Miriel Team · starting solids, dairy, cow's milk, yogurt, allergens
Yogurt at 6 Months but Milk at 12: Why?
Yogurt and cheese are foods inside a meal. Cow's milk as a drink would replace milk feeds, so it waits until 12 months.
Plain full-fat yogurt and pasteurized cheese can be part of meals from around 6 months. Cow’s milk as a main drink waits until 12 months.
These two rules do not clash. The difference is the job the dairy is doing. A spoonful of yogurt is food inside a meal. A cup of cow’s milk is a drink that would take the place of breast milk or formula.
Why milk as a drink waits
For the whole first year, breast milk or formula is the main drink, and everything else fits around it.
Cow’s milk does not have the right mix of nutrients for a baby this age. A baby who fills up on cow’s milk from a cup or bottle drinks less of the milk that was made for them.
Why yogurt and cheese are different
A few spoonfuls of yogurt stirred into breakfast, or grated cheese melted over vegetables, come in small amounts alongside the rest of the meal. Nothing is being replaced. Something is being added.
- Yogurt: full-fat and plain. Unsweetened yogurt has no added sugar. Flavored baby yogurts often have sugar added.
- Cheese: pasteurized and full-fat, like mild cheddar, cottage cheese or cream cheese. Soft rind cheeses such as brie and camembert wait until later unless they are cooked.
- Cooking with milk: a little cow’s milk in porridge or a white sauce is food, not a drink, so it is fine from around 6 months.
Buy a big tub of plain full-fat yogurt and add your own fruit. Mashed banana, grated pear or a spoon of fruit purée gives flavor without the added sugar.
Milk is a common allergen
Cow’s milk is one of the common food allergens. That does not change the timeline above, but it shapes how the first tastes go.
Offer the first spoonfuls of yogurt at home, earlier in the day, and not on the same day as other new foods. Once dairy is a regular food for your baby, keep it on the menu often.
Ask your pediatrician before you start dairy if your baby already has a food allergy or eczema.
After the first birthday
From 12 months, whole cow’s milk can become a main drink, served in an open cup. Most families stop formula around now, and breastfeeding can carry on alongside if you both want it.
Stick with whole milk until around age 2. Lower-fat milks come later.
If your family does not use dairy, unsweetened fortified soy drink is the plant drink closest to cow’s milk. Other plant drinks are not a like-for-like swap. Ask your pediatrician which drink is right for your child.