Speechless Mom Eats (or feeds, in this case)

So, I'm a wee bit obsessed with eating, cooking, nutrition, etc.  I care about what's in my food- whether at the grocery, in a box or at a restaurant.  And I really care about being knowledgable about how my little one eats.  This doesn't mean I always get it right, but I'm trying!  This blog will be for recipe sharing, nutrition plans and decisions, etc.  More to come!  But for today, I've been researching the transition from bottle to cup for Iz and formula to milk.  I would love to share with you what I've learned (primarily from Dr Sears).

Seems to me that half the people I know have some sort of dairy-related digestion issue.  So that made me pause before diving into the switch from formula to whole milk.  Seemed to me it would be a shock to my little girl's system.  When your body is busy dealing with indigestion, it can't focus on other areas of keeping the body running well-- also, it interupts absorbtion of important vitamins and minerals.

So I went to my guru, Dr William Sears and his book aptly titled, "The Baby Book".  He listed some reasons to use caution when considering whole milk:

• Baby cows grow much faster than human babies.  Therefore cow milk has a lot of unnecessary "stuff" in it including excessive mineral content (salt and phosporous).  This puts unnecessary load on the kidney to process these extra minerals. 
• There's the well known (at least in the past 10 years) fact that early introduction of dairy can result in a milk allergy (and I want my daughter to grow to eat cheese!)
• Cow's milk contains very little iron-- toddlers need this mineral to help their red blood cells mulitple.  Its deficit can result in "iron-deficiency anemia" (my daughter already has my pale skin...the last thing she needs is to lose the very little color she has!)

Dr Sears does not stear us away from dairy, or even cow's milk.  He basically just says, "hey don't rush this change to whole milk".  He expresses that yogurt is an ideal dairy food.  It's easier to digest do to containing lactobacillius bacterial cultures, its less allergenic and it can be used in spreads, dips, smoothies, pudding and in place of sour cream on many dishes (Jeff and I already do this as adults-- half the time he doesn't noticed I've subbed out the sour cream:).

So what's the best toddler cocktail once it's time to give up infant formula?  I don't know.  But my research tells me that this is what I'm going to try (and why):

I'm switching her to a toddler formula called Baby's Only Toddler Formula.  It's made by Nature's One.  It can be ordered online or purchased at many Whole Foods stores.  Here's why:

• It contains brown rice syrup instead of the high fructose corn sryup contained in many other follow-up formulas.  It's not overly sweet.  In fact it doesn't taste much different than her current infant blend.
• It contains added vitamins and minerals that are age appropriate
• It contains 135 milligrams of calcium per 100 calories (about 5 oz of prepared formula)
• Unlike milk, it contains a healthier amount of the much needed mineral Iron

I'm also going to keep an eye on how much she drinks so that I know if she's getting enough calcium (needs 800 mg per day according to Sears).  I will supplement her diet with healthy calcium-rich foods like yogurt and cheese (in small amounts to help her digestive system adjust), chickpeas, spinach, kale and collards, broccoli, salmon, refried beans, and cooked dried beans.  All of these foods happen to be the same ones that my husband and are trying to work more into our diets.  Bonus-- less cooking!!!

When I'm ready to consider more milk, I'll first look at goat's milk, and then organic, anti-biotic free cow's milk. 

Oh and the healthy fats/DHA argument for whole milk?  We're doing a Dr Sears supplment of DHA called Go Fish (see his website).  Also, she'll get that good stuff from flaxseed oil (which I'll add to food) and eventually coldwater fish like salmon, sardines and tuna. 

The big change for her will be the switch from bottle to cup.  I'm holding onto the bottle for some quality mommy/daughter bonding-- just like we would have if we breastfed.  But we're also introducing the sippy cup from which I hope she'll have some juice and water, and her new "big girl" formula.

I have so much more to say on this- but I really just wanted to get the bare bones down on "paper".  I'll keep you posted!