14 Month Old Does Not like Milk in Cup

Hello K.,
We went through the same situation with our first daughter, which is two now. And just this week, transitioned our one year old from a bottle to cup. I first suggest, the NUBY sippy cups. They have the most similiar nipple to a bottle. I do have to tell you the negative to them, is they tend to spill more than the plastic cups, such as playtex or Avent. From experience, I would say you are taking the right steps. Our pediatrician suggests taking them off the bottle, "Cold Turkey." Which sounded so harsh to me, especially since I feel like they are still babies and feeding with the bottle is such a bonding experience. I feel as mothers, we think of them growing up too quickly when they don't have the bottle anymore. Here's what we did. We stared the girls on the sippy cup at ten months with water. They got the hang of it and could drink from it.
At one year we put the whole milk in the cup. We fed them they same way we did with a bottle. So if they wouldn't eat from the cup, at that feeding time, we would leave the sippy cup out in front of them, so they knew it was available. We then took away after a little bit, because of spoiling and for them to have a schedule for eating. If you are going to use only the cup, then use only, take the bottle away completely. I have many of friends, that kept the night bottle and it was so difficult to get them off of that. Especially when potty training is involved, since you want them to cut out liquids after dinner. Because I feel that as mothers, when we give in, it is enabling them to not transition. It is amazing how easy children adjust. I would cut back on the water, so that she wants the milk. It may take days, but she will do it. And for the not eating, my first born is the same way and my doctor says that it is okay, as long as they are getting milk and at least one meal a day. I make sure that they eat three basic meals a day and cut back on snacking. And if they would like a snack, it is a healthy one!

We had the same issues with my second daughter, Jordyn. We give our girls milk only at meals and/or snacks where their sitting at the table. And, I have cups ONLY for water and cups for other drinks. Neither of my girls ever liked ANY sippy cup, moreso Jordyn. But, they do LOVE those cups with the straws in them (it's actually better for them anyway in the long run) and there's a thing that slides over the straw to close it up when they're not drinking from it. They LOVED those. We also bought "silly straws" that have that bendy part in the top for them. They love those. :) Also, she may not like the milk b/c milk does get warm quickly and it may not taste good to her by the time she wants some.

As far as eating is concerned.... welcome to the age of growth spurts! She'll now have cycles of eating everything in sight and cycles of barely eating anything at all. Totally normal. Don't force her to eat, but always offer it up. In those "anti-eating" moments I usually only make THEM meals and what they don't eat I do as my own dinner. My Jordyn is thin as well, very petite, but she's active and happy.

Talk to her pediatrician about how much milk she should have. Ours said it's not just MILK but it's the whole "dairy" thing. If she's eating cheeses and yogurts and such she probably doesn't need a lot of milk during the day.

K.,
Let me know if you get any good tips! Your daughter sounds like a clone of mine! She's all of 20lbs on her 15month appointment last week! She loves her milk - but only in a bottle! I've tried all sorts of cups too! Right now I give her 3 milk bottles a day (to help gain weight)...but again, always in a bottle! I think a major reason is cuz she can hold it in one hand...i have a 4oz Dr. Brown's bottle she LOVES! Sippy cups all seem to be too wide/round and can't hold with her little hands (and handles don't seem to like)!!

So hopefully you'll get some good tips we both can benefit from! :)

Leslie

My daughter did the same thing. She would only drink milk from a bottle. She would drink anything else from a sippy cup. I only gave her milk in a bottle before bed and didn't want to not give it to her because I wanted her to get milk, which my pediatrician said was better than yogurt and dairy products alone. Eventually, my mother, while I was in the hospital giving birth to my second child, took the bottle away from her when she was 22 months and gave her milk in a cup. I don't know if it was the age and she was ready or that someone else tried to do it. I just remember when I tried she wouldn't sleep until she got her bottle, so I was impressed when it worked for my mother.

Well every child is different. But make sure she is given 3 meals a day where you eat as a family, even if it is just you and her. Kids like to eat in groups. Try to limit snacks or eliminate them all together. (Make sure she is not filling up on water/milk throughout the day.) Ditch the bottle. Offer the sippy cup and nothing else. She will not starve herself. She will get over it and she doesn't need it at night anymore. Definitely by a year, they no longer need something to go to sleep. She should get her milk at meals or at snack time. If she knows that the only time she'll get to eat is when she is in the high chair, then she will know that when she is in the high chair she better eat up. Try to develop good habits with eating. Now is the time....when they are older it will only get worse. good luck!!

My youngest son also did this. What I ended up doing which wasnt always healthy was add either chocolate or strawberry syrup to the cup of milk. Once he tasted that it was all fine with him. I wouldnt put to much in it, just enough to flavor it alittle bit..Good Luck

With my oldest her transition was easly handled, my middle was a little tougher, the baby well he's a walk in the the park....But I found the best way to break them from the bottle is get ride of it all togeather....If they can't see it they don't want it....Right now the baby is on formula until next Thursday when he goes to milk....I'm going t transition him into regular milk for the first few days with formula......but all but a few bottles will be in the house the rest are making it to the trash....I have been putting his formula in the sippy for 2 weeks now...

Sorry, but I do not have any advice, but can you let me know what other people say because I am having the exact same problem. I feel like I was writing that.
Thanks.

I have a 20 month old who is underweight and has also recently developed a rather picky appetite. Everything I've read says this is normal as he's learning independence and how to get what he wants, but with him being so small already, it really bothers me. Our pediatrician suggested ovaltine or carnation instant breakfast. It tastes just like chocolate milk, so he drinks it right up, but it has added calories to help him gain weight.

