Daughter Won't Drink Milk

I agree with the other mommies about mixing it with breast milk. I would put half and a half and then gradually lessen. I had to do this with formula, my kids hated the plain milk. Now i have to tell my 12 year old to stop sneaking so much during the day :)

Mix your breast milk with regular milk until she gets used to it. She'll get thirsty and she'll drink it. Just don't give her juice or anything else cuz she'll stick with that instead. Give her no other options but milk and she'll start drinking. She will not dehydrate as she's getting fluid from her foods as well. She may throw some fits and it may take a while but stick to your guns. You're the parent. Teach her what no means and teach her the way it's going to be.

K. B
mom to 5 including triplets

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If you have the ability to pump some breastmilk, I'd first put the breastmilk into a sippy cup and get her used to drinking that. Then start adding a little regular milk to it, gradually diluting it until she's drinking straight milk.

Have you considered giving her chocolate or strawberry milk? My girls love strawberry milk, regular milk not so much. Substituting with cheese and yogurts is a good idea, too. That way she's still getting her dairy intake. There is also the option of pumping and slowly introducing the milk - start with a little bit of milk mixed into the breast milk and gradually increase the amount of milk while decreasing the breast milk each time you give it to her. I've never tried that, but a lot of people swear by it. With my girls I just kept giving them milk until they took it.

Hi B.! I also had this issue with my younger son. I would just place the milk in a sippy cup and offer it at meals, no other fluids were offered at a meal. I added a tablespoon or two of chocolate syrup. He became thirsty while eating and would take a sip, then gradually a little more. I then weaned out the chocolate and he was drinking the plain whole milk. This did take a while and I did waste a lot of milk, but it did eventually work! My pediatrician said that it would be fine if he never did take the milk as long as he was eating yogurt and cheese. So, maybe try this approach but overall don't worry either way!

I'm not sure where you're located at, but you might try giving the breastfeeding resource center in glenside a call.
http://www.breastfeedingresourcecenter.org/
The have certified lactation consultants that could answer your questions better than your ped. Dr.'s are mostly NOT trained in lactation/breastfeeding issues/practices.
Don't fret the milk thing too much. My girl is two and just started taking to milk. we did soy milk and made sure she got plenty of cheese and yogurt. I also got her going on cows milk by putting a little ovaltine in it, she's just used to sweet breastmilk and needed the tast of cows milk adjusted. I gradually reduced the ovaltine amount till she was drinking the milk plain. We're nursing long term (at bedtime/naptime)because we both love our "nappy nurse" time. So you don't have to quit nursing-unless you and her are both ready. Good luck

Go ahead with the cheese and yogurt, you do not have to keep nursing her if she's eating well with solid foods now, the only trick is getting them weaned and easing the transition from liquid (your breast-milk) to solid food for their little tummies.

Hi,
I Have a 6 1/2 year old boy who was the same way as your daughter. He still doesn't like milk. I too worried about this. My pediatrician told me that as long as he was eating yogurt and cheese (which he loved at the time) I shouldn't worry. I did find that he would drink chocolate milk but like you said with the Ensure, it's a lot of extra sugar. I ended up buying orange juice with added calcium and that made me feel better about his calcium intake. Tropicana even puts vitamin D in its juice. I have another son who drinks milk all day (3 1/2) so I really think that my oldest just doesn't like milk. I am a milk drinker but my husband is not. I did give my son half juice and half water to cut down on the sugar from the juice since he ate yogurt and cheese. He still loves cheese but not the yogurt.

Both my sons were exclusively breast fed. My oldest wouldn't take a bottle so I started the sippy cup early but with water. I had to use a straw sippy cup (watch if your daughter chews on them, my son chewed off the tip of a straw) because he had trouble drinking out of any other kind. Best of luck, hope this helps. L.

B.,

This is a question near and dear to my heart, and one I have posted on many times.

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If she has a varied diet, you shouldn't worry. Dairy is probably the worst way to put calcium in your diet since pasteurized milk products have been altered by the process as to render the calcium almost unusable by the human body. Water is still the best way to hydrate. Avoid juice if you can, as it's not necessary for hydration, or nutrition.

Here are some options for calcium rich foods to add to her diet if she's not already eating some of them. Also, organic sources are always best if they can be had.

The calcium contained in leafy green vegetables is more easily absorbed than the calcium in milk, and plant proteins do not result in calcium loss (yes, calcium LOSS) the same way as animal proteins do.

Some of the foods on this list will obviously not be age appropriate. Use it as a guide to help you introduce healthful ways to obtain calcium directly from diet.

