r/ScienceBasedParenting • u/SUPE-snow • 1d ago
Question - Expert consensus required What is the science behind encouraging parents to quickly wean off of formula around the kid's first birthday and replace that with milk?
I totally understand both wanting to encourage solids and, if a baby is breastfed, wanting to slow that process down for the sake of the mom. But I keep seeing sources that push to replace formula with milk, and I don't really understand that. My kid obviously doesn't take a multivitamin, and isn't formula packed with all kinds of important vitamins and minerals?
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u/fuzzydunlop54321 1d ago
As per the NHS website it’s simply that it’s not needed. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/baby/weaning-and-feeding/drinks-and-cups-for-babies-and-young-children/
It’s more expensive, more of a faff and there’s so much marketing around milk for 1 year + I think some sources want to counter that.
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u/questionsaboutrel521 1d ago edited 1d ago
The marketing of “toddler milk/formula” is specifically problematic because infant formula is tightly regulated and these older child formulas are not. Many health authorities have warned against them.
I want to add that marketing of these drinks preys on parents who are conscious that their toddler may be picky about what foods they eat, which is pretty natural for a 1-2 year old and usually doesn’t require intervention or a special product. Most kids are getting the nutrition they need from solid food, even if it doesn’t feel like it. If your kid doesn’t eat meat but eats oatmeal, they are getting a good amount of protein. If they are turning down veggies but eating tons of fruit, they are probably hitting their vitamins. Most cereals are fortified, etc.
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u/Delta1Juliet 1d ago
In places like Australia, where it's illegal to advertise infant formula, toddler formula exists solely to skirt these laws.
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u/Huckleberryfiend 1d ago
It’s not illegal. Currently there is a voluntary code of conduct but it has effectively done the same thing as an outright ban. This will likely be changing to something regulated via legislation soon, though:
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u/VienneseKaffeeKultur 1d ago
Why is it not allowed to advertise infant formula in Oz?
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u/Delta1Juliet 1d ago
Because of Australia's commitment to breastfeeding, there's policies in place to limit exposure to advertising for alternatives. It's a policy in line with WHO guidance
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u/Huckleberryfiend 1d ago
As I mentioned above, it’s not illegal. It’s currently a voluntary code of conduct.
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u/fuzzydunlop54321 1d ago
This is the case in the uk. I didn’t know till the midwives told me when i had my son
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u/Blooming_Heather 1d ago
We switched from infant formula to toddler formula - same brand - when my baby turned one. She shortly thereafter started having terrible constipation issues and we were trying to fix her diet and loading her up on fiber rich foods. We eliminated dairy cuz we thought that might be it. Turns out she was having like 300% of her daily iron because a single serving of the toddler formula had 80%.
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u/McNattron 1d ago
This review explored whu cows milk is a better alternative than toddler/follow on formulas.
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u/McNattron 1d ago
Im addition to this its very nutrient dense so can easily replace solids as the primary nutrition source. If its easier to get the calories i need from my bottle I'm not going to bother with food.
This can be a particularly big issue as caloric needs drop in the second year of life so parents often don't realise how much of their daily intake is via bottles.
This can lead to or exacerbate picking eating - which causes a toddler top up trap of sorts - i can't stop giving formula because my kids a picky eater, but the formula is making the picky eating worse.
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u/PrincessKirstyn 1d ago
Can I piggyback off this? My daughters ED clinic & her pediatrician want her on formula until 16-18 months. Is there any thoughts on why this could be the case?
I generally trust our doctor and her clinic - the hospital it’s at is world renowned in many areas - but I’m just curious as a general why. (I do plan to ask but it’s a ways off)
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u/fuzzydunlop54321 1d ago
Does your daughter have weight gain issues/ food aversions etc? Also where are you based? There may be some places where getting nutritional requirements through a typical diet is harder or something!
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u/PrincessKirstyn 1d ago
She had weight issues for sure, severe interuterine growth restriction. She was ~3 pounds at birth (34 weeks) but she’s now 16 pounds at 9 months which seems fairly normal? (I think it’s confusing!)
They do have swallow concerns and she had a swallow test covered. Ur she’s not had any real food aversions, just doesn’t seem interested in solids.
We’re in Ohio (USA)
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u/fuzzydunlop54321 1d ago
This would explain it then I think! Though it seems a little early to me to make that judgement but I am not a medical professional so maybe it’s typical!
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u/fuzzydunlop54321 1d ago
This would explain it then I think! Though it seems a little early to me to make that judgement but I am not a medical professional so maybe it’s typical!
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u/jhguth 1d ago
https://www.uchicagomedicine.org/forefront/pediatrics-articles/2025/march/do-kids-need-milk
Basically it’s just a convenient way to meet their needs for calcium and vitamin d as well as being a good source for fats and proteins
You don’t have to do milk at all, there are other easy ways to meet their nutritional needs without milk
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u/NewOutlandishness401 1d ago
Our pediatrician said that it's a misunderstanding that human milk needs to be replaced by cow's milk when the child weans. In her words, they are entirely different substances and have nothing to do with each other, which is why replacing one with the other one is not the way to think of it. She calls milk "just another supplemental food" and says that anyway there are healthier ways to give the child nutrients found in milk by giving fermented foods like yogurt instead.
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u/fuzzydunlop54321 1d ago
While this is true I think the comfort and convenience of milk is also why it prevails. And i say that as someone who dropped cows milk pretty quickly
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u/NewOutlandishness401 3h ago
I see what you mean, of course, but arguably, if we're weaning a baby off breastmilk, we might as well wean them off the "we drink this thing for comfort" thing.
