Getting 1 Year Old to Drink Milk

Ok, when we switched my daughter from formula to milk. she didn't like vitamin D (whole milk). we had to give her 2% milk. doctors want them to have whole milk but that was the only way i could get her to drink it. good luck.

I had to mix the regular milk with formula. I started with half and half and cut the formula back from there. Hope that helps.

When you're used to the taste of something, it's HARD to switch. I was born & raised on a dairy farm & had whole milk for 25 years. Until I went to college, I had no idea what "store bought milk" was. I also realized that at 18, I probably didn't need WHOLE milk anymore. HOWEVER....trying to switch was HORRIBLE! I was so used to the wonderful taste of fresh whole milk. SO......what I did was drink part whole mixed in with 2%. Initially, 3/4 whole and 1/4 2%. After a week or two, I went 1/2 & 1/2, then 3/4- 2% etc. until I could handle the taste of 2%. I did the same thing when I switched to skim. It worked. MUCH easier to tolerate.

might try mixing some of the other & see if you can get him to make the switch gradually.

I have a 16 month old daughter who had a terrible time with formula. At 12 months I began to replace 2oz of formula with milk each week allowing her to slowly adjust until we were completely off the formula. It worked great for us, she is a big milk drinker now! Good Luck.

Hello K.! When my three year old turned one he would'nt drink milk either! I tried warming it, not warming it, I put it in a sippy cup and a bottle, nothing worked. Someone suggested soy milk, so I tried it and he gulped it down!(?)
He still doesn't drink milk very often, so I make him eat cheese! As long as your son eats good otherwise, don't worry too much about the milk, he can get his protein from other foods! I would keep trying though, some day he might just change his mind and drink it! Good luck!

Put about 1/2 teaspoon of QUICK strawberry or chocolate mix.

Hi there. My son loved his bottle and so we worried about this too. We started mixing the milk with the formula and that worked for a while. The big problem we had was he didn't want anything cold so once it was just milk we'd pop it in the microwave for about 5 seconds just to take the chill off. After a couple weeks he loved his milk so much that as soon as he sees us head toward the fridge he's yelling for his milk, cold!

I would strongly advise against the second step formulas. We tried that when Luca was about 10 months and when we mentioned it to our pediatrician she said to take him back off. They are more expensive and the only difference between those and regular formula is a much higher amount of fat. I believe it was Parent's magazine that did a comparison of the formulas and said it was pretty much a waste of money and if they are eating well they are getting all the vitamins and iron that the formula claims they need. If you still have trouble you could talk to your pediatrician but a lot of babies just don't like change and that could be what's going on with your little guy.

Oh, our son is 14 months old so we aren't that far ahead of you in parenting experience but I can totally understand how uncooperative one year olds came be when they decide against something! Best of luck, feel free to email with any more questions! :)

Hi K., Try soymilk. My 2 kids won't drink milk since they were toddlers ( now 3 and 6)but when I tried soymilk they immediately liked it and today that all they both drink. And soymilk has as much calcium and vitamin D, E and A as milk with added nutrients that milk doesn't have, like omega3. Try the Silk brand of soymilk,the very vanilla or the vanilla flavor. They both taste very good. I'm myself a milk person but I like the soymilk sometimes too. Good luck with everything.

I just went through the same thing with my little girl. I got the strawberry Hershey's syrup and added just a splash of that and she has drank it ever since. I know you can also get it sugar free if you are worried about your little one getting too much sugar.

mix it for him until he can completely switch. use mostly formula at first and over time increase the amount of real milk you use.

My son did the same thing. His doctor told us to mix the fomula and milk. He was taking 6 oz. of fomula at the time so we started with 4oz of fomula 2 oz of milk and once a week we would taper down the fomula and add some milk so week 2 he had 3 oz of fomula and 3 oz of milk; week 3: 2 oz of fomula and 4 oz of milk and so on. It gradually introduced him to a new taste.

