BabyWhispererForums.com
EAT => Feeding Solid Food => Baby Food Recipes => Topic started by: Aly Mac on June 26, 2007, 08:51:35 am
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I want to make some custard for my 8month old and not sure whether to do with cows milk or would formula be better? She is bf and never had formula before - I can't pump that much for her and would like to refreeze the custard so using what I have frozen is not an option - plus I think if you cook it it would break down. She's been having whole milk in her cereal, but thought that maybe formula was better at this age.
anyone know?
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i would use formula for the custard. as it is still early to be giving cows milk. just mix it as per isntructions it should still work out Ok.
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I've heard that cows milk is ok as long as it's not the main source iykwim (like for drinking). OK for making things with - I thought formula too as custard would mainly be milk and just some custard powder. So many differing opinons on solids - it's hard istn't it???
thanks for yours
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Aleesa,
But formula tastes like cardboard! So the custard will taste like cardboard!
I honestly think cows milk would be fine, here in the uk we can use it in food preparation from 4 months now if we so choose - like you said, as long as she has her total amount of breast/formula milk feeds, foods prepared with milk, such as sauces, custards, puddings should be fine with full-fat cows milk!
Ax
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Thank you Allison - we don't want cardboard tasting custard.! Will just try a little and see how she goes.
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my daughters formula is quite sweet actually!
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I've never tasted it! I will get a sample from one of the mums in my mums group and try both and see which she likes best I think!
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I made custard with cows milk - as you say, couldnt pump enough milk to make custard - not worth that hassle!
Alex
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Pumping is just too much hard work for so little these days....
Alex you have a new born how cute ;D ;D Can you tell I'm clucky?
Is it all going great?
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Hi Aleesa
I use cow's milk for everything I make for Leo (even though he's on formula).
Cheese sauce, white sauce, he also has it on his cereal.
I'll only give him formula until 12 months, and then he'll be drinking cow's milk too! :)
I haven't made custard yet - are you using eggs? I'm not very good at that :-\ I have to whisk all my sauces to get the lumps out! My custard always lokos like scrambled eggs so I buy the ready made stuff in a carton now ::)
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I normally make my mums custard recipe - i'll PM it to you as it's easy to make and tastes great. I was just going to do milk and custard powder though - not sure why! other than the sugar.
talk to you soon....
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Formula. Cow,s milk is not recommended until one year of age, as it has been shown to produce a low blood count in babies below that age. When introduced, at one year, it,s better whole rather than with cream removed as the D+A vitamins are more easily available than the added ones (and pasteurized better than the normal homogeinized, only its a pain in the neck as you have to buy it every two days).
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Cow's milk that has been cooked is vary diff than right out of it container. I would definitely use milk.
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Well, Sylvie, its safer but the National Institute of Health (USA) does say no cow milk until one year as it has been shown to lower blood count. This is in their divulgatory page Medline (Which in general rather good for medical info). They do not make any difference between boiled/cooked or straight from container (it is sterilized anyway, straight from container). Spanish doctors tell you the same, but do not explain why. I take it that a lower blood count may be lower in red cells, but am not sure. Quantity may also be important, in other words all the milk of the day should be "worse" than just 4 ounces on a custard. The thing is that I do not think it is a lot of bother to mix formula, whereas express your own milk IS a pain in the neck. I,ll have to check what they mean exactly by "lower blood count" ....
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Wouldn't it be easier if the same rules applied to everybody. Even here one Dr will tell you it's fine and other will say to hold off till one year.
First time I hear about milk affecting blood count though, but hay anything's possible. I'll have to research that one.
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i thought the no cows milk until one year theory was about not replacing your ff/bf with milk, but in recipes ok? its just that custard is mainly milk that i was curious esp as i don't use formula....thanks for all the info...
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They do say it, but they also accept weaning from 4.5 months which is too early for most everybody else consulted!
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confusing hey! so i should stop the milk on the cereal and start pumping again................
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Aleesa,
I believe that full-fat cows milk is fine for use in food preparation, as long as it doesn't constitute a baby's main milk drink - I mean, how much are we talking here? A couple of oz on breakfast or in custard? Not worth pumping for - surely?
Ax
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That's what I thought Freya - but there are so much conflicting info. She seems fine, but how do you know if they get anemia? I'm going to my dr (gp, not paed) on Monday so i might ask there.....
