milk

Like how much do you give? When during the day? Do you insist on them sitting in their high chair/chair while they drink or can they drink while playing...please explain the situation. Thanks!

 

We are a couple years older, but I give them a large sippy of milk in the morning and they can walk around with that. The only other time they have milk is at dinner time an it's in open cups, for that they must be sitting at the table. We don't let them walk around with open cups.

 

At about 14 months or so after about a month off of bottles I started only giving milk at Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner by then I also stopped milk before bed. Inbetween each meal with snack they have a sippy of water...still the same to this day.

 

When I first introduced milk, I replaced our mid-morning and mid-afternoon nursing sessions with one sippy cup of milk. Now, nearly a year later, that's still when they get their milk - as a snack at about 10:00am then after their afternoon nap (about 3:30pm). They are allowed to wander around their playroom while drinking it, though I've learned to avoid certain sippy cups which are more likely to leak. They get water at meals, and still nurse at bedtime.

 

My kids have tiny little appetites, so I usually give milk in the morning with breakfast (since it's usually the only meal they eat well) and then another cup of milk after dinner. (Otherwise, they just don't eat.) I try not to let them walk around with their cups b/c I've been told by several people that it's really bad for their teeth.....but we're still working on that. I've been trying lately to just give them water during the day when they're not sitting down.

 

I give it to them with their 3 main meals in the high chair. They each start out with 4 ounces and sometimes as much as 6 will be consumed out of a sippee. Occasionally I give it with a snack if there was leftover from breakfast. Its pretty rare that they walk around with it. Now I will let them have water and they can walk around with that. But they pretty much drink a few sips and drop it.

ETA: I dont bring the milk out until they are more than 1/2 way done with the meal otherwise it takes center stage!!

 

Milk with breakfast, lunch, and dinner, sometimes with snack for Grace is she didn't drink much at breakfast and lunch. I fill their 8 ounce sippy each meal and they usually drink anywhere from 5-8 ounces. They only get milk in their boosters, always been that way. The only beverage they get when not sitting at the table is water.

 

I give them about half a sippy (maybe 4 oz?) at breakfast. Whatever they don't drink goes back in the fridge and comes back out at meals & snacks. (I actually try to just give water with snacks, but if they request milk, I don't fight it.) If they happen to empty the cup at a meal and don't want more right then, I put that cup in the dishwasher and start the next meal with a clean one, but otherwise I just put the leftover cup in the fridge and refill as necessary.

I don't generally let them have milk on demand during the day, with the exception that if they've just finished a meal and decide they want more milk, they can have it. Otherwise, if they're thirsty they get water.

To drink anything (including water) they need to be sitting down. This can be at the table, on the kitchen floor (my preference because it's easier to monitor), or in their chairs in the living room. I do still have to track down the sippies and constantly remind them not to just toss the sippies on the floor but at least set them on a table or something, but at least it sort of minimizes the mess.

 

My guys wake too early for me to think of breakfast-- so we usually start with a sippy of milk and a graham cracker or some of daddy's toast or bagel - then they have water with their breakfast about an hour later. sippy with milk at lunch in high chair- can finish it when out of seat and same at dinner. When about an hour is up from their meal- whatever is leftover is thrown away. The rest of the day there is normally a sippy of water and occasionally watered down juice. They get 3 - 8oz sippy's a day and sometimes finish it all and sometimes leave up to half- just depends.
Lanie

 

Oh boy, now I am starting to feel really bad. Milk has well as any liquids have always been a struggle for us. They began fighting us on the bottles (even when we made it chocolate milk) so I finally said, ok all sippies all the time (they were getting water in sippies with meals and milk bottles 2-3 times a day and it took us a while to find the right sippy but it is the best of them all I guess).They don't drink alot at meals to begin with and the milk is/was strategically given at certain times of the day (wake up, snack, before bed). Now they are hardly drinking any at all. I would say they are not even drinking 8 oz in a whole day. And I know about adding calcium rich foods to meals and such but still I am so worried about their milk AND fluid intake. Any tips???

 

I fill the sippies 3 times per day. They get one when they wake, finish it at breakfast. One at lunch, one at dinner, and they finish that before bed. All other times is water if they are not in the chairs. They LOVE water!

We don't have issues getting them to drink, but maybe make it fun by making it a silly color with food coloring? Using a new kind of cup for entertainment. Or letting them practice out of real cups..mine love that. Add a little juice to make it sweeter?

Good luck.

 

Have you tried straw cups? Lot of different styles -- I like the Nuby's, but straws are pretty soft. Playtex has "stronger" straws, but more leaks.

