I don't think there is any reason that cow's milk, straight and simple
cannot be given by six months of age, as long as it is not the baby's only
food.  And if the baby is getting iron containing foods, he *may* lose more
blood from the gut, and maybe the stores will be a little lower, but he will
not become anemic.  Only five years ago, this was the policy of the Canadian
Pediatric Society, and the incidence of iron deficiency amongst Canadian
babies was, as now, very low.

Now, none of the associations of pediatricians has addressed what milk a
baby "should" get if he is six months old and also breastfeeding.  It's as
if this were never a question which came up.  Of course, any baby who is
breastfeeding reasonably well and eating solid foods need *no other* milk at
all.  But if the mother wants to give some, plain cow's milk is good enough.
And if they get it only say once a day (from a cup, of course), then the
iron loss from the gut will be negligible, because the blood loss is
associated with quantity of cow milk protein the gut is exposed to.
Otherwise, cow milk formula will do the same (actually it probably does).

I don't know if the formula companies started the "guilt" thing, but they
certainly know how to exploit it.

Jack Newman, MD, FRCPC