What kind of yoghurt should I give my baby when introducing dairy?

Plain, full-fat yoghurt is the usual choice for a first taste of dairy. Plain rather than the little pots with fruit and sugar in them, and full-fat rather than low-fat, because babies need the energy. We stirred a quarter teaspoon into a fruit puree our baby already ate happily, in the morning, on a day with nothing else new. Ask your paediatrician what suits your baby.

How much dairy should I give my baby when first introducing it?

One approach to introducing dairy starts tiny and builds over 14 days. Ours was a quarter teaspoon of plain full-fat yoghurt on day 1, a full teaspoon on day 3, a tablespoon on day 7 with a little grated cheese in a mash later that week, and dairy as an ordinary part of meals by day 14. No other new foods went in during those two weeks. Your doctor can confirm the plan for your baby.

What are the signs of a delayed reaction to dairy in babies?

A delayed reaction to cow's milk protein can take hours or days to appear, which makes it harder to spot than hives or swelling. We were told to watch for loose, mucousy or bloody stools, unusual unsettledness after feeds, reflux that got noticeably worse, constipation, or an eczema flare that would not settle. Writing these down with dates and times gives your paediatrician a pattern to work with.

Introducing Dairy to Your Baby: Yoghurt, Cheese and Milk

Dairy confused us more than any other allergen. We had it filed under "wait until one", because that is what we had heard about cow's milk, and then our paediatrician pointed out we were mixing up two different things. Milk as a drink was the twelve-month question. Milk protein as a food, in yoghurt or cheese or stirred through porridge, was a six-month question, and we were already past that. Your doctor will tell you which of those two conversations applies to your baby, especially if there is eczema or an existing food allergy in the family.

Direct Answer: Cow's milk should not be a main drink before 12 months, because it does not have the iron and nutrient balance an infant needs. Cow's milk protein as an allergen is different: current guidance supports introducing it from around six months, once solids have started, as full-fat plain yoghurt, grated cheese, or milk cooked into food, then keeping it in the diet regularly.

Tracking meals and symptoms manually is harder than it sounds. Our app makes it quick, and stays completely private.

Coming soon — clicktap to get notified

Scan with your iPhone camera to get the app.

Or open the App Store link →

The app is iPhone only for now.

Tell me when it comes to Android

Two questions hiding behind one word

"When can my baby have milk?" turns out to be two questions. The drink question has a clear answer: NHS guidance says cows' milk can be used in cooking or mixed with food from around six months, but should not be given as a main drink until twelve months, because it does not contain the right balance of nutrients, iron in particular, for a baby that age. Breast milk or formula stays the main drink until then.

The allergen question is separate. Cow's milk protein is one of the most common food allergens in the first year, and the current prevention advice is not to hold it back. It goes in as a food, in small amounts, alongside the other common allergens, once your baby is sitting well and eating solids. Two different clocks, one word.

What went in the bowl

We started with full-fat plain yoghurt, a quarter teaspoon stirred into a fruit purée our baby already ate happily. Plain, not the little pots with fruit and sugar in them, and full-fat rather than low-fat, because babies need the energy. The first taste was tiny on purpose, given in the morning, on a day with nothing else new in it.

The other two forms we used were finely grated hard cheese mixed through a warm vegetable mash, and cow's milk cooked into porridge instead of the usual breast milk. Cheese cut into cubes is a choking risk at this age, so it was always grated or sliced very thin. In the EAT study (Perkin, 2016), cow's milk yoghurt was the first allergenic food the researchers introduced, which was quietly reassuring when we were standing in the kitchen with a spoon feeling unsure.

Our 14-day dairy rhythm

We used the same pattern we had used for the other allergens. Day 1: a quarter teaspoon of plain full-fat yoghurt. Day 3: a full teaspoon. Day 7: a tablespoon of yoghurt, plus a little grated cheese in a mash later that week. Day 14: dairy as an ordinary part of meals, porridge made with cow's milk, cheese on toast fingers.

No other new foods went in during those two weeks, which is the whole point of the observation window. If something had happened on day nine, we wanted to know which food to blame.

The part we nearly got wrong was stopping there. ASCIA's infant feeding and allergy prevention advice is that once an allergen is introduced and tolerated, it should stay in the diet regularly, at least once a week, rather than being ticked off a list and dropped. Dairy is an easy one to keep going.

The reactions that turn up days later

The fast ones are the ones everybody pictures: hives around the mouth, swelling, vomiting, a change in breathing, usually within minutes to two hours. Those are the ones that mean stop and get help now.

Cow's milk protein also causes a slower, non-IgE pattern, and that one is harder to spot because it can take hours or days. What we were told to watch for was loose, mucousy or bloody stools, a lot of unusual unsettledness after feeds, reflux that got noticeably worse, constipation, or an eczema flare that would not settle. Written up days later from memory, none of that looks like evidence. Written down with dates and times, it starts to look like a pattern a doctor can work with. We have more on the specific symptoms in our post on cow's milk protein allergy symptoms.

Not the same thing as lactose intolerance

These two get used interchangeably and they are not the same. Milk protein allergy is an immune reaction to the protein. Lactose intolerance is a digestive problem with the sugar in milk, and as a permanent condition it is rare in babies, though a temporary version can follow a stomach bug. We go through the difference in dairy allergy versus lactose intolerance.

If dairy is already out because your baby has diagnosed cow's milk protein allergy, then introduction is not the question you are facing. Reintroduction is, and that runs on the milk ladder, a stepwise plan from well-baked milk up to fresh milk, supervised by a dietitian or allergist. That is one part of feeding a baby that should not be improvised from a blog post, ours included.