Can igive my baby cow milk?
Do not give your baby cow’s milk for the first 12 months. Babies have trouble digesting (breaking down) regular cow’s milk. Formula is made to be easier for babies to digest, and has the right amounts of vitamins and minerals that babies need. Cow’s milk has large amounts of certain vitamins and minerals which a baby’s kidneys cannot handle. There is also not enough vitamin C in cow’s milk to keep your baby’s gums and teeth healthy. Cow’s milk may also cause your baby to have certain allergies or other problems. If your baby was put on a soy or hypoallergenic formula because your child’s doctor tested for and confirmed a milk allergy, talk to your pediatrician first before introducing milk.
You should not start giving babies on cow’s milk until they are at least a year old. Normally, babies are born with enough iron in their body for the first few months of life. However, when the baby reaches three to four months of age, extra iron is needed. The extra iron should come from the child’s diet. Whole cow’s milk is considered to be a very poor source of iron. In addition, the protein in cow’s milk isn’t easy for babies to digest and infant formulas contain modified cow’s milk protein that a baby can more easily digest. By one year, an infant’s digestive track has matured enough to be able to handle the protein content of cow milk, which prohibits its use prior to that. As a child approaches one year of age, you can switch to whole cow’s milk. Remember, you should switch to whole milk because skimmed or semi-skimmed milk aren’t recommended for children less than two years old. However, cow’s milk can be used in cooking from 6 months old.
