For a very long time I searched for the reason why babies shouldn’t have cow’s milk. There are so many unfounded old wives tales about what rug rats should and should not eat that I didn’t want to take any on faith. I learned that early introduction of cow’s milk is associated with increased chance of allergies, so I was reasonably satisfied.

Then I started reading Harold McGee’s updated “On Food and Cooking.” In it he points out that babies’ digestive systems aren’t fully functional for about a year. As a result, milk isn’t fully digested and large molecules make their way to the lower intestine, from whence they are absorbed into the blood stream. The immune system doesn’t recognize large milk molecules as safe and attack them, and are sensitized to continue to attack them. Ergo the allergies. I am now very satisfied and would not feed cow’s milk to a sub-one-year-old, even if he didn’t evidence the discomforts that Morganna did.

I was allergic to breast milk when I was born, (the first of many MANY allergies. Food allergies, I am fortunate enough to have totally outgrown, pollen, mold, and dander however…)

I was on solid food from the time I came home. Doctor’s orders. Rice and Bananas.

Part of the reason I was so big is that by all calculations, Mom’s pregnancy was about 10 months. There’s a food related joke that goes with that…

Mom’s major craving during her pregnancy with me, (and from my understanding, my brother as well,) was steak and baked potatoes, (one of my favorite’s growing up. I still would wade through hell for a good steak.) Mom still says that I didn’t want to come out because I wouldn’t get steak again until I had teeth.

And a big “You’re Welcome” for the pictures. My pleasure. It was awesome being there to see the Katster get her first solid food!

-D

My own personal experience with my seventeen-year-old daughter, Morganna, also has led me to be very wary of cow’s milk for infants under one year of age.

I had been told by her pediatrician to completely avoid any cow milk products until she was a year old. She was breast-fed, as is her baby sister Kat, and had been eating solids in the form of rice cereal, fruits and vegetables, for several months when she went out on an outing with my mother when she was about eight months old.

My mother, against my express wishes and directives, gave her a significant amount of soft-serve dairy-based ice cream. Not only did I object to the huge shot of sugar in the ice cream, but the dairy proteins. When my mother brought her home, Morganna was miserable and sick, with a stomach ache that had her arching her back, letting off horrid gas and screaming and writhing in pain.

As the hours went by, nothing made it better and my mother told me that she had given her ice cream–and a significant amount of it. I was floored that she would do this. It turned out that Morganna, who had bowels as regular as clockwork was painfully constipated.

I ended up having to give her a suppository, which was the only time I have had to do such a thing. My mother was there, too, and got to see the pain her handiwork had wrought as Morganna wept in pain for hours until she finally passed a very gassy stool loaded with very solid undigested curds of cow milk.

My father was very unhappy with my mother of the entire incident, and apparently told her to listen to doctors and her daughter from then on, and she was quite contrite. After Morganna was about fourteen months old, she had some ice cream again, and more importantly, some cottage cheese, and she was fine thereafter.

Some kids probably can tolerate cow’s milk earlier than twelve months. But after witnessing the pain and suffering Morganna went through because of it, I would never council anyone to give a baby younger than that any sort of cow’s milk. Goat milk, maybe, but not cow’s milk.

As for the rice cereal–it is because it is the least allergenic of the grains, and it is easily digestible. It doesn’t have much flavor–hence my addition of the breast milk and cardamom to give it a sort of kheer-like taste. I have also taken to adding brown rice farina to it–basically ground brown rice that I have to actually cook instead of just mixing into an instant mush–because it has more fiber, which helps avoid constipation and gives it more flavor, to boot.

Other than the cereal, I am avoiding packaged baby foods altogether. I don’t think they taste good, nor do I think that they have much in the way of vitamins, because they are cooked to such a high heat in the canning process. But this is fodder for another post, soon to come up…..

But re. your very significant complaint, I think it should be targeted at BabyCenter for publishing a very badly edited article on infant nutrition rather than at the authors of the book.

While cow’s milk proteins are involved in about 25% of infants’ food allergies, it is patently untrue that babies cannot digest those proteins before they are one: formula is heated (breaks down some of the proteins) cow’s milk diluted with water (decreased the load on kidneys) and “enriched” with sugar, vegetable oil and traces of many vitamins and minerals). Most babies (those who are not allergic to the proteins) do fine on it.

What the AAP does recommend against is the use of straight cow’s milk as a substitute for breastmilk or iron-enriched formula before the age of one, at a time when those still make up the bulk of an infant’s nutrition.
http://aappolicy.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/pediatrics;115/2/496

If you have reached the point when you are comfortable introducing dairy products to your infant’s diet I don’t see how a few milk based puddings for the infant over 6 months old would be a problem.

And finally, I never understood the love of the AAP for iron-enriched rice cereal. It has the taste and consistency of wood glue (and no, I am not fond of congee either). My first son rejected it outright. With my second I only used it as a thickener for soups — at least the vegetables provide some taste…

It is a lovely little book; it is a little lighter on the cultural information than I would like, but that is because I am a geek and love to read cookbooks as much as I like to cook from them!

Jennifer, Beth–my first daughter (now 17 years old) started eating Chinese and Thai food very early in life–at a year old or so. She loved them, but then went through a picky phase but grew out of it. Now, she eats and cooks everything, though Indian and Chinese are her favorites.

Artcargirl–I hear you! When is your spring break. I look forward to seeing you if you still want to come visit.

Diane–we have dispensation from the doctor to start her on fruits and veggies, now, too.

Bee–thank you!