Genesee County Health Department
Better Life Through Better Health
Choosing the Best Milk for Your Baby
Why can't I give my baby
regular cow's milk?
Cow's milk is not a good
choice for infants. Breast-feeding or infant formula is recommended
during the first year of life. If introduced too soon, cow's
milk can cause health problems.
What problems can cow's
milk cause?
The protein in cow's milk
is hard for an infant to digest. Intestinal blood loss and allergies are
two conditions found in infant's
fed cow's milk. Cow's
milk is very low in iron. It does not provide enough zinc, Vitamin C and
Vitamin E for infants . It is also low in essential fatty acids and
nutrients that infants need to grow and develop. The iron that cow's
milk does contain is not absorbed well. A low level of poorly absorbed
iron along with intestinal blood loss can cause iron deficiency anemia.
Some infant formulas are made from cow's
milk. However, during processing, the protein in cow's
milk is changed to make it more easily digested. However, some infants are sensitive to the protein in
the cow's milk formula. Others
may have trouble digesting the natural sugar in milk. For these infants,
a soy-based or specialty formula might be better.
For more information, talk with your infant's
doctor or contact the Genesee County Health Department at (810) 237-4563
or (810) 257-3428.
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