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Aleesa, if it makes you feel better, I started giving mashed potatoes with milk and used either water or cow's milk in cereal (breastmilk made it way to runny) at around your dd's age and we never had any problem. It is so confusing being a parent because we never hear the same from anyone.
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It is confusing indeed, being a parent. Ali Mac, there,s no doubt that the amount of milk given has an influence and that it is not the same that the child gets 2 ounces of cow,s milk or 20 ounces, the second quantity would undoubtedly have a bigger influence.
However, one should "count" ALL milk given to a baby (or all of everything) as milk intake (for that matter, also yogurt or cheese) when one wants to know the real intake for nutritional reasons. A couple of ounces on the cereal, is one thing. 8 ounces total in the day (custard, white sauces, cereal) is a different thing.
Remember I was replying to a mother who uses formula already; expressing breastmilk is a real pain in the neck and while it remains the main source of milk for the baby probably the odd two ounces really do not count. However, if you are already using formula, there,s no big hassle in mixing it with boiling water for use in custards, or cereals, just boiling the water and mixing it, and therefore do not see what is the advantage of using cows milk before one year. Not that having a mild anemia is going to be dangerous for your child or anything, it is just that if you already used formula, why not continue for a few months instead of using cow,s milk (or water) to mix with the cereal?
As I said before, cultural differences are important. One thing I,ve learnt reading these pages is the difference on how cereals are introduced in UK or US; dry, mixed with water, mixed with fruit rather than mixed with the formula you were already using (exception again being breastfed babies, of course, because mixing formula would be adding a hassle to your life). After all, making mother,s life easier also counts for the well being of your baby!
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Goat's milk is very close to human milk in constitution. I would use it for custard. I had an allergy baby and used coconut milk in my recipes. I also used canned pumpkin or baby food to replace milk depending on what I was cooking. (banana blueberry baby food makes really good pancakes)
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Yeh it's amazing what you can use babyfood for!! The vege ones are great spread on bread.
Coconut milk is great mixed iwth pureed fruit then frozen into iceblocks once they are older too.
In the end I opted for the full fat cow's milk in the custard. She only has a cube or two at a time and she seems find so far with all the foods I have given her.
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BTW the anemia is caused because babies who are given cow's milk cannot digest it and that somehow causes bleeding in the intestines. Cooking cow's milk breaks down the protiens...some people who are allergic can have it cooked....so I would think this particular reason for avoiding cow's milk would not apply. Besides, it's not like she eats custard three times a day....right? ;D
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right ;D
I will remember that though about the cooked milk. She has uncooked milk on her cereal in the morning - probably a tablespoon.
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Okey dokey - in the UK the health visitors are currently advising that cow's milk can be used in food preparation from 4 months (if parents choose to introduce solid foods at that age) - I struggle with the idea that they would advocate the use of a substance that is known to cause anaemia thru bleeding in the stomach due to inability to digest - however I'll check it out with Eryn's health visitor next weigh in and clarify!
Ax
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Yes, well, american doctors do NOT say the anemia is caused by any bleeding in the stomach, actually they say they DO NOT KNOW why babies between 6/12 months who take cow,s milk (I assume, instead of formula, so in high quantity) present a lower blood count.
It is also hard to believe that during years and years doctors in all good faith recommended that small babies slept on their tummies to avoid sufocation, but they did. I do not know who was brave enough to experiment with some children on that position and others on their backs but.... on their backs was better.
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We saw a dietician (UK) when we saw the paed for his reflux and she said full fat cow's milk was fine on cereal and in sauces/custard etc so that's what we are doing, in total I doubt if he gets more than 4oz per day. I did make a cheese sauce with cow & gate comfort the first time I tried it - it was nasty :-X, mind you LO didn't seem to mind!
Laura
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For you it was nasty, but not for your baby! It is always interesting to note what babies will like or dislike...and funny, sometimes, ;). I,m sure that the amount you take does make a difference on the possible reactions (of full cows milk) and that cooking with it is not the same at all as substituting all the intake...and 6 months probably is not the same as 11, either. In these things one cannot be a fundamentalist, and it always pays to observe your particular child reactions to food (and to everything, really).
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This has been an interesting question I posed - I think maybe it should be on the debate forum ;D with all the differing views.
I've obviously moved on from here as I posed this when L was not 9months and is now 10.5months. For those interested, I went with the cows milk. My research and advise in my country is ok for cows milk to be added to things from around 9months just not as a substitute for a bf/ff meal 'til 12months.
Just for the record, she doesn't seem to really like custard anyway...prefers yoghurt ::)
thanks