Not drinking milk

A little background: we're down to only our nightime bottle now and the only reason we haven't attempted to drop that one is that Maisy will hardly drink any milk during the day. Now she has decided to drop the bottle herself and is only getting 1-3 oz. of milk per day period. Include the 1 oz. or so of water that she will drink and that is a whopping 4 oz. of liquid. We have tried different sippies, cups with straws and she can use them all (we started practicing with sippies every day at 7 months) but just won't. We offer milk and water to her at each meal, snack, and in between but she'll just push it away.

I'm worried about calcium and plain old liquid consumption. Anyone BTDT with any suggestions?

 

I never had this with my babes, so I really couldn't tell you. However, have you talked with your Ped about it? Maybe just encourage liquids at meals and give her cheese and other calcium products.

I hope it's just a phase and passes quickly. Babies love to make mommies paranoid.

 

We supplement. When I took bottles away (at a late age) they stopped drinking milk. The only way they drink it now is with Ovaltine in it.

 

I'd definitely talk to your pedi too. In the meantime though, we had a small probelm too. My DD wouldn't drink milk once we went to sippies. It was awful. I was so frustrated. So I read here the idea of adding yogurt to her milk. It works wonders. I add a scoop of french vanilla full fat yogurt to her milk now and stir. Voila!
The pedi told me that as long as they are getting fat and calcium from other sources it's ok if they don't drink a lot of milk. Some days now they drink A LOT (16-20 ounces), and some days very little (8 ounces total maybe).
GOOD LUCK!

 

QUOTE(koozie @ Nov 27 2007, 03:14 AM) [snapback]509991[/snapback]
...The pedi told me that as long as they are getting fat and calcium from other sources it's ok if they don't drink a lot of milk. Some days now they drink A LOT (16-20 ounces), and some days very little (8 ounces total maybe).
GOOD LUCK!



I hate milk, so never wanted to push it on my kids. I talked with my doc and he said the same thing. None of my kids get a regular glass of milk each day, only if they ask for it.

There are lots of other ways to get calcium and Vit D (which is a suppliment in milk). I would be more concerned about the over all liquid intake. I would also suggest that you try various temperatures of water. Perhaps it is too cold if straight from the fridge or not cold enough if straight from the tap. Just an idea.

 

I'd be more concerned about total liquid consuption also,not milk. Does she like formula? Could you give her one bottle or cup of this a day? Or maybe the toddler formula? Other ideas are smoothies, with fruit and yogurt. Or maybe a plain paper cup, no straw or top, a little messy but might work. Try giving her water in a cup in the bath, my kids are very thirsty when in the bath for some reason. they often drink a sippy with water or milk (or sometimes bath water) at that time.

Also you can try soy milk, or diluted juice. She will get some water from fruits so you can try offering those also.

 

Thanks for the responses. After a few days she decided that she was going to drink her milk after all, but we still give cheese and yogurt everyday too. She's still drinking very little water, if any, but her milk consumption is making up for that, atleast for now.

 

Hi there,
I'm new to this site and noticed your post because my 15 month old boys are quite finiky too about milk...sometimes they gobble it down other times they toss it across the room...I've decided to resort to a calcium fortified orange juice (Simply Orange is fantastic-although pricey) in lieu of their milk...
Also, regarding sippy cups, my guys wouldn't have anything to do with them, until I got a "soft spout" style...I'm from Canada so I don't know if you have this brand in the states, but its called NUBY and they don't leak at all and they are a soft spout which helps them move their jaw when they drink and control the amount they get...they love them and I can't go without now (it was so easy to switch from the bottle!!)
Anyway, it looks like your problem may be solved but thought I'd share!

 

QUOTE(muskokatwins @ Nov 30 2007, 03:33 PM) [snapback]515320[/snapback]
Anyway, it looks like your problem may be solved but thought I'd share!


Thanks, the oj is a good idea for a supplement. We tried the Nuby and it was a no go, but I did decide to put their water cups on the floor today so she would have all-day access to it and she drank nearly the whole thing! I was against keeping drinks where they play, but hey, if it gets fluid in her then it's going to stay!

 

totally btdt. my girls didn't drink milk for about 2 weeks after we took bottles away. the only way we finally got them back on is to flavor it with Quick. Yea yea yea, I know there is sugar but it is not a horrible amount and they make Quick with extra calcium (and lower sugar) in it and I figure if the trade off to a little sugar is that they will drink milk then what the heck. when my girls weren't drinking milk (and they still go through phases where they won't drink very much), I make sure to give them yogurt at least once a day as a meal and I make oatmeal (great way to sneak a lot of milk in) and try to give them cheese in whatever way I can (grilled cheese, macaronni and cheese, cheese omelet etc.).

As for drinking liquids overall, my friend actually gave me some good advice...give them something to eat that will make them thirsty. So I started to give them Ritz crackers as a snack and those kinds of things. My girls have always been great water drinkers but I had to experiment with a lot of cups and I found that just leaving cups around their play area was another good trick. I always have sippy cups of water (or juice mixed with water), laying around where they watch tv or play with their toys and I find that as they are playing, they will grab it and drink some here and there. Hang in there. I know it can be very nerve racking.