in a sippy cup?
Does it depend on their age?

I am not BFing but plan to BF my next. Just curious when BFing mothers offer cows milk, if at all.

[Mountain~Mama]

I guess it depends on your opinion of cow's milk. My older daughter can tolerate it but my younger one can not, at least not yet. They can get calcium and protien from other sources so cow's milk doesn't have to be necessary. After saying all that mumbo jumbo... I'm not quite sure when/if we will offer cow's milk regularly.

[2bluesandapink]

When Teagen turned a year, I got rid of the bottles at daycare and introduced cow's milk. I love breastfeeding but I HATE pumping. I haven't pumped in almost a year!!

[horseradishmayo]

Sarah is almost 18 months and still nursing...i don't offer her cow's milk yet and i'm not sure if i will. i don't buy it cause i don't drink it. i drink almond milk and that's what i think i'll offer her.

[lisa74]

Grant is dairy intolerant and we have not tried him on any dairy products yet - not even cheese or yogurt. He may have grown out of it, I'm not sure, but it seems like whenever I have dairy we have issues still - but it's hard to tell because it seems like whenever I have dairy we also get another bout of horrible teething with lots of drool that he swallows, which causes a similar reaction to dairy.

Anyway the doctor said to wean him to a cup and give him soy milk. I'm not interested in either at the moment. He drinks water from a sippie - is not a big fan of juice and I only offered it once or twice... I don't see the need to "convince" him to drink it. I, myself, LOVE cows milk and miss it terribly but have not had it in about 11 months. I'm really interested to hear what other moms do though.

[andi2284]

I offered Abby cow's milk at a year old. She didn't actually drink much of it for well over 6 months, but she was still nursing several times a day too. Really, milk isn't necessary, it's just an easy source of calcium which is why it's so common.

I won't be offering cow's milk to Anna until at least 18-24 months. She is sensitive to milk in my diet, so I know that she will likely have problems with milk and milk products when she starts on real food. I plan to hold off on them just to be safe.

[Madeline410]

I started offering it to DD at a year, but she doesn't drink it regularly. I offer it, but she just doesn't like it. She drinks water all.day.long. She nurses 2-5x a day still so I'm not worried about it. Once she weans I will offer it more often.

Originally Posted by OnesOnTheWay

I am curious, say your 2 year old "self weans" do you move them onto cows milk? Or do you express milk for them to put in a sippy cup?
Does it depend on their age?

I am not BFing but plan to BF my next. Just curious when BFing mothers offer cows milk, if at all.

I've been trying to introduce cow's milk to Samantha by giving it to her every few months. I tried yesterday and today we patches of skin still reacting to it. I'll try again in a few more months to see if there is any change. Honestly the benefits of cow's milk are overrated but I think that's partly why Samantha hasn't "self-weaned" at this point. Obviously there is something in our family genes that doesn't tolerate it yet, assuming she will ever be able to. If she were to quit at the breast, I wouldn't express into a sippy. She drinks water and from what I've read about it, that's really all she needs. Great to hear you're planning on bfing your next lo!

We started offering Olivia cow's milk at around one year but she absolutely hated it and wouldn't even swallow it - she would let it run right out her mouth.

I wanted to get soy or rice milk but dh took one look at the prices, lol, and became determined that she would drink cow's milk.

He worked with her over the course of a few months giving her a few sips her and there and she grew to love it. In retrospect I wonder if the fact that the cow's milk was so cold and mommy's milk was nice and warm was a big factor in her reluctance.

She now drinks cow's milk 1-2 a day and absolutely loves it.

[cln1812]

I offered cow's milk in a sippy when DD turned 1, but she would not drink it, cold or warm, flavored or plain. I kept trying every few weeks, but got sick of wasting money on whole milk she wouldn't drink. She wouldn't drink skim milk either, which is what DH & I drink. She still nurses and I make sure she eats other high calcium foods--cheese, yogurt, broccoli, calcium fortified orange juice, etc. I'll offer cow's milk again at some point, but I'm not going to make an issue of it. Since I am a stay-at-home mom, it's not a big deal; I don't have to pump and now she BF's less frequently during the day; if DH or a sitter is watching her and she's thirsty, she'll have juice or water.

DD also stopped drinking expressed BM from a bottle or sippy when she was 8 or 9 months old; she just wants her milk from the booby or not at all!

[KBeans]

I've been nursing 17 months (tomorrow) and Kai's had milk, but it's been rice or soy. Once I tried organic cow's milk and she didn't like it very much.

Cow's milk doesn't offer them anything extraordinarily better than anything else, so it isn't a priority IMO.

[blondie-lox]

I have been planning on waiting until Lincoln has weaned from BFing completely before I even offer him cows milk. I think I will take it slowly and I won't push it. If he doesn't tolerate it or like it, that's fine with me.