12 Month Old Refusing Formula and Vitiman D Milk

start small - do 1/3 milk and 2/3 formula and then gradually phase out the formula and introduce more milk...

my daughter refused a sippy cup, but eventually she relented...it takes time and yes, kids won't starve themselves...
:)

you don't need to feed baby food. my 2nd daughter is now almost 11 months and eats what we eat in smaller pieces. You can use a baby food grinder to get them in smaller pieces if you wish...

Most people are actually allergic to cow's milk. My doctor suggested that we don't give my daughter any dairy at all and she's 2. I've heard that goat's milk is easier to digest, so you might try that. If you're worried about calcium, try lots of leafy green vegetables like spinach.

Hi S.,
I have a two year old who refused formula and milk also. I tried adding malt flavored ovaltine to whole milk and this has been successful at times. There is no caffeine, as opposed to choc milk, and it is full of vitamins and minerals. She is still not a big milk drinker so I have found other ways to get her protein and calcium. You can also try yogurt smoothies. You can buy ready made smoothies for babies or make some by adding milk to whole milk baby yogurt. Or you can even just offer him yogurt. Yo Yo baby yogurt and smoothies are great. Another option is to buy those bags of cubed cheese or even cube your own, it is cheaper that way. He may like that type of finger food, which will give him the protein and calcium also. As far as stage two and three foods, yuck!!! Have you ever tasted them? LOL. I bought a little food prcessor and basically made my own food for my kids. Whatever I made for dinner, I put in the processor and they all loved the real tasting food. For example, if I made goulash, I would scoop some into the processor with a little water or milk, and pulse until it was smooth or a little chunky depending on baby's preference. All meals went like this until they outgrew the texture stage. It worked great. I wish you luck. It will all work out. You just have to experiment a little.
:) K. G.

My son developed a temporary allergy or reaction to whole milk at that age and began throwing up every time I gave him milk. The pediatrician suggested trying soy milk formula for several months. He tolerated that fine, and about six months later I introduced whole milk again and he was able to tolerate it.

He also changed his eating habits and likes and dislikes radically at that age. I would recommend letting him eat what he likes and tolerates now and in a few months try reintroducing the "rejected" foods again and see what happens. The body is very wise, and every child develops differently so there may be a reason why he is rejecting the chunky food now. As long as he eats someting, he'll probably be fine. You could also try vitamin supplement drops (TriViSol, etc.) as a complement if you're worried about nutrition--check with your pediatricián.

Good luck!

hi - i nursed for 12 months & when i tried whole milk with my son he took a sip then refused it. i bought yobaby drinkable youurt - peach flavored - and mixed that with the whole milk. (it's made with whole milk) it made the milk sweet like breastmilk and/or formula. i had to mix it for several weeks, slowly adding more milk to the sippycup so he could get used to the flavor. by the time i took the last drop of the yobaby out of the milk he was used to the flavor of it & hasn't had a problem since & loves milk!

I'd ask your doctor about the milk. But in terms of baby food, it sounds like he's ready to just do real food! By a year, it's ok for him to eat mostly small, smushy portions of your food. My son is only 8 months, and he's way over the baby food thing. :) He eats small pieces of food from our meals, and LOVES it! My doc said that it was fine, as long as we're careful about possible allergins and keep an eye on him.

Your little boy sounds feisty! Enjoy the fun!

Kids don't have to drink milk. It's just that many people want them to because it's a nutritional powerhouse, containing lots of the things kids need. But there are other foods you can give that will contain the calcium and other nutrients needed. My son was the same way. I did try flavored syrups, but even that didn't always work. And when he did drink, it was very little, less than 2 ounces a day probably. Does he like yogurt or cheese? Try those! Also, as a tip, my son didn't like yogurt at first. I crushed up some graham crackers and mixed that in the yogurt--did the trick! Yogurt is one of the best foods for them. Good luck.

