Can whole milk cause diarrhea?

[miclyn03]

I started giving my almost 13 mo old DD 1/2 whole milk and 1/2 formula to wean her to whole milk. She has had runny nasty poo since doing this. Could this be related? Does it mean shes not ready for whole milk? Anyone have suggestions or insight?

[etsdtm99]

yes. i've heard this from lots of moms IRL .. diarrhea and bad diaper rash.. i would slow down the transition.. or call your pedi and see what they say.. we transitioned so slow over like 6 months that i don't remember this being an issue ..

[Monzie]

Definitely! Cow's milk is very hard for human babies to digest. Heck, its hard for most human adults to digest. (Want proof? Give me a glass of milk then wait 30 minutes and watch me sprint for the bathroom.... ) You might consider easing your LO into dairy by introducing yogurt first, since it has cultures which make it easier to digest. Either that or scale back your milk/formula ratio a lot. My 17 month old is tolerating whole milk without any problems but he doesn't drink it. I just use it to make his oatmeal in the morning. So he never gets more than 2 ounces or so. He eats 4 ounces of yogurt in the afternoon too with no trouble.

[stephcrouse]

I agree with pp. Your LO is probably just having trouble digesting the milk protiens. I personally am dairy free, and don't give cow's milk to my children (because they aren't cows). Once they are no longer breastfeeding, I don't think they NEED milk. That is the way it is supposed to be in the mammal world. Anyway.... I would slow the transition way down. I personally give my kids Rice Dream (original enriched).

[Mom2*Lauryn*Jacob*]

When I weaned my DD off of formula, I went an ounce at a time. It took several weeks to transition over. I would maybe back off a bit and go slower as others have suggested, or perhaps skip cows milk all together. Good luck!

[uoducks]

Is there a reason why you are mixing formula and whole milk? I never did that when transitioning to whole milk and had no problems. By 12 months old their digestive systems are pretty established and so that's why it's ok to start whole milk at 1 year. I would cut out the formula and go with all whole milk.
I put the whole milk in my daught. cup at meal time on her tray and she loved it.
By the way, I discovered as you may have that "whole milk" is not written on any milk label in the store..so my Pediatrician said to look for the calories which should be 150-160 calories (see nutrition label) which is the Vitamin D, Homogonized milk.
good luck

[keonli]

It def. can. It can also be a sign of lactose intolerance.

[Adamsmama]

Yes -- my son had this happen and for him it didn't clear up until he was 5! He also has other problems (autism and cerebral palsy) so it might not have been just the milk...however, I noticed a direct correlation between giving him milk and bad diapers and diaper rash. I should mention that I waited to give my other children milk a little later -- my 2nd son was 22 months and did fine and my 3rd wouldn't take it until now (22 months) and doesn't get a lot -- but hasn't reacted.

[smashncakes]

Yep...DS can't have it at all. He can handle 2% okay though. Whole gives him horrible diarrhea and rashes for days on end, then he ends up constipated beyond all belief.

[*Katherine*]

How does it smell? We did a slow transition with DD to whole milk and guess what, she's lactose intolerant. She had horrible diarrhea that was mucousy and smelled like vomit. She would also wake 6-8 times a night screaming in pain. We ran out of milk and I didn't get a chance to run to the store. That night, she was only up once or twice and within 2 days, her poop returned to normal. So we stopped pretty much all dairy for her. Haven't tried it with my 17 month old yet.