I think that most kids don't all of a sudden want to have something changed, like drink milk, which to them is supposed to come from a bottle, from a sippy cup. With both of my kids, once the bottle was thrown out at 12 months, I just kept on offering it to them. At first, the reason they reject it is because they WANT you to put it in a bottle instead. If you don't, then they'll realize that, and they'll take the sippy eventually. Remember, we're training THEM, not the other way around. I understand you saying you want to let her keep the bottle because she's going through a non eating phase, but really the two are not related to each other. Letting her keep the bottle because you're afraid of her not getting the calores is not going to solve anything. There has to be something she likes, that you can give her to eat. First, I would dump the bottle, just because the longer you wait, the longer you're making it on yourself, because you'll literally have to break her of it. You already might have to, since you've given in to her with it with the milk. But, the eating thing, that's normal, it's frustrating, but normal. One thing my pediatrician told me when I told him "all my daughter wants to eat is mac and cheese!" He said, "well, who said she HAD to have cereal for breakfast?" So, she ate mac and cheese for almost every meal! CRAZY! But, now she's five and she eats everything! Anything from chicken to broccolli and peas. The mac and cheese phase only lasted a short time, and then she actually got sick of it and started getting curious about what we were eating. Once she started trying our stuff, she realized our stuff tasted better than hers.

my son, now 3, was the same way. and still is a light eater. i don't know what he runs on ! we had to offer him many small meals about 6x/day to ensure he'd eat frequently enough. i think it was from my son's 12mo to 15 mos ckup that he didn't gain any weight. it was devastating to me. he had grown in length, and had started walking full time then, so developmentally was doing well. however, i was so upset about it and still am, but he is FINE. even the dr. said not to worry, but just keep offering food. i always make sure to offer high fat foods, like the ones you mentioned, and i still give him whole milk. offer avocados (even make a simple guacamole with just a sm amt of crushed garlic and some salt), which are full of great fats.

i'm reading a paper that a really 'old school' dr. wrote about teachign your baby to eat. it says that when they're little (like 6 mos) and starting to show interest in eating, it's all really about exploration, experimentation, introduction to foods. once they've done all that,they go thru a phase where they're like "i'm done with that, i've mastered that new skill and i can move on to something else now." so they go thru a spurt of not eating as much.

trust me, they do eat when they feel hungry. so offering 5-6 smaller meals a day will help.

also, whole milk has a high fat content and will not spoil as quickly as you might think. i don't know how long it takes to spoil, but look it up on google or something. or, just give her littler amts of milk in the bottle more times per day.

You might want to try soy milk in flavors to get her to drink something other than waterin the cup. You can get soy milk with vitamin d added and other things. Sounds like she associatates the milk as a bedtime drink or comfort drink. The water is really good for her. Most of us do not drink enough water. Things like peas, beans, mac and cheese, would all be good foods to get her to start eating (things you would be eating also) just mash her bite up real good.

Hi K.,
It sounds like she is correlating the milk with the bottle. She knows that she gets milk in a bottle. So when it is in the cup, it isn't comforting to her. Understand? She knows that she can't lay with her bottle, so she doesn't want it. Give her some time. She is only 14 months old. Try putting some juice in the cup and see how she does with that. Then further down the road, add milk once in awhile. That way, when you are ready to give the bottle up, she will be use to it in a cup. Good luck.
T.

Try the Nuby sippy cups, they're more like a bottle

Although my kids didn't take bottles- when I started giving milk in a sippy to my now 7 year old she would drink so much she was too full for table foods (my ped. told me that 2 sippies of milk a day were plenty for a 18 mo old) So maybe the lack of eating food is because she is full of bottle milk? As far as milk vs water in a sippy she may associate milk with the comfort of bottle sucking. So she doesn't like to take it from the sippy. Just some ideas.
Good Luck
Beth

She's old enough to drink from a straw. You can make that so much fun for her and put the milk in that. Good luck. Jeanne Elk Grove Village, Il

To be honest, if she's not drinking milk but she does yogurt and cheese, I would just avoid milk. It's probably just a phase. Wait a month or 2 and then re-introduce milk into her diet in a special kid cup. Spend a couple dollars on a thermos cup with a straw... or something fun and cute she would love. Then put milk in it and see what she thinks. Sometimes we just have to spice up the basics to make them interesting again.

You should read "MY CHILD WONT EAT: How to Prevent and Solve the Problem" by Carlos Gonzalez. It's a fantstic book that teaches you to follow your child's lead on how much they need to eat. And haing skinny children isn't necessarily a concern. As long as they are healthy and active and growing well, you should be more concerned about that than weight. (Both my kids are quite skinny, but also very healthy.) Here's a summary of "MY CHILD WON'T EAT": Parents everywhere worry when their baby or toddler doesn’t seem to eat as much as they think he should! Carlos Gonzalez, a pediatrician and father, sets those fears to rest as he explores the reasons why a child refuses food, the pitfalls of growth charts, and the ways that growth and activity affect a child’s caloric needs. He discusses how eating problems start and how they can be avoided. My Child Won’t Eat! includes mothers’ stories of the anguish and torment they have gone through in trying to get their children to eat! Dr. Gonzalez reassures parents that children know how much they need to eat and explains why a parents’ only involvement should be providing healthful food choices. Forcing a child to eat more than what he needs can only lead to tears, tantrums, and eventually, obesity.