When it comes to nutritional practices and beliefs, many women seem to place great faith in our tradition. Though there is much that is important and useful in our folklore, in matters of health it is always safe to err on the side of caution. This maxim is particularly relevant in the context of the use of animal milk for infants.

In our land, when an infant is weaned from mother’s milk, it has traditionally been the practice to replace the mother’s milk with cow’s milk. This can have unpleasant consequences. One of the most common food allergies happens to be the allergy to milk (both cow’s and buffalo’s milk). Data suggests that cow milk allergy affects more than 2 per cent of the infant population all over the world.

The reason for developing this allergy seems to be quite straightforward.

Animal milk is usually the first foreign protein that is encountered by an infant. In fact, the American Academy of Pediatrics advises against consumption of cow’s milk (or buffalo’s milk) in the first year of an infant’s life. Such animal milk is erroneously considered an appropriate replacement for breast milk or infant formula milk.

There are many reasons as to why such milk is not the best choice.

• It does not provide adequate Vitamin C or iron and on the other hand has excessive sodium and protein.

• Feeding an infant who is less than one year old with cow’s milk increases the risk of anaemia and cow milk allergy.

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