My little girl has just turned one! I'm trying to start her on dairy products, namely milk but she will not take more than a teeny sip. She's always been a nurser...I tried bottles when she was an infant and we were unsuccessful. I have milk stored in the freezer but she won't even take the breastmilk from the sippy cup either. I would love to keep nursing her (my son nursed until he was 17.5 months, the day I went into labor with my little girl) but I just feel as if the well is drying up. Any suggestions on how to get her to take a sippy cup of either breastmilk or milk? She drinks water fine out of the sippy cup but when I give her breastmilk or milk from it, she refuses.
Thank you all in advance.
Thank you everyone for the advice...but we're still struggling. I'm running out of breastmilk and she just won't take the cow's milk. I don't mind nursing, but I just don't think I have enough left so that it's still nutritional. Any other ideas?
I've learned kids are very adaptable - keep giving her a cup for a couple days - it won't take long before she realizes this is the way she is getting milk now!!
Hi D.
We're going through the same exact thing in our house (and i posted this same question a few days ago!)
We've been trying everything and only thing that seems to help is some %1 milk with a bit of vanilla flavored rice milk.
Good luck
n
Hi, D.!
MAybe try just giving the milk in a regular bottle. My son doesn't eat a lot and he is four. Although it is embarrassing to say that I still give him his bottle when he wants to take a nap, his pediatrician says it's ok, since my daughter went thru the same thing and as soon as she started pre school, she started asking for the bottle less often. Kids know when it's time just like potty training, I was so stressed out when I used to train and forced my son but when he started wanting to do it, it was a lot easier since I stopped stressing about it. My son is also a picky eater and even when I starve him so he'll ask for regular food, he never did, and ended losing weight, so his pediatrician advised me to give him his milk as long as I can sneak in soft foods here and there until he gets used to eating regualr food. It is actually working because he learns to look into the pantry when he is hungry. This is better than forcing him to eat, I used to wrestle him down so I can feed him, but all I got is more resentment from him, Goodluck and just be patient.
My daughter wouldn't take milk either until I put it in a totally different cup than what her water came in and added some hersheys chocolate syrup. To this day (she'll be 3 in June), she has one kind of cup for water only, one kind of cup for her chocolate milk and another for juices. I can't put the milk in the water cup, or visa versa because she freaks out and won't drink from them. Try that and see if it helps. Good luck
Hi,
If she's healthy, eating, maintaining a good weight... no worries. Water is the best beverage (esp better than juice or soda). Keep nursing if you feel it's right. Each child is different and will know when to stop. Nursing is more than nutrition. If you're concerned about nutrition, there are other ways to get calcium...etc...i.e. milk (even rice/soy milk with calcium) in cereal, yogurt, cheese, dark green leafies... My boys are grown now, but neither of them drank anything else but water when they were that age (and both nursed for over 2 years). Check in with your local La Leche League for more support :).
I have a nearly 13 month old who followed in his brother's footsteps by not taking to cow's milk right away. With both of them what seemed to work was to just keep offering it, just a little in a cup over and over and over. Since they both liked drinking water out of cups, I tried to put milk in cups that were easy to drink out of, as in the baby gets the liquid out with little effort. For us straw cups, either the take and toss kind or a fancier version worked well.
My baby hasn't moved beyond taking a few swallows of milk from a cup at a time, but he is at least interested and drinking it (he's also still breastfed). It may be easier to get a baby to take lower fat milk than whole milk. I've heard of babies that wouldn't drink whole milk at first but took 1%. I'm currently feeding 2% but plan to try whole milk again. My guy also likes yogurt thinned out with milk in a cup.
I feed my kids cow's milk because I believe it provides good nutrition, but there is no dietary requirement for milk as long as there are other sources of protein, fat and calcium.
My last 2 children (I have 4) have both refused to drink cow's milk. Once they were off the formula that was it. They don't drink alot of juice and are big water drinkers. I just supplement their diets with other calcium rich products like yogurt and cheese. I tried soy milk products thinking that would help but they refused those too. My 5 yr old is 49 lbs perfectly healthy just had a dental exam teeth look great no cavities and my 2 yr old is 36 pounds and perfectly healthy as well.
Be patient, she will eventually take milk in a cup. Offer it slowly and at each meal. She needs about 16 oz of milk or milk products in a 24 hour period. Some children transitions take longer than others.
