When is the right time to wean babies onto cows milk? When should you start replacing the breastmilk or formula with cow’s milk?

The simple, straightforward answer to this question is that you should not give cow’s milk to babies under one year of age.

Cow’s milk is very different to breastmilk and formula milk. For starters, it’s supposed to be for feeding calves! It also has a different protein makeup to breastmilk\formula and is not as nutritious. Before one year old \ human’s digestive system has not developed sufficiently to cope with the proteins in cow’s milk so drinking it may cause stomach upsets, coelic and may also trigger allergies such as asthma and eczema.

Before this time though you can give you baby calcium rich dairy products such as cheese and yoghurt to help provide calcium for your baby’s growing bones and teeth. Remember though, when introducing new foods you should always do so one at a time and by following the four day rule to ensure they don’t react to the food.

Start weaning your baby onto cow’s milk by slowly introducing the cow’s milk into the normal bottle of formula. Maybe the first week start with 3/4 formula\breastmilk and a 1/4 cow’s milk. Then the second week try half and half, and so on until your baby is fully weaned onto the cow’s milk.

You can introduce the cow’s milk into your baby’s diet in other ways by mixing it with cereal or using is as a thinner when making the recipes on this site.

I would also suggest taking the opportunity to wean your baby off the bottle and onto ’sippy’ cups like a Pink Tommee Tippee First Cup for the girl or the Blue Tommee Tippee First Cup for the boys.

You should make sure that you are giving your baby full fat milk – not the thin, watery, skimmed or semi-skimmed stuff! Your baby needs all the nutrients and fat in full-fat milk. Besides, it tastes a lot better !

If you have any more tips and information on weaning babies onto cow’s milk please let me know. Send me your comments!

As I state in all my articles and weaning recipes, I am not a pediatrician or a nutritionist and my information is based on personal experience and thorough research only. If you have any concerns, please talk to you GP.