I have recently gone through this with my grandson. What seemed to work for him was to put a little strawberry Quik or a little chocolate Quik in the milk and slowly decrease it until he is drinking plain milk. You can also try putting milk in blender and adding things like banana or another type of fruit to flavor it a little. Then gradually decrease the flavor and he should be fine. It worked for my grandson. Another thing you can try is getting him to eat yogurt. It has some calcium in it which is what he needs for his bones and teeth now. If it is still a problem try feeding him foods that have higher calcium and vitamin D until you can get him to drink milk. I think the flavor being added should work for you though.

I would suggest trying the step 2 formulas that are available. My children are 15, 12, and 20 months, so I have seen the recommendations on feeding infants change over the years. The second stage formulas are a better alternative to whole milk for children 12-24 months. You can go online and compare the ingredients to milk and seen the advantages.

My son was breast fed for a year and I found him to transition to this much easier. He's not a big fan of regular milk yet. The new formulas have more of what a little one needs for continued brain and bone development.

Hope this helps!

Hi K.,
My son was the same way. We started by mixing milk with formula. about 3/4 formula and 1/4 milk, after a few days, we went to half and half and then by a couple of weeks he was able to drink milk.

Good Luck,
I know it's stressful!
M.

I found the easiest thing to help transistion the little to regular milk was to mix with the formula one ounce at a time. So each week I would add one ounce of milk to the formula until we were completely milk and this worked really really well with both of my children.

Have you tried gradual mixing between the formula and the milk?

With my 14 month old, we started mixing half Silk soy milk and half milk (milk seemed to make him constipated, and soy milk seemed to make his diapers blow out). We gradually reduced the soy milk after a while, and now he's just on cow's milk and loves it.

A few weeks before my son turned one I started giving him on bottle of milk a day, mainly before bed. He loved it but then when I took him off of the formula he would not drink it so I started putting Nesquik Strawberry Flavored powder in his sippy cup and he loved it! My mom had to do that for me when I was little because I did not like milk. I would only mix on teaspoon of the powder with the milk due to the amount of sugar. Now my son will drink plain ol' milk. Good luck!

My daighter was also on soy formula. We used soy milk and she loves it. She is 14 now and she still doesn't like milk products, no cheese, or sour cream but she does like ice cream and yogurt. I found some ice creams would make her cough when she was young. She also doesn't like beef. She has never eaten a hamburger that she liked. She will eat roast beef but I finally gave up and cook alot of chicken and try to get her protein from beans. The doctor said sometimes when they are on soy formula they don't like beef due to not having a milk taste early on. I don't know about his but it made sense to me. She will probably be healthier than all of us since we do enjoy the occasional burger. Good luck with the switch!

The methods that worked for my now 22-month-old daughter were to mix formula with milk and gradually change the mix to all milk, add Nestle Strawberry or Ovaltine for flavor, and YoBaby Organic Yogurt Drinks. We did a lot of yogurt drinks at first. She now prefers actual yogurt. I liked adding the flavorings myself because the store-versions were much sweeter. I can control how sweet they are when I add it. It also allowed me to add it to the milk I prefer to use, an organic whole milk.

Melissa mentioned soy milk which with your son being on soy formula is probally the only way you will get him to drink milk unless you mix it with his formula like also suggested but be careful large amounts of soy products are NOT good for you. I also don't knwo that soy milk has the proper fats that a child needs at this age, so if you do go that route be sure to include lots of foods containing good fats for his brain developement. good luck.

I started by mixing formula and regular milk together.

I was feeding 6 oz. of formula. Then I started with only mixing 4 oz. of formula and adding 2 oz. of regular milk. I did that for 1-2 weeks. Then I did just 2 oz. of formula and 4oz. of milk for another 2 weeks. Then totally regular milk.

With my first daughter, I had to add a little artificial sweetener to the milk for a while until she was used to it.

L.

I would suggest trying the plain or unsweetened soy milk. It is a little pricey but he may have developed a taste for it. You could also do a mixture of formula and milk. Like for a week do 7 ounces of formula to 1 of milk, the second week 5 ounces of formula to 3 ounces of milk. Just so he can gradually get used to the taste.

