2 Year Old Won't Drink Milk Anymore

i think at 2 they only need 12 oz of milk, the rest should be water. What i did with my daughter was made a smoothie every morning. I did 8 oz yogurt and 4 oz fruit/veg. With that she had more then 1/2 her milk taken care of and half her fruit/veg for the day.
Best of luck!

1 mom found this helpful

Often as they get older the Milk has to be really cold. Also, pick up some fun things to add maybe Ovaltine or something else which may be healther. If she doesn't like it try Silk brand "Soy Milk" they have vanilla and regular she might like that better. My son loves it. Oh one more thing, use other things as well for Calcium. They have Orange Juice with Calcium etc. They also have a Calcium powder you can add to drinks. Good luck!

I had a similar experience, but I stopped my daughter w/ the bottle at 1 year and 5 mos because I didn't want her teeth to decay. After she stopped the bottle, she refused to drink milk on her sippy cup. Instead of stressing about it (I stress a lot!), I would just feed her food that she can eat w/ milk such as cereal, oatmeal, yogurt several times a day. I talked to her pediatrician about it and he said that it was fine that she has milk that way. In fact, my daughter has beautiful, white and healthy teeth as she gets enough milk. Don't worry about her not drinking milk just as long as she eats food that you can add milk.

Good luck!

As long as she is eating a healthy, balanced diet that includes other sources of calcium - certain veggies, yogurt, cheese, etc - don't worry about her milk consumption. At 2 1/2, the fact that her diet included 4-5 cups of milk a day was a little overkill as it is: children of her age shouldn't be drinking that much milk during the day anyway, as she should be filling her tummy with healthful food instead of all of that unnecessary fat in milk. Its GOOD that she is eating more and drinking more water - she should be drinking mostly water, and filling up on food at mealtime as opposed to milk. Children also don't need to drink juice either, so try to refrain from starting on that habit now too.

Offer her one cup of milk a day in a sippy cup ONLY - if she can drink water from one, she can also drink milk from it. If she chooses not to drink it, don't worry about it, she doesn't need the dietary fat any longer - in fact, it is commonly believed in the medical world that both type 2 childhood diabetes and pediatric diabetes in general has a VERY strong connection to over-consumption of milk (not dairy products) past age 1.

If you are really desperate for her to drink milk, why not try and add some Nestles Quick or Carnation Instant Breakfast for flavor? Just a small amount....maybe that will get her to try it!

Dear A.,
Your little one will be fine. Just make sure she gets plenty of dairy in other forms such as yogurt, cottage cheese, etc.
My son wouldn't drink milk unless it had ice cubes in it. He still prefers it that way. Whatever works!

Don't stress yourself out she will get over it. You could put it in a sippy cup with just a bit of strawberry or chocolate mix. Just make sure she is eating yogurt or cheese to get her dairy if she won't drink it.

I had the same exact thing happen with my now 28th month old when he turned 2 years old. He refused milk--went from loving milk to hating it.

I changed his snack to bananas and plain yogurt to get calcium in him and I added milk to his oatmeal every morning. Just recently I dscovered that he likes "mommy's watery milk"--non-fat milk. He still won't drink full fat or low fat milk, but I usually can get at least 4 ounces of non-fat milk in him.

Friends have suggested adding chocolate to the milk to get him to drink more, but I decided that wasn't the route I wanted to take. If your daughter is losing weight, that may be a good route for you.

Oh, one more thing--My son LOVES smoothies like mango, milk and yogurt blended and served with a straw--that is another way to get some high calorie calcium in!

Good luck!

Our children are allergic to milk and have done fine w/o it. I wouldn't worry. There are many other better sources of calcium, such as spinach or even cheese is better than milk. Humans are the only species that continue to give milk to adults. All other animals stop giving milk to their young once they are a few yrs old and are eating solid food. Best!

My son did the same at about age three. Just give her other milk products: cheese, yogurt, ice cream, yogurt drink with whole milk/fruits you can prepare yourself, etc.

It's not the milk we need, it's the vitamins and nutrients within. My little ones take a multi vitamin everyday (Shaklee brand) and I dont worry about their nutrient intake. - Well, obviously I worry, but with the protien and vitamins, I know they are getting what they need regardless of specific food intake.

We went cold turkey too with my son when he was 18 months old. Per a friend who's also a pediatrician, we didn't give him any liquids except for milk in a sippy cup or cups with straws. She said his survival instinct would kick in eventually and he would drink the milk. It took 3 days, but he eventually drank the milk. It was hard on me, because he would sign "water", "juice" and "thirsty" to me constantly, but I only offered him the milk in non-bottle containers.

In the meanwhile, you can give her calcium in other forms, yogurt, cereal with milk, and cheese.

Good luck and stay strong!

I transitioned from the bottle to a NUBY sippy cup. It has the soft nipple like a bottle but looks like a sippy cup. The hard plastic on traditional sippy cups are very different feeling then drinking from a bottle, so the NUBY helped bridge the gap for us. I think you can get them almost anywhere, I know I bought them at Rite Aid.

Good Luck,J.

Both of my girls loved chocolate milk. Yes, I know some people complain about the sugar and all, but there are some syrups or powders that are low in sugar, and my girls will both drink either plain or chocolate milk now. I also substituted cheese and yogurt.

Also remember that at age 2 children start to learn what they have "control" over. And if this is child #2, they are learning faster than ever from #1. At least my second one did. It seemed like she was definitely ahead of the game.

D.