Are you giving him milk straight from the fridge? If yes, it could be too cold. When we transitioned my sons to drinking milk from a cup, we had to warm it up a bit (body temp, like breast milk) first. If it feels "neutral" on your finger, it should be fine. Also, have you tried mixing it with breast milk (or formula, whichever he's used to) and slowly working up to straight whole milk? We actually started by giving our boys yogurt (again, whole milk) before actual milk, and then only started mixing it 1/2 and 1/2 with expressed breast milk. That worked well.

The temperature thing was really big with my kids with food, too. Think body temperature-- not hot, but not cold.

I have found with the chunkier foods finger foods are great if that's what your child wants. Give him a few pieces of cooked chicken on his tray (SMALL pieces-- not bitty, but not as big as diced) and let him feed himself to get used to the chunks. Wait until he's swallowed the chunky food and then sneak in a spoonful of the mushed up food. Feedings will be slow going for a while, but worth it. Keep in mind that a lot of stage 3 foods are SALTY and that may be making him gag, too. Skip the "toddler" foods and feed him what you're eating, only mashed up (either by hand or in the food processor) with a "compliment" of chunkier finger foods. He'll catch on and will gradually begin eating more and more of the thicker foods. Oh, and if you are feeding him chunkier foods on a spoon, make sure it's only one chunk at a time and that it's kind of wet so it'll mash up in his mouth easier. My secret weapon is winter squash-- a little of that on the spoon with a piece of chicken and my kids gobble it up.

My boys LOVE the Gerber banana puffs. That may not be the actual name of the product, but it's in the shape of stars and a great first finger food. Especially since they don't have corn syrup in them like Cheerios do.

Patience is key, though we all know it is very difficult at times!!

Hi S.,

I was going through the same thing with my son. He would not drink whole milk but he did take to the 1% fat free milk. If all else fails try soy milk. I also know of a child that drinks no milk at all because of asthma and she is fine.

Skip the stage 3's. My daughter didn't like them. And my doc told me that lots of kids just skip them. So don't even both, just give him what your eating. That should save you money. Have you tried chocolate milk. Or even strawberry.

Try warming the milk up. My 16 month old son will ONLY drink warm milk out of a bottle...NO sippy cup with milk! I figure when he was breastfed for 15 months the breastmilk was of course warm. Try it out! My daughter now 4 yrs old was the same way with wanting her milk warm.
Good luck and know that they always go thru these "things" and it always works itself out in due time.

I can say with some certainty that his nutrition will not suffer if he doesn't drink milk as long as he's getting calcium in other forms. There are lots of calcium fortified juices now a days and even soy milk has calcium. My 30 month old son is allergic to milk and gets all of his calcium from other sources. Luckily he likes soy milk so that's a staple as well as soy yogurt. And there are many meats and veggies that have calcium too. But if your son is not allergic you can find lots of ways to get the milk into him like giving him yogurt and cheeses for example.
As for his only eating stage 2 foods, he will not loose nutrition if he's still eating those. You may want to give him more if he seems hungry, but it's fine. Let him eat what he is comfortable with. My son never liked stage 3 foods and went from stage 2 foods (in fact some veggies, he'll still prefer that way, and it all about getting the good stuff in, right?) to table food.
the biggest thing to remember is that your son is eating. It doesn't matter if it's stage 2 or 3 or whatever. If he's getting a balanced diet, no matter what the texture, that's what should matter. A lot of the times we are influenced by friends and relatives that say we should be doing otherwise but if you can try to just focus on the positive (the fact that he is eating) then all is going great.

Hi. My girls never ate stage 3 food. They had the same issue, so we skipped it altoghether and went straight to finger food. Whatever we ate we just cut up small enough for them to have some.

Try putting a drop of flavor syrup in the milk. The girls also went through this and we don't put a lot you can barely taste it but we put a little chocolate or strawberry syrup in the milk for them to drink.