 

I give them a sippy in the morning with breakfast, which they drink in their chairs. We used to do a sippy of milk after dinner, which they would drink in the living room while having wind down time. We stopped that a few months ago, they lost interest.

 

Milk in sippy cups at every meal. Water in sippy cups/straw bottles between meals.

 

When mine were you kids age they had milk at meal times about 4 oz. each time and then one before bed time. Snack times consisted of water in the sippy. Now that they are older they have it with meals and whenever/wherever, unless they are drinking from an open cup then they have to be in the kitchen.

 

it's amazing how different kids are w/ their milk. mine get it immediately when they wake up..they are jonesing for it! they have about 8-9 oz. and like to sit in our laps or their little shaggy chairs. then the next 8-9 oz. sippy is between 3-4pm and is drunk wherever...not in highchairs. they have water whenever they need/want it during the day. that is it.

they were getting three sippies/day at one point, and the pedi told me to cut one out, so they would get more nutrition from food. i give 3 meals and 2 snacks a day. i do find that they are still sometimes too full from milk to eat.

what about smoothies? something a little different.

good luck!

Lois

 

Mine also need an IMMEDIATE cup of milk upon awakening in the morning. They are milk hogs and we actually have to limit them or else they would drink it all day long...no joking! We were drinking over 12 gallons per week!!!! They get a full sippy in the morning, another at lunch, and another at dinner. They plead and beg for it at other times, but I only let them have water and sometimes put a splash of apple juice in the water too. I let them walk around with their sippys, but it took a few tries to find out which ones don't leak and work best for the kiddos.

 

QUOTE(~ilyse~ @ Mar 17 2008, 01:17 PM) [snapback]672838[/snapback]
Like how much do you give? When during the day? Do you insist on them sitting in their high chair/chair while they drink or can they drink while playing...please explain the situation. Thanks!


My two drink 16oz of milk a day. They get 8oz in the morning, when they first get up and 8oz when they get up from their nap, around 4pm. For both times, we are in the family room and most of the time they drink while sitting on their couches, or on my laps. I don't let them walk around with it because I dont' want them to fall since they can't really see where they are going while chugging.

 

QUOTE(megginmj @ Mar 17 2008, 11:46 AM) [snapback]672920[/snapback]
When I first introduced milk, I replaced our mid-morning and mid-afternoon nursing sessions with one sippy cup of milk. Now, nearly a year later, that's still when they get their milk - as a snack at about 10:00am then after their afternoon nap (about 3:30pm). They are allowed to wander around their playroom while drinking it, though I've learned to avoid certain sippy cups which are more likely to leak. They get water at meals, and still nurse at bedtime.


That us almost exactly (except I only nurse when they wake up), they get about 5oz's at 10am and 3pm in sippies and they can walk around with them, thougth they finish them pretty quickly.

 

At that age, mine got a cup of milk with each meal. Then the sippy/straw cup would go in the fridge. If they were thirsty, they came into the kitchen for a drink, and then it went back in the fridge. Mine were never allowed to walk around with a cup--and they still don't.

 

QUOTE(~ilyse~ @ Mar 17 2008, 01:58 PM) [snapback]673142[/snapback]
Oh boy, now I am starting to feel really bad. Milk has well as any liquids have always been a struggle for us. They began fighting us on the bottles (even when we made it chocolate milk) so I finally said, ok all sippies all the time (they were getting water in sippies with meals and milk bottles 2-3 times a day and it took us a while to find the right sippy but it is the best of them all I guess).They don't drink alot at meals to begin with and the milk is/was strategically given at certain times of the day (wake up, snack, before bed). Now they are hardly drinking any at all. I would say they are not even drinking 8 oz in a whole day. And I know about adding calcium rich foods to meals and such but still I am so worried about their milk AND fluid intake. Any tips???

Sometimes mine will drink only about 8 oz...other times about 18 oz. It really depends. We offer sippies of milk at lunch and dinner. (working on the morning bottle right now). We offer water at snack times unless they aren't drinking their milk well...then we offer milk at snack time also.

I make fruit and oatmeal with milk in the mornings, give cheese, yogurt, calcium enriched pudding, calcium enriched butter, etc whenever I can to make sure they get enough calcium for the day. I know it's stressful...it is for me(weight issues), but I figure if they are eating and drinking their calcium, their diapers are wet, and they seem happy, then I'll let them be. I'm not sure of a way to "make" them drink more. I've found that if I offer a drink more often (like throughout the day), mine will drink less so I stick with strategic times.

 

We give milk at meals and first thing in the morning. They do have their sippy of milk in the morning when they first get up with that they walk around with then they eat breakfast, then it goes back in the fridge until lunch. They get milk at every meal and then before bed too, we let them walk around with the milk sippy before bed as they are still playing or reading books then.