With my three, as I weaned, I replaced nursing with cuddles. My two younger ones both would come to me around the times when I previously nursed, would climb on me, cuddle me, and suck their thumbs, evidently pantomiming the comfort action that they associated with being near me in that way.
Breastmilk used to be the baby's complete food source in the early months, so nutritionally speaking, its replacement is... all of the (hopefully well-rounded) foods that the baby is consuming during the day + water. And in terms of comfort, it doesn't need to come from a drink, it can instead come from those extra cuddles (which is probably a good transition anyway: associating physical closeness and warmth with comfort rather than a specific food or eating modality, right?).
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u/smntagz 1d ago
Yes, our Maternal and Child Healthcare Nurse recommended against drinking milk straight since our 1yo loves food and eats plenty of yoghurt and cheese. She said it's just empty calories and she's getting her dairy requirements elsewhere.
We're just straight up dropping formula, she was only having one bottle at night anyway!
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u/SomeJoeSchmo 1d ago
Agree that milk isn’t strictly needed, but how is milk empty calories? 8 ounces of milk has 30% of an adult’s daily calcium, 8 grams of protein, potassium, b vitamins, and more. That’s the opposite of empty calories. If milk is empty calories so is yogurt and cheese.
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u/Adept_Carpet 1d ago
I would also note that a lot of non-milk dairy products (at least the ones I've seen) have no vitamin D and less calcium than you might expect.
It has definitely taken some care to get our non-milk drinking toddler enough vitamin D.
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u/SomeJoeSchmo 1d ago
Yes! Most dairy substitutes are just processed junk…gums, oils, emulsifiers, sugar, with some added nutrients if you’re lucky (and at that point, why not just take a multivitamin?). Plain soy milk is a great option though!
Though in fairness, vitamin d is added to cow’s milk as well. By the way…they make vitamin d drops for kids! Might be easier than relying on plant based milks.
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u/ellebd16 1d ago
Our pediatrician told us to keep doing the vitamin d drops that we were doing since he was born. Partly because milk doesn't have enough vitamin d as he needs and also so that it wouldn't depend on a minimum amount of milk per day (so he could have other dairy products).
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u/Ashamed_Angle_8301 1d ago
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33183396/ https://nutritionj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12937-022-00765-1 https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.abc.net.au/article/103517864
Toddler formula milks contain more sugar, calories and carbs than cows milk but less protein and fat. With the extra calories and sugar content, these formulas put kids at risk of being overweight or obesity. They're also unnecessary and costly. Kids eating a normal healthy diet do not need a multivitamin.
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u/itchyitchiford 1d ago
I wonder if these risks of obesity are the same for an underweight child?
My daughter was born around the 3rd percentile and stayed on that curve until she was about 20 months old. From about 12-24 months we used a toddler milk supplement on advice of our doctor to help her get extra calories. I had breastfed her but she lost interest in it around 12 months and then I got pregnant again. Now I’m second guessing that choice to use the supplement.
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u/Ashamed_Angle_8301 1d ago
I'm not a paediatrician, and don't know your baby's personal circumstances but I can tell you our personal situation.
I am a mother of a fully breastfed child on the 3rd percentile in weight. He was born at the 50th, dropped to the 3rd by around 6 months. We saw a paediatrician about it because I was concerned. Essentially she saw that my husband and I are both lean people, and explained that my baby is lean probably because genetically his parents are lean, and I probably have less fat content in my milk than other mums. She said that he was born at a higher relative weight because that depended on the transfer of nutrients from the placenta. Because my baby had been developing well and has stayed on the 3rd percentile on weight now from 6 months to 24 months (not dropped further), she wasn't concerned and never suggested supplementing.
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u/itchyitchiford 1d ago
Thanks for your input! I am lucky that my doctor was supportive of my baby being fully breastfed and we didn’t supplement with formula until after I weaned because she didn’t really like cow’s milk. My husband and I are also quite lean so I think that was the way she was meant to be too! I wish I could go back and reassure my previous self that everything was fine.
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u/terran_wraith 1d ago
I thought OP was talking about just continuing with infant formula? Your comments and several others address toddler formula but I don't think OP asked about that. Maybe there was an edit or something.
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u/blechie 1d ago
That makes sense but at the same time human breast milk has more sugar and less protein than cows milk and the WHO says to keep nursing until 2 years old. If formula is inferior to breast milk thanks to non-human cows milk protein and presumably insulin-like growth factors, then wouldn’t cows milk fare worse in comparison?
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u/Ashamed_Angle_8301 1d ago edited 1d ago
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK215837/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8169810/
Human breast milk has unique hormones, immunological proteins and growth factors beneficial to babies/toddlers. The sugars in breast milk are different to the sugars put in formula too, and there's no added sugar in cows milk (it's just lactose). Formula adds in sucrose, which is the problem when it comes to weight gain.
Breast milk > cows milk > formula
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u/Mother_Goat1541 1d ago
I agree with this comparison for kids over 1.
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u/Ashamed_Angle_8301 1d ago
Yes, the context is kids over 1 :)
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u/Mother_Goat1541 1d ago
Yes I just wanted to specify since you’d said babies/toddlers. I agree with you for toddlers, not so much for babies 👍🏻
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u/Ashamed_Angle_8301 1d ago
The comment about toddlers/babies was specifically about the benefits of the unique components of breast milk.
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