I weaned my 2 year old from dairy free breastmilk at 19 months.  We did not need any
type of formulas or milk substitutes.  He is growing fine, and is on calcium
fortified OJ and PolyViSol with Iron vitamins.  He eats a decent diet for a
toddler, not perfect but it isn't too hard to make sure he gets appropriate fat
and protein.  When I told my pediatrician before weaning that I was
concerned about my son getting enough fat he laughed... said that if he had
a true deficiency of fat it would be extremely rare and my son would be
written up in the medical journals.  Many of the nutrients in formulas are
added anyways, so why is that any better than getting them through vitamins
or other sources?  Formulas are just a combination of chemicals put
together in a way to make them appear similar to milk.  And cows milk itself
is hardly an ideal cornerstone of a child's diet... it has NO iron at all and can
cause the stomach to leak iron leading to anemia.  Regarding breastmilk, it
naturally becomes lower in fat with toddlers... as they begin to replace
breastfeeding with solid foods, that is the natural progression of weaning.

Denise


Cathy O'Connor wrote:

> While I do agree with other messages that breastfeeding is best (I am
> still nursing my 17 month old, dairy allergic daughter), I have to
> disagree with the suggestion of replacing nursings at one year of age with
> fortified cereals. While these cereals do provide adequate amounts of iron
> and are a good source of calcium, they do not take into consideration the
> fats and other nutrients required by a rapidly growing toddler.  Fats are
> essential for brain development.  Our daughter's dietitian firmly believes
> that any child under two who is not receiving breast milk or cow's milk
> should still be getting formula, in addition to solids.
>