Weaning a 12 Month Old Who Seems to Not Want Milk

I don't think she really has to have cow milk for any reason- lots of kids are allergic. Any particular reason she needs to be weaned so early?

Hi!

Try flavoring it with strawberry or vanilla extract and a little sugar or splenda. This may work because it is different. Goos luck!

A.

My daughter had the same issue...and I weaned her at 1 yr old too...I started mixing a few spoonfuls of strawberry yogart into her milk and then she would drink it. I talked to her pediatrician about doing this and she didn't recommend it because she said that yogart has a lot of sugar, and that it might be hard to then later wean her from the yogart. All I can say is that it worked great for us. I did the yogart for quite awhile and then slowly put in less and less yogart with the milk...now she's almost 2 and she loves milk and asks for it. Good luck...you'll make it through this hard transition~

Our son takes it with Carnation Instant Breakfast mixed in. To add weight it's one serving to 10 oz. whole milk. Now that we don't have weight issues, we just mix in enough that he wants to drink it. We have finally gotten to where he will drink plain milk, but he does drink more if it's got the chocolate CIB in it.

Respect your child's innate knowledge.

You certainly can continue to breastfeed until your child weans herself. I did that with my son until he was 22 months.

I am a Homeopathic and Chinese Medical Physician. Cow's milk is for baby cows. If you must have milk product, check out goat's milk. It will be interesting to see what you child accepts and rejects.

Trader Joe's has fair prices. They have goat and sheep milk cheese, goat milk and yoghurt. Most of their cow's milk cheeses come from cows NOT given RBGH.

You can also look for unsweetened rice and almond milks.

Ask your questions at: www.google.com Do the research and make your decisions from a broader data base. Why give commercial milk from cows who are give Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone and antibiotics, at all?

You can also go to: www.notmilk.com

Stay away from soy milk. It is very hard to know if even the organic soys have not been contaminated by Genetically Modified crops.

You are at a pivotal time for the formation of your child's immune system. Go slowly with introducing new foods.

Good luck!

R.
____@____.com

Try using Raw Milk. Depending on where you live, you can find a farm who supplies your area. Most babes know instinctively what is not right for them. Your baby may have a dairy allergy or sensitivity, esp to cows milk, which is far from Mother's milk. Raw Milk has all the enzymes which naturally prevent dairy intolerance and these enzymes and healthy, good bacterias die during the pasteurization process. Almost everyone with dairy intolerance can not only handle raw milk, but in many cases, raw milk actually heals allergies of all kinds, including those to dairy! google raw milk and research it a bit.

Is she eating well? If so, you may not need to give her milk at all, and perhaps you should consider postponing the weaning process for a while.

Best of luck,
C

My daughter was the same way when we were weaning her off the bottle, she would NOT take milk from a sippy but would down water from one. I had to start her on 2% because she did not like the taste of whole milk. She eventually eased into the idea but it did take her until she was about 14 months old to be a pro at it. My pediatrician said it would be okay as long as she was getting calcium from another source. Cheese was what she ate the most and now loves it. Just have patience, eventually she'll get over it. Good luck!

You might try deluting the milk with water, if she is only use to water from a cup she might be confused. Even at a young age we can get set in a routine. You just keep trying eventually she will accept it. (when you least expect it) Serve it with meals so you are getting away from the whole concept of nursing time.. Hope that helps..

My daughter hated and still hates milk. She would drink the rice milk though. It is by the creamers in the milk section at the grocery store. I think they have it in chocolate also. It might be worth a try. Good luck!

Are you putting whole milk in the sippy? Some kids don't like the fat - Iknow the doctors want them on whole milk but my kids wouldn't take it. My daughter took her 2% fine. Same with yogurt! I love yo-yo baby yogurt and the philosophy behind it - but as small kids my kids preferred yogurt made with low fat milk. As they hit toddler hood they switched to liking whole milk yogurt but never whole milk. Go figure. My naturalist says they couldn't digest and absorb the fats, fats are very complicated and require good digestion.

Hi,
I'm just finishing a health course that talks about the overwhelming science that shows how BAD cow's milk is for us and the link to many degenerative diseases, acne, child obesity ect... The book to reference for this info is The China Study, Dr. T.Colin Campbell. Keep giving your child filtered water to continue a good habit of hydration and a strong immune system!
L.

Hi K., have you thought about continuing to breastfeed and let your daughter self-wean? Like others have said, milk is really unnecessary. If she has a good diet and is eating lots of different foods, she could continue to just have water and get all her nurtients through a varied diet (and breastmilk if you keep at it). Personally I wouldn't get my kid started on sugary milk- not good for the teeth and can be a hard habit to break. Good luck!

We used soy milk with my son because it tastes sweater than cow milk, more like breast milk. You can buy soy milk fortified, providing more vitamins than cow milk, however it is still lower in fat. Because of this, you will have to find other sources of fat (cheese or yogurt for example). We slowly began mixing the soy milk with cow milk until my son was just drinking cow milk. Now at 2.5 yrs he will drink either one.

Hi! Just a thought (It worked for one of my friends)...

Try soy milk first (you can get the plain, not flavoured - my kids like Silk the best)and see if that goes over well. It may not make a difference, but... If you want to transition to regular milk after, my girlfriend mixed the two, increasing ratios over about a week until she was using just regular. This might be adding an additional step, but it worked for her and soy is good for them...

