When Can Babies Have Dairy?

When can babies have dairy? The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends holding off on cow’s milk until after a baby turns a year old. Because an infant’s digestive system is still developing, introducing cow’s milk too early can cause a variety of health problems. However, other forms of dairy products, such as yogurt and cheese, have different nutritional properties and may be given to children as young as six months. All nutritional and health needs should first be discussed with a pediatrician.

Health risks are associated with giving infants dairy before they are a year old:

• Milk protein is very difficult for infants to digest and could irritate the stomach lining. This, in turn, could result in problems with the babies stool, such as a loss of blood in the stool.
• Infants can develop milk allergies if given milk too early.
• Milk interferes with iron absorption in the body. Therefore, babies that ingest milk may develop anemia.
• The vitamins and minerals needed for growing infants, which is available in breast milk and formula, are not available in cow’s milk.
• Milk contains sodium and potassium in higher doses than a baby’s body can handle. An infant’s kidneys may have a difficult time filtering these materials.

Babies can have dairy once they pass their first birthday; they can be introduced to full fat cow’s milk. However, children should still not drink more than 32 ounces of milk a day. Too much milk can cause constipation. In addition, whole milk contains high amounts of calories and fat. Children need the fat to grow; however, they don’t need many calories per day.

The average child only consumes about 1200-1300 calories per day. Drinking too much milk means that their calorie needs are being met; but, not with the variety of healthy foods that they should consume. After age two, children can begin drinking low fat milk but should have whole milk before then.

Yogurt and Cheese Difference

These dairy products differ from milk in how they are processed. The culturing process of yogurt and cheese breaks down the lactose and milk proteins. Therefore, babies can digest these products much easier than regular milk. This is the same reason that lactose intolerant people can eat yogurt and cheese.