How much milk is enough?

My girls are 14 months old. I could always count on an 8oz bottle of milk in the morning, and an 8oz bottle of milk before bed. I would offer sippies during the day and always give yogurt, cheese, or cottage cheese at lunch, but could never really count on them drinking their sippies of milk.

So now we're in the process of weaning off of bottles. I have cut out the morning bottle entirely and give them an 8oz sippy of milk in the morning instead. This one sippy is put back and taken out of the refrigerator all day long and still has a few ounces of milk in it by the end of the day. (i also want them to get water as well, so offer them both at mealtimes)

so here's my 2 part question....1) are they getting enough calcium from just 1 bottle of (8oz) milk and yogurt, etc. during the day? If so, then what happens if/when i cut out the bottle at night and they're barely getting 8oz total plus yogurt throughout the day?

My real question is, how do you know if they're getting enough? at 14 months what should they be getting?

Please let me know, because this has been the latest stress for my and DH. We feel like we need to hold onto that last bottle to make sure they're getting enough, but desperately want to end all bottles!!

any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Dara

 

My girls are 14 months old. I could always count on an 8oz bottle of milk in the morning, and an 8oz bottle of milk before bed. I would offer sippies during the day and always give yogurt, cheese, or cottage cheese at lunch, but could never really count on them drinking their sippies of milk.

So now we're in the process of weaning off of bottles. I have cut out the morning bottle entirely and give them an 8oz sippy of milk in the morning instead. This one sippy is put back and taken out of the refrigerator all day long and still has a few ounces of milk in it by the end of the day. (i also want them to get water as well, so offer them both at mealtimes)

so here's my 2 part question....1) are they getting enough calcium from just 1 bottle of (8oz) milk and yogurt, etc. during the day? If so, then what happens if/when i cut out the bottle at night and they're barely getting 8oz total plus yogurt throughout the day?

My real question is, how do you know if they're getting enough? at 14 months what should they be getting?

Please let me know, because this has been the latest stress for my and DH. We feel like we need to hold onto that last bottle to make sure they're getting enough, but desperately want to end all bottles!!

any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Dara

 

16 ounces of milk is the standard recommendation for this age. Take a look at the milk carton and see what the percentage RDI for 16 oz of milk would be for an adult. You can use that as a guidepost for the total amount of calcium they should be getting. If 2 8-oz glasses of milk would be 60% of what an adult needs every day then just make sure they are getting that 60% in some sort of form including yogurt and cheese.

 

I am in a similar situation and just posted a question about this because we just stopped the morning and night bottle for the girls 3 nights ago and they are for sure taking less milk then with the bottle. I don't want to go back to bottles, but worry they are not getting enough milk now.

I will watch out for more responses to your post.

Good luck!

 

I just responded to the other post. As long as they are getting yogurt and cheese they will be fine. They will also increase the milk consumption gradulally. But watch that they don't drink too much milk, it will actually keep them from eating.

 

We were told 16 oz of milk a day max. If they eat a lot of milk products, cheese, yogurt, etc, you can give them a bit less. Owen would drink an entire gallon a day if he could so he is at 16 oz, where as Nate drinks only about 8 oz a day but it better at eating cheese and other milk products. Mandy

 

As long as they are getting other dairy foods throughout the day, it should be okay. For example 1/2 cup of yogurt is the equivalent to 4 ounces of milk, same with an inch cube of cheddar cheese, and 2 Tbl. of cream cheese. HTH

 

Mine drink about 8 oz a day in sippies and normally eat a serving of yogurt and cheese every day. Our Dr said that was fine. I actually had to cut back the milk due to constipation. This is JMHO, but I don't think they "have" to drink milk, as in, nothing horrible would happen if they didn't. If you were a vegan family or the children were lactose intolerant, you would find a substitute for the calcium.

Don't stress about them getting that evening bottle/sippy. I just asked about when to drop it last week, and the responses I got were that most people dropped it shortly after giving up bottles. We're still doing it, but I don't try to get them to drink it. If they do, great, if not, whatever.

 

thanks to all for your replies. I see there have been several posts these past few days re: cutting out bottles, so it's nice to see i'm not alone. I'm in no rush to cut out the night bottle, but just keep wondering if they will get enough nutrition/calcium if i do.... glad to hear others out there who feel or know that what they're getting should be enough (even without that 8oz last bottle!). And my second fear is that they won't have enough in them to sustain them through the night...which i can always count on right now! I'd love to hear what anyone else has to offer as well. Always good to get as many opinions as possible!

dara

 

I was really worried about them not taking milk at night because my girls have really only just started sleeping through the night and I don't want to mess that up.

Lauren is really not interested in taking much milk at night right now and Sienna has been taking the same amount in the sippy as she did with the bottle and they are sleeping longer. Instead of waking up at 5 or 5:30 they are going until almost 7am since I dropped bottles last Friday. Go figure!

I guess they really are eating enough in the day now to sustain themselves at night. I just have to make sure they are getting enough of the right foods.