If he doesn't want to drink milk don't force him. Try another kind of milk (rice, almond or soy). He might just not like the taste or texture of the milk. If he is used to powdered formula he might do best with powdered milk mixed with water. When he is used to it you can add some milk into it. Make sure that it's not because it makes his tummy hurt. But there is nothing wrong with rice milk and it's more hypoallergenic. He will probably drink milk someday. If you need to get him more fat give him avocado or other fatty veggies or meat. Rice milk replaces milk in almost every way but the fat. It has calcium and vit. D. Best of luck.

~M.

My daughter was on isomil also, but she took to whole milk for awhile. She's almost 9 and won't touch milk now. Have you tried a soy-based milk. Since isomil is soy-based he may take to that as opposed to cow's milk.

Have you tried flavoring it with Chocolate or Strawberry? You're doing it in a sippy cup right?

Many children do not like the transition over to cow milk. My boys loved yogurt, cheese sticks, cottage cheese, etc. As long as baby is receiving the calcium and fat from regular milk products, then there's no absolute need to make baby drink cows milk. After a while baby may grow a taste for milk. Maybe try re-introducing milk into his diet every month.

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one thing i can suggest is try putting just a small amount of karo syrup in the bottle with the milk. it sweetens it up just a bit, and will also help with constipation. good luck

You might try mixing the formula and milk. Start with half milk and half formula, then increase the amount of milk each day or so. That's how we switched my son from breast milk to formula, and then from formula to milk.

Formula feds seem to have a lot more trouble with the switch because it's similar instead of something just totally different from breastmilk.

A few things to try:
~Don't know if you sopped the bottle but after a year, it's time to go to the sippy cup. Putting the milk in the cup may be something different and interesting to him.
~Try organic milk, it tends to be sweeter.
~Add a bit of flavor like vanilla extract to it (stay away from syrups) or buy a can of Pediasure and mix in some of that

Hi K.,

have you tried soy milk? my son loves it and it has the same (if not more) of the nutrients and calcium as regular milk; although it is more expensive.

Good luck!

My daughter made the switch from formula to milk when she was 9 mon. old while drinking a bottle. She never liked regular white milk. When she was a year old, I took her bottle completely away and gave her a cup. Chocolate milk, strawberry milk helped a little. To this day she just does not like white milk and she is almost 24 years old. Some children just don't like the taste of white milk. If you've just switched over she might get used to the taste, but don't count on it!!! Goodluck and start thinking about other sources of calcium.

Something my sister-in-law tried with her son when they faced the same issue was adding drinkable, organic yogurt to the milk. It gave it a little flavor plus her son got some additional calcium, especially since he wasn't drinking enough milk in the beginning.

HI
I have 3 girls, 5, 3, just turned 1.
With all of my girls at about 11 and 1/2 months I started doing 1/2 formula and 1/2 milk. I just mixed it together in the same bottle and over the next few weeks I would just lessen the formula to like 2 ounces and then just milk. None of mine had any problems with it. Good luck.
I have another friend who put milk in a sippy cup so they thought it was a whole new thing. Good luck. Angie

Hi K. - Have you tried mixing the milk with the formula? The first time do 3/4 formula and 1/4 milk. The next time do 1/2 and 1/2 and so forth. That worked for both of my kids. Good luck!

When my daughter was switched over to milk, I had to warm it or she wouldn't drink it. Maybe you can try that.

I was told to use flavorings in the milk - anything to get them to drink it. (Chocolate/strawberry...)

Hi! Our twins were the same way. We mix fat free or sugar free chocolate or strawberry mix with the milk, and they love it! We have no problems getting them to drink it with that in it.

First I am sure you don't want to invest in the 12 mos+ formula that is now available or else this posting wouldn't be here (I don't blame you... very expensive).

Since we all have grown-up believing Cow's Milk is the "be-all/end-all" for getting recommended dairy amounts as children it is sometimes difficult to get out of that habit.

Since your child has refused milk, why not try different yogurt & cheese products instead and then provide flavored water and 100% juice as beverages. Silk's Very Vanilla Soy Milk is very yummy and may be a good substitute - it actually has MORE nutritional value than milk.

