It is recommended that babies do not move from formula to cow's milk until their first birthday or a couple of weeks before. This is because before this point babies will not usually have a fully balanced diet and so need the extra vitamins and iron which baby milk provides. From age one babies will usually be well into weaning and will be getting enough of a rounded diet to allow the switch to cow's milk.

Which Milk To Choose and How Often? The milk which babies should drink from age one to at least age two is pasteurised full fat milk. This is because babies still need the extra energy which full fat milk provides along with vitamins D and A. Babies should have a minimum of 350 ml of full fat milk a day.

Tips for Success

This is the perfect time to start some good habits:

• To substitute the iron which baby has been getting from formula or breastmilk add iron rich foods such as red meats, spinach, brown bread, peas, most dried fruit and iron rich cereals.
• Ditch the bottle. With the switch to cow's milk coincide with the switch to a beaker or cup to avoid baby getting too attached to the comforting aspect of bottles. It is a lot easier to ditch the habit before baby learns to argue back!
• If baby does not seem to like cow's milk then try to add extra calcium through dairy products such as yoghurt and cheese (but stick to full fat)
• If you struggle getting iron rich foods into baby's diet invest in some baby vitamins but do keep trying to move towards a balanced diet