Dairy Month on June, 2025: Dairy and Eggs for a 6 month old?
June, 2025 is Dairy Month 2025. Today's Dairy Crisis Small dairy farmers are struggling. Visit Farm Aid, learn how to help!
Dairy, using its associations of cholesterol and intolerance frequently will get more bad press than good. Dairy Month encourages the strengths of dairy, from the wide-varying availability to dietary value, and encourages you to create a selection of dairy a part of a well-balanced diet!
Yogurt may be introduced as early as 7 months old, (the typical age recommendation is 8 months old) depending on your baby’s pediatrician and your baby’s propensity to allergies.
Yogurt is a great way for baby to get calcium and the “bacteria” in yogurt that is so good for our digestive systems.
Yogurt is also a great way for baby to get the fat that is so highly needed during baby’s first year.
Whole Milk, as a drink, does not contain enough nutrients, vitamins or minerals for it to adequately sustain a growing infant. We are told to NOT give baby milk until after 1 year of age mostly because milk is NOT enough to meet all of baby's specific nutritional requirements during the first year of life. Babies should be on breast milk or formula or a combo of both until after 1 yr old. Here are 2 reasons why Yogurt is different:
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Unlike Whole Cow Milk beverage, your baby is not at risk of formula/breast milk being replaced by Yogurt or Cheese. The medical community worries that if Whole Cow milk is introduced to an infant prior to 1 year old, that parents would stop formula and/or breastfeeding and use Milk as the replacement. This would possibly be dangerous to your baby's health!
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Lactose is already broken down with the culturing of the yogurt or cheese and milk proteins are either removed or limited thus it is typically easier to digest; people with lactose intolerance often are be able to handle cheese and/or yogurt without trouble. The same is true for some people with a milk protein (either to the casein or the whey) allergy.
Because of the risk of food allergies from eating egg whites, most experts recommend not giving whole eggs to children under twelve months of age. However, it is usually considered to be okay to just give them just egg yolks, once they are 7-10 months old.
About introducing dairy for my 9 months old..?
I started my daughter on yoghurt when she was 9 months old. I only gave her the special baby yoghurts as they have no added sugar and are designed to be gentle for little tummies. The two brands I used are Vaalia Baby and Petit Miam Baby. We didn't have any problems with the yoghurt and she has always enjoyed it.
I think she was 11 months old when she first had cheese. I first gave her edam as it's a mild cheese. I later gave her Kraft Philadelphia cream cheese and she had no problems with either of those. We were at a friend's house when she was 12 months old and she tried a piece of processed cheese slice. Unfortunately, it gave her wind and a bit of diarrhoea. I've since heard that processed cheeses can easily irritate young children's digestive systems. They also lack a lot of the nutrients in other cheeses.
My daughter is now 21 months old and loves tasty cheese! She still loves yoghurt too.
Btw, it's fine to give your daughter full cream cow's milk in cooking or on cereal. It's important that breastmilk/formula remains her drinking milk (and major food source) until 12 months, but if she is able to have cheese and yoghurt, cow's milk will also be fine.
Can you give me a link to a website that has information on starting a dairy free diet?
Here's my own list of Dairy Free foods--I keep a dairy free diet. I also have an eating out guide that I made for myself so I can do a quick look for items before I go out to typical places. It has worked wonders! Email me if you want that, too!
Here are the websites you asked for:
Helpful Websites:
www.allergymoms.com
www.godairyfree.org
www.vegfamily.com
www.ivu.org
www.kidswithfoodallergies.org
Milk-Free Food List
•Check labels EVERY time you purchase one of these products. Ingredients can change without warning.
•ALL bakery items may contain dairy
•Avoid labels that state “contains,” “May contain,” “made on the same equipment as,” or “made in the same factory as” milk, dairy, cheese, etc.
