Giving a Baby Whole Milk
Of all the transitions and developments of your baby's first year, managing his nutrition can be one of the more difficult issues to navigate. Guidelines tend to change and various pediatricians may give differing advice about feeding babies, particularly during the first year. Here are some of the current guidelines for when to give your baby whole milk and how to deal with possible problems.
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When Is a Baby Ready?
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Weaning a baby and knowing when to change her diet from breastmilk or formula to cow's milk can be a stressful transition. Babies should not be given cow's milk at all before their first birthday because of worries about possible milk allergies, anemia due to iron deficiency and a dearth of vitamin E and essential fatty acids. If a baby is still breastfeeding at 1 year, supplementing her diet immediately with cow's milk is not as important. But as the baby weans, the protein, B vitamins, vitamin D and other nutritional qualities in milk become more important to her diet.
The latest American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines include changes about how and when babies should be given milk. The AAP continues to recommend whole milk for babies from 1 to 2 years old. The crucial change is for children who have a family history of obesity, high cholesterol or early heart disease; for these children, the AAP recommends giving babies 2 percent milk when they turn 1. At 2, all children, regardless of family history, should drink 1 percent milk. Recommendations range from 16 to 24 ounces of milk a day for children between 1 and 2.
How to Solve Possible Problems
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When your baby starts to drink cow's milk, note any discomfort that might indicate a milk allergy. Some young children have difficulty digesting the lactose in milk, and abdominal pain may result. Giving smaller feedings of milk spaced throughout the day may help the baby get used to digesting the milk.
If a baby continues to have trouble drinking milk, he may be allergic. A milk allergy sometimes presents immediately but more often takes about a week to become obvious. While there's no one test to verify a milk allergy, a combination of careful observations, tests on the baby's stool, blood and skin and withholding milk for a period of time will help the pediatrician determine whether the baby has a milk allergy.
Other dairy foods may be more effective in providing the baby with her nutritional needs. The lactose in yogurt is easier for small children to digest; other benefits of yogurt include a higher level of calcium and the inclusion of healthy bacteria. Don't give up if your child does not like milk or yogurt right away. Children may need to taste a new food several times to accept it.
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