Hi,
My son hated the stage 3 foods too and he didn't take any finger or table food until about 15/16 mo. If he eats finger foods, then go with it. Try your own dinner cut up real tiny, he might like it. As for taking milk, just keep trying, sometimes it takes up to 15 tries before a kid will like something. When I weaned from formula to milk I would put part formula/part milk into a bottle, but this won't work if your son won't take the formula either. Try calcium fortified orange juice, other fruit juices should be watered down or just one other glass a day so he is getting plenty of water. I was never a fan of introducing chocolate milk too soon, but my mother and husband did it anyway since there are no food allergies in our family. If you are comfortable this might work. You can substitute things like cheese and yogurt for calcium. Even the baby food blends that have the chicken and broccoli have calcium from the broccoli. Good Luck!

Have you ever tasted the stage 3 foods? They are gross!! I don't blame kids for not wanting them... My kids went from stage 2 to table foods also....actually, they still eat the stage 2 foods once in a while, too. My boys are 2 and 3 yrs old. :)
It's actually a convenience for me since it comes in a jar and there's no prep involved - and they really like them. I put the pureed carrots or peas along side the chicken or meatloaf on their plates and they love it! Since I always buy the organic baby food, I feel good about giving it to them.
I also still buy baby cereal - it's a lot better than a lot of those cereals on the shelves and I even eat it myself sometimes. With the DHA added to a lot of baby foods now, I feel really good about giving them the extra nutrition.

It sounds like he got the taste for juice and likes it better. Talk to your doctor. Babies need to be on milk or formula for as long as possible.. for their bones. The calcium and vit. D are strongest in milk products and formula... you can try yogurt too and cheese. As for 3rd stage baby food.. my kids hated it. I kept them on stage 2 and also gave them reg. food. As long as the baby has some teeth - most food is good. Make sure he eats a lot of veggies and fruits.. but get him to take some type of milk or formula... limit juice! juice has so much sugar and it can harm his teeth. good luck

S.-

Regarding the milk, has he been taking formula? If so, you can try to gradually introduce milk by adding one ounce of milk to a formula bottle and adding an additional ounce each day. If this does not work, you may want to discuss calcium supplements with your pediatrician. If you son is willing to eat finger foods, I would try taking him off of baby food and giving him real food. Pasta, or chicken and small veggies, fruits and cheese can all be made into tiny pieces. My son just turned 1 on August 8th and those are some of his favorites. I am trying to get him to start milk this week, but I did the gradual introduction with my older son (now 3) and it went smoothly. Best of luck.

My older son would not drink milk, either. We later discovered a milk allergy, and so we got him his calcium through fortified OJ and green veggies. (Yogurt and cheese didn't work, either.) He outgrew this by his fifth birthday (almost to the day...), and now eats at least two containers of yogurt/day (he will be 6 in November).

Neither of my boys ate the stage 3 foods - same as your son - they would gag. So we bypassed stage 3 altogether, and went straight to table food, cut up very small, of course. That made meal time SO much easier! I'd just skip Stage 3 foods altogether, and go straight to table food. (Lots of pasta, rice, and easily chewed meats for a while, but it worked.)

I agree, skip the stage 3. My son wouldn't eat any of that slop. And that's exactly why, it's disgusting and at that they're starting to figure out that they don't like everything that's put in front of them.

Around 10 to 12 months I would make some Pastina or Orzo and serve it like a soup for my son. Mix in a jar of 2nd stage carrots and/or the jarred meat. He loved that for while until he started indicating he wanted real table food.

The Gerber Pasta Pickups are great, cut them into thirds or halves if he's not used to eating chunks like that. Also let him try feeding himself. Sometimes my son wouldn't eat something until I turned my back.

As for the milk thing I don't know. When did he stop drinking it? Did anything other changes coincide with this, like did you change to a sippy cup exclusively or did you change the temperature at which you serve the milk?

Hope I helped. Oh, and I agree again. 86 the juice. It is bad, bad, bad at this age. I don't even have it in the house. Make sure you're brushing his teeth before bed!