Same issue with my daughter, never took a bottle, only boob or sippy w/ water. I kept nursing until about 18 mo. only because I didn't want to fight her. But what worked for me was mixing in a little 8th continent vanilla soy milk with her whole milk. She is 22 mo. now and still likes a little vanilla in the milk. I figure if she'll drink it then I'm happy. Good luck!

What worked for me was "keep offering it"...my daughter was exactly (really---exactly what you described) the same way...and now loves milk and drinks it 3x a day!

If you don't need to wean, you could just wait. But if you are ready, just keep being consistent about it. This is a big change for her to go from breast to cow's milk so don't expect her to just go for it immediately. Think of it as a very slow transition and see where you are in a month. I went through something similar with my daughter so I know it can be frustrating and worrisome, but just take it slowly. Good luck!

add light corn syrup to the milk, this will make is sweeter like breast milk.

I ran into the same problem with my son when I introduced milk at 12 months. He had never had a bottle either. I was able to get him to drink milk by making it half chocolate milk. Then I slowly reduced the amount of chocolate in the mixture. Now he gets just a splash of chocolate per 8 oz., but can tell if I don't add it in. I hope this helps! Good luck!

K.,
I've had the same problem with my 14 month old. My little boy was weaned completely though, so I did not have the option of still breastfeeding. He used to drink milk from a sippy cup ok, but lately he has drank less and less. I got so worried that he was missing out on the calories that I started to put a little bit of chocolate syrup (maybe 1/2 tsp) in a sippy with 6-8 oz milk. I bought the chocolate syrup that has 1/2 the calories and sugar. Not sure if this was a good idea or not, but it certainly works! He loves it, and I"ve just been trying to push less and less in. He just seems to like seeing me put it in, no matter how much it is. Not sure if it's something you want to start, but it has worked for us.

Hi K.- I am having the same problem with my 1 year old son. At our last well visit the doctor said that it is very normal for kids to refuse to drink milk from a cup or bottle during the weening process. She suggested getting milk through other sources. We eat a lot of yogurt and cheese to replace the milk. I also add whole milk to his cereal in the morning. I have found that he will sometimes (not very often) drink the milk froma cup if it is at room temperature. I still give my son water and juice in the sippy cup. I use that as a distraction when he wants to nurse.
I hope this helps. Good luck!

Hello!
My daughter is also not a big fan of milk and I have played with options since she was 12 months as well.
I played with the temerature and have tried flavoring the milk with choclolate syrup or cocoa powder. I have offered soy milk, flavored and unflavored as well as fortified orange juice.
She flat out refused any version of soy.
The syrup was not a big hit.
She does like the "hot" cocoa on some days.
These days she loves the orange juice (of course).
On some days she feels like milk apparently and will drink up to 4 oz at a meal. She does not want it on her cereal -ever.

For the most part I tried not to make it an issue and concentrated on cheese sticks and yogurt to cover the dairy intake. I still use whole milk yogurt and simply mix fresh or previously frozen fruit under. She loves this as she eat it herself (messy!) Her pediatrician was fine with that.

Hope this helps! I used to fret about this, but she is fine and gets what she needs from everythign else she eats.

D.

First and formost remember that breastfeeding past 12 months is not a sin and not useless it is still benifiting both her and you. I had the same problem with my daughter she did not care for cows milk for a long time. While I don't really have a solution for you(yeah it's one of those Just keep trying things) I just wanted to offer hope I don't even remember exactly when she started to drink the cows milk but if I had to quess i would say about 18 months(she didn't wean until 20 months) She is know almost three and loves her cows milk so I guess what I am saying is don't feel pressured to wean completly if you don't want(remember she is a person to and will let you know when she is ready) either way just keep truckin!!! And good luck

Hi K.,
Cow's milk isn't that great for kiddos actually. They push milk saying that we all need the calcium and vitamin D but there are other ways to get that through the diet. Kids can get a lot of their vitamin D through sunshine thanks to Colorado's abundance of it.

Some children also have an intolerance to the protein in cow's milk (which is different from being lactose intolerant) and that will often be why they reject the milk. The milk may cause a minor reaction in their body that they notice so they don't want to drink it. That may also be the case with soy, rice, almond milk. If your little girl rejects cow milk then you could try others like rice milk. Soy can also be highly allergenic so if you use it or a nut milk then you might want to rotate them so she isn't being bombarded by one type of milk.

Sometimes kids that don't like milk will take cheese. As a child I detested milk and still won't drink a glass of it no matter what you put in it but I love cheese! :) If you are worried about the calcium you could see if she will eat small bits of cheese instead.

I would definitely keep trying, but she just might not like milk. When my 2 1/2 was 1, I tried switching him from his formula to whole milk without prevail. I talked with his pediatrition, and she suggested trying the various flavored mix-ins (chocolate, strawberry, vanilla, banana); still no luck. So I incorporated cheese, yogurt, and cottage cheese into his diet. He still won't drink whole milk, but he will drink non-fat now. Infimil has come out with a Next-step formula for children 9-24 months who have a problem drinking milk; that could be an option. Hope this helps!!!

All I can say is GOOD LUCK! My daughter didn't wouldn't drink any cows milk until she was at least 2. I had a friend who mixed small amounts of milk in with pediasure and slowly decreased the pediasure until her daughter drank it (but it is high in sugar and my daughter didn't like it either).