Unless you're buying raw milk (I am not necessarily advocating it for the record), the milk we drink has been processed and fortified so it's in an altered state just like all the other dairy products. I think your only concern should be that he is getting all his recommended calories/vitamins/nutrients and not to worry which food sources it comes from.

My son was similar, didn't want anything to do with milk. I finally just cold turkey'ed him, after 3 rough days he now drinks milk like a champ. Those days I offered him milk and water in a cup and no bottle. Good luck!

I had a friend who had the same problem as well. She tried adding strawberry or chocolate mix from Nesquik.

Try mixing it with the isomil, and each day put less isomil in it. It probably is the taste that is different to him. We would be glad to drink milk because to our taste buds formula is yuk! However he is accustomed to the taste of Isomil. He'll come around. In the meantime give him yougurt or pudding so he'll get his calcium. Whatever you do, don't put chocolate or strawberry flavoring in milk just to get him to drink it. It's a bad habit and very difficult to break. I think you will have success with my suggestion, it worked for me in the past.

Hi K.! Okay, my dauhter started with rice milk because she was allergic to regular milk when she was young. . .however, she didn't like the taste of it, so to get her to drink it, we would put a small amount of juice (her favorite kind) with it and she LOVED it. To me, it sounds gross, but she would always drink all of it! And she still asks for it today, though we don't do that anymore! If you try it just remember to do a very small amount (no more than an ounce) otherwise the consistency isn't right). Anyway, hope this helps!

I had this issue with my now 3 year old daughter. I went throug everything trying to get her to drink milk, but she just would not do it. Somebody told me to try soy milk, so I did. I bought the SILK vanilla soy milk and she loved it!!! Now it is a little more expensive than regular milk, but my pediatrician said that whatever she would drink was fine by her. Hope this helps!!!

Hi K.!

I started mixing milk in his formula a few weeks before he turned one. I started with half and half, and then lessened it week by week. He still wasn't quite taken to it. So, I bought sugar free chocolate and strawberry syrup to add a little flavor. I only had to use that for less than a week before he started drining it on his own.

Good luck!!

When I switched my son (like 6 yrs ago) we did it slowly.
We'd mix formula with just a little bit of milk, then every other day we'd increase the milk and decrease the formula.
Hope this helps!

You may want to try to combine the formula and milk together in a bottle or sippy cup. Also, maybe try a sippy cup for the milk if you are using a bottle for formula and give it to him in the highchair at mealtime. I have also tried giving my child something to eat first like a cracker or something a little salty so that they are really thirsty and willing to drink anything. Good luck!

My Dr. actually told us to add chocolate flavor to our daughters and she became an addict instantly! The Dr. stated that the importance of the milk fat in a little one's diet out-weights the fact that you are also adding sugar. It worked wonders for us...she eventually didn't need the choc. and has loved milk up until I changed to 1%. oops.

My little guy who is now 15 mo had the same issue. I started with 3/4 formula and 1/4 milk for 2 weeks and then 1/2 and 1/2 for another 2 weeks and then 3/4 milk to 1/4 formula for another 2 weeks and then all milk after that. It took a long time to get him used to it. He also still only really likes milk if it is a little warm so maybe that will help too. Good luck!

Both of my kids did the same thing. Neither took the regular formula as babies, one on Isomil and one on Nutramigen. I tried chocolate milk and strawberry milk and still no interest. They both loved yogurt and cheese though and ate cereal with milk. I discussed this with my doctor and he said it was okay and maybe they would grow out of it, as long as they were getting some calcium not to worry. They were both very healthy too. They did both eventually grow out of it and drink milk now but it took until they were 2 or older to drink it at all.

If he doesn't like milk, then try soy milk,whole raw milk, goat milk, or just skip milk altogether. My baby never drank milk. She is 13 now, and is quite healthy.

This is a link to a couple that have a "ministry" helping families.

http://www.nogreaterjoy.org/index.php?id=1

E.