Meats:
Chicken (watch for dairy in breaded)
Hamburger meat (do not mix with milk or egg)
Bacon (including Oscar Meyer Precooked)
Ham
Pork
Vienna All beef hot dogs
Lunch meats—ham, turkey, salami
Jennie-O Turkey Franks
Breads/Grains:
Wonder Bread
Thomasville Plain Mini Bagels
Boboli Pizza Crust
Rice
Rice a Roni (reduced sodium chicken, chicken and broccoli)
Elbow macaroni/spiral pasta/spaghetti noodles (most are ok—check labels)
Road’s End 123z & Chreese
Stovetop Lower Sodium Chicken
Cereals:
Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, Corn Pops, Apple Jacks, Crispix, Fruit Loops
General Mills Cheerios (plain or multigrain)
General Mills Kix, Golden Grahams, Chex (rice, corn, wheat)
Kellogg’s Pop Tarts—Any of the fruits
Fiber One Caramel Delight
Chips:
Pretzels (Rold Gold)
Original Pringles
Snappea Crisps
Baked Lays
Original Ruffles
Baked Ruffles
Original Lays
Tostitos—Restaurant Style Flour
Crackers:
Nabisco Ritz Crackers
Saltines
Oyster Crackers
Peppridge Farm Pretzel Goldfish
Nabisco Wheat Thins-Original/Reduced Fat
Nabisco Triscuits-Original, Reduced Fat
Keebler Scooby Doo Graham Cracker Sticks
Nabisco Teddy Grahams-Honey, Cinnamon, Chocolate Chip
Cookies:
Nabisco Golden Oreos
Nabisco Barnum’s Animal Crackers-original
Girl Scout Shortbread
Girl Scout Lemonade
Girl Scout Thanks-a-Lot
Girl Scout Cinna-Spin
Girl Scouts Daisy Go Rounds
Nabisco Ritz Bitz Confetti Crème
Nabisco Lorna Doone Shortbreads
Nana’s No Cookies
Fruit Snacks:
Fruit Roll Ups
Kellogs Fruit snacks
Jewel Brand Fruit Snacks
Nabisco Fruit Snacks
Mott’s All Natural Fruit Snacks
Betty Crocker—fruit snacks and Gushers
Fruita-Bu Organic Smooshed Fruit (freeze)
Candy:
Air Heads
Sour Patch Kids
Marshmallow Peeps
Sweet Tarts
Nerds
Skittles
Dots
Twizzlers licorice
Sweet Tarts conversation hearts
Gummy worms
Lifesavers (and gummies)
Smarties
Laffy Taffy
Starburst
Dum Dum Lollipops (original—no gum)
Jolly Rancher and Starburst Jelly Beans
Jet Puff Marshmallows
Frozen Treats:
Non Dairy Dessert (soy/rice ice cream)
Popsicles
Sorbet
Edy’s Fruit Bars
Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup
Frozen Food Items:
Boca Meatless Original Chik’N Patties
Ian’s Fish Sticks
Tyson Chicken Breast Nuggets
Van’s Frozen Waffles
Nature’s Path Organic Flax Plus Waffles
Bell & Evans Breaded Chicken Tenders
Ian’s French Toast Sticks
Baking Mixes, etc.
Funfetti frostings—vanilla and chocolate
Cherrybrook Kitchen’s cake/cookie/frosting mixes
Fiber One Complete Pancake Mix
Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips: Sunspire, Ghirardelli, O Organics, Enjoy Life
Dixie Diner Sticky Bun Mix
Marshmallow Peeps
Dairy Substitutes:
Smart Balance margarine
Earth Balance Organic Buttery Spread
Fleischmann’s unsalted margarine
Vegan cheeses
Vanilla soy milk—to drink (any brand)
Plain soy milk—for mixing (any brand)
Silk Yogurt
Rice Milk
Almond Breeze almond milk
Soy pudding
Tofutti cream cheese
Pillsbury Turnovers (apple or cherry)
Fruits:
Any/All
Vegetables:
Any/All
Simply Potatoes Hash Browns
Simply Potatoes Southwest Style Hash Browns
Condiments:
Mustard
Ketchup
Grape Jelly
Sweet Baby Ray’s Original BBQ
Maple Syrup (most breakfast syrups)
Soy Butter
Peanut Butter
Pickles
Olives
Most salsas
Most mayonnaises
Guacamole
Miracle Whip/Miracle Whip Light
Campbell’s Mushroom Gravy
WishBone Italian Dressing/Light Italian
Ken’s Honey Mustard Vinegarette Spritzer
Beverages:
Bolthouse Farms Smoothies
Ocean Spray Cranberry Juice
Minute Maid Orange Juice
Iced Tea
Minute Maid Lemonade
**Do not eat:
Dairy (milk, buttermilk, half and half, curds, custard, ghee, lactoferrin, lactose, sour cream, whey, cheese, butter, cream, yogurt, lactose, Albumins, Calcium caseinate, Calcium lactate, Calcium stearoyl lactylate, Casein, Lactalbumin, Lactic Acid, Potassium lactate, Sodium stearoyl fumarate)