MILK...they HATE IT!

Well, Jack and Lily are 11 months and 2 weeks so my plan was to switch their 4pm 6oz formula bottle to a sippy with milk. Up until now they have done very well with their sippys of water. We tried today and ....one sip of the milk and you would have thought I had given them a cup of lemons to eat. Well, they actually like lemons but, their faces after drinking the milk were of pure disgust. I tried a couple of times and the last time my Lily actually regurgitated her milk, she was sooo disgusted with it.

I understand they probably thought it was water they were getting and were shocked to taste the milk, but they were seriously grossed out.

Is this a typical reaction and what the heck do I do now. I just gave them their bottles because I did not think it was fair to play hardball right now with the milk thing.

Any experienced words would be appreciated as I am beginning to dread the battle we have ahead of us regarding the big switch!

 

Amy,
Have you tried mixing a few ounces of milk in with their formula? I did 2oz of milk and 6oz of formula for a few days, then 4 oz of milk and 4 oz of formula for a few days, then all milk after about a week. I did all of this in the bottle because I figured it would be easier to give up one thing at a time. Now that they're finished with formula, we're starting to get rid of the bottle by replacing it with a sippy.



Carrie

 

Maybe instead of giving straight milk slowly give it. Start out with 80% formula and only 20% milk and then slowly up the milk and lower the formula. My niece also will not drink straight milk but she will do half breastmilk and half whole milk now (well not quite half yet but I am doing it slowly).

Could they be lactose intolerant? Do they have a problem with cheese or other dairy? My children have never done that but I know my niece won't drink it so I figured I would ask about maybe being lactose intolerant.

 

I was just at the ped's office and although I have to wait a little while to introduce milk due to allergies, we did discuss how to do it. She said to just add an ounce at a time to their bottles or sippies (will yours drink formula out of sippies?). Just gradually try to switch.

 

Agree w/pp's, you might try it in increments. I started giving them just after their 1 year b-day giving 1oz of milk in an 8 oz bottle and increasing it a bit every few days- ok, more than a few days. They didn't seem to have a problem with it but because they had had reflux I decided to go very slowly; by the time they were getting 50% milk I was waiting nearly a week to introduce more. I'm pretty certain that was overkill but - well, i still had half a case of that freaking expensive formula!

I've just now given them all milk - after seven weeks. However, they will NOT drink anything but water from sippies; i tried to give them their after lunch bottle in a sippy yesterday (after NO success about two months ago) and they made such faces and looked at me with this
"are you out of your MIND, woman?!!" expression.

So - sigh, I know this moving off bottles to sippies is going to be a challenge. But - not to hijack your post; i would try introducing small increments and see how it goes.

 

I'm in the same situation. Mine aren't fond of the milk at all. I think I did everything at once (got rid of the bottle and the formula) which is freaking them out. I think I'll bring back 1 bottle a day with the formula and the milk.

 

I would do one switch before the other. You could change to formula in sippies first and then switch the formula to milk, or change the formula to milk in the bottles and then switch from bottles to sippies. There is almost always a transition time when you switch to sippies. They might not drink very much for a few days but once they realize that sippies are the only way to get their milk, they'll start drinking more. Just pick a way and be consistent. They'll catch on!

 

Same - we did it very gradually. Started with just one ounce of milk and slowly increased.

My DS is still not 100% keen on milk out of his sippy but will drink it from his bottle just fine!