He doesn't need formula after he turns 1. Start now to entice him into drinking milk. Drink it yourself. Babies always want what mommy has. If you are like me and would rather die than drink milk, give him milk in a big boy cup with a straw - and help him hold onto it. This worked for my youngest. The straw was so cool because his older siblings used one that he forgot he didn't like the milk.

Also it is ok to flavor the milk. A little flavor goes a long way and the benefits of the milk are better than the minimal amount of sugar added.

Since I am not a milk fan and I don't like adding flavor on a daily basis I gave my kids calcium enriched oj & lots of other sources of dairy throughout the day, i.e. yogurt, cottage cheese, parmasaen cheese, etc along with their daily vitamin.

I do not understand what stage 2 foods are or any stage for that matter, but at 1 year your child should have no problem eating the same foods you eat. I am assuming the stage foods are the prepared foods from gerber? Would you eat them? Give him real food. Good luck!

Hi S.,
You're not under any obligation to feed your baby stage 3 foods simply because the babyfood companies make it. My youngest child went from stage 2 to table food.
You can try soy/almond/rice milk, or be sure that he gets his dairy/calcium from other sources. If he's eating a few servings of yogurt, cheese, etc. in the day, then he really doesn't need the milk.
If you are worried about his nutrition, I would cut out the juice entirely, which fills him up without offering any real nutritional benefit, it's a lot of empty calories

there is no need to feed him baby food if he will eat on his own, besides he is a year old anyway. just cook things thoroughly and let him eat on his own. he may want to be independant as well, and studies show if a child feeds himself, they are less likely to gag than if we push the food to the back of their mouth with a spoon. just figure out what foods he likes best. offer him a variety of like 3 things at each meal, but have one be something you know he will eat, and keep experimenting with the others to find new things he likes. we did however feed the not as liked foods first, then when she was done, we gave the favorite foods. google baby led weaning and you can read about babies who are not fed baby food at all and self feed themselves. there is no need that a baby is fed with a spoon.

as for the milk, i would keep trying. cut out the juice completely though. there is absolutely no need for juice, its high in sugar, and ruins teeth. plus he is filling up on the juice instead of food. instead, only give him the milk at meals. then give him water between meals(or vice versa if needed). have different cups for each drink to make it seem more special. also, try to water down the milk since he likes water. take whole or 2percent and mix with water. it may be too thick for him. he may complain about the juice but you shouldnt give in, or else you will make the problem worse. as long as you give juice, there is no need for anything else. if he absolutely refuses milk, then talk to the doctor about what foods and how much are needed to compensate. but i would keep trying as he probaly will change down the road.

im not saying a kid cant have juice, but when you child refuses others, i do think you need to eliminate it completely. and if you do decide to have juice in your babies diet, its only suppose to be mzx 4-6 ounces a day. there is no advantage for giving a baby juice, as juice has none of the fiber from the actual fruit. instead of the juice, find some fruits he likes and let him feed himself.

good luck!!!

Feeding was one of my big hot button concerns. I found this great book on the late side, When my son was 13mo. But he was such a late eater it was still helpful.

"Child of Mine: Feeding with Love and Good Sense" by Ellyn Satter and actually am entering a new phase and may check it out from the library again.

Note: Kids won't let themselves starve. As I've been reminded many times! He's going to start "real" food more and more and will maybe go through my son's five day phase of "I only eat bananas" I also gave him lots of cheese and yogurt instead of milk. Now at 18mo he is a big fan of eating table food and has lots of opinions about what he will and will not eat!

I'm not sure about the milk, but at my 9 month appt, my pediatrician said most babies don't eat stage 3 foods because of taste and respond better to table foods at that point. So I'd try offering table foods - my daughter at 10 months eats whatever we are eating (modified of course) - all soft fruits, vegetables, macaroni, etc.

good luck!

if he's healthy, let him choose his food. Most juice now is fortified with calcium and vitamins. Put a sippy cup of milk within his sight but don't encourage. Sometimes too much pressure can make even a small child revolt. Ask your parents and grandparents how they survived without all the food items that are available today.