Calcium content of foods per 100-gram portion (100 grams equals about 3.5 ounces):

01. Human Breast Milk 33 mg (shown for comparison)

02. Almonds 234 mg
03. Amaranth 267 mg
04. Apricots (dried) 67 mg
05. Artichokes 51 mg
06. Beans (can: pinto, black) 135 mg
07. Beet greens (cooked) 99 mg
08. Blackeye Peas 55 mg
09. Bran 70 mg
10. Broccoli (raw) 48 mg
11. Brussel Sprouts 36 mg
12. Buckwheat 114 mg
13. Cabbage (raw) 49 mg
14. Carrot (raw) 37 mg
15. Cashew nuts 38 mg
16. Cauliflower (cooked) 42 mg
17. Swiss Chard (raw) 88 mg
18. Chickpeas (garbanzos) 150 mg
19. Collards (raw leaves) 250 mg
20. Cress (raw) 81 mg
21. Dandelion Greens 187 mg
22. Endive 81 mg
23. Escarole 81 mg
24. Figs (dried) 126 mg
25. Filberts (Hazelnuts) 209 mg
26. Kale (raw leaves) 249 mg
27. Kale (cooked leaves) 187 mg
28. Leeks 52 mg
29. Lettuce (lt. green) 35 mg
30. Lettuce (dark green) 68 mg
31. Molasses (dark-213 cal.) 684 mg
32. Mustard Greens (raw) 183 mg
33. Mustard Greens (cooked) 138 mg
34. Okra (raw or cooked) 92 mg
35. Olives 61 mg
36. Oranges (Florida) 43 mg
37. Parsley 203 mg
38. Peanuts (roasted & salted) 74 mg
39. Peas (boiled) 56 mg
40. Pistachio Nuts 131 mg
41. Potato Chips 40 mg
42. Raisins 62 mg
43. Rhubarb (cooked) 78 mg
44. Sauerkraut 36 mg
45. Sesame Seeds 1160 mg
46. Squash (Butternut) 40 mg
47. Soybeans 60 mg
48. Sugar (brown) 85 mg
49. Tofu 128 mg
50. Spinach (raw) 93 mg
51. Sunflower Seeds 120 mg
52. Sweet Potatoes (baked) 40 mg
53. Turnips (cooked) 35 mg
54. Turnip Greens (raw) 246 mg
55. Turnip Greens (boiled) 184 mg
56. Water Cress 151 mg

Best of luck,

Rolinda
Wife, Mother, Friend

My daughter will be 2 in sept. and still to this day does not like milk except from her one bottle at night and it has to be warm. Our pediatrician said as long as she is eating other dairy and her veges and fruits then she is fine.
Hope this helps.

I would call your doctor and ask for him or her to call you back about this question. My advice would be to either a:) cut her off-- she'll drink eventually, or b.) pump some breast milk, and mix it 3:1 with whole milk and see if she'll take it in the cup. If she will, gradually reduce the mixture. Just depends on how harsh you want to be, I guess. :-)

Congrats for making it to a year-- that is an amazing accomplishment!

Hi, B. --
Our little guy was initially resistant to milk as well (guess he liked mine the best). Cows milk made him gag. We got him into it, slowly, by dipping cookies in milk. It was a family event, fresh cookies and milk. Yummy! Good luck.

My son (6) still isn't crazy about plain mild (neither am I!). I like the idea of mixing it w/breast milk gradually OR what I did was mix flavored organic milk (1/3) with plain milk (2/3) and called it something else--in our case "moo." He loved it and started looking forward to his moo. Just a tiny bit of flavoring will help and it won't add that much sugar to her diet. Good luck!

B.,

My daughter is almost 19 months old and she won't drink milk. She is not a picky eater at all, but when it comes to milk, she just won't drink it. My daughter was also exclusively breast fed. I tried everything when she was 12 months and on. She hated it all. I tried warm, cold, chocolate, strawberry, mixed with water, 2%, whole, soy. I tried it at different times, mixed with breast milk, everything. She just won't drink it. I still try every now and then to see if she will drink it, but it's still a no-go here. I talked to her doctor about it and she wasn't concerned. She told me that as long as she is getting calcium from other sources it's absolutely fine that she won't drink milk. She also told me to use Wonder bread because it has more calcium than regular bread and to buy the calcium fortified OJ. My daughter also eats yogurt and loves cheese. Borden makes a cheese that has 40% DV of calcuim (most cheeses are 20%). There are also veggies that are naturally calcium rich (broccoli is one). So, it's not the end of the world if she won't drink milk, but I would say keep trying. Maybe your LO will get used to the taste of milk after a while, but if not there are plenty of other ways to get the calcium. Good luck!

Hi B., you've had a lot of great advice here so hopefully you're feeling better about things! When my oldest was a baby, I was anti-dairy at the time (I've since switched back to some dairy but mostly raw, unpasteurized dairy from a local farm), after a lot of research, including reading a book called Diet for a New America. I started her off on soymilk and then switched to ricemilk (both enriched w/ calcium & vitamin D) after my concern about the phytoestrogens in the soy. I also continued to nurse her until age 2. By the time my second was born, I had introduced dairy in small amounts (again, "raw" and/or organic only) and my second happily took it. My older one never did take the the taste of milk, and still, at age 8 1/2, does not drink milk. I am happy to say that she has grown tall and beautiful and healthy and continues to do so, despite being "milk deprived", lol! Your daughter will be fine as long as she is getting a varied, balanced diet.
Good luck!

My son was EXACTLY the same way!! I tried everything (tried soy milk, chocolate, mixing with my milk). He loved yogurt and I found drinkable banana YoBaby yogurt (comes in 4 pack), so I thought I would try that. I gave it to him and a sippy cup and he loved it. After that I very gradually added some milk and a little less yogurt. I still have to add the yogurt to sweeten and flavor the milk, but I only have to use a little bit. Once he was getting regular milk, I felt comfortable with going full on with the weening.

My son stop drinking milk at 1 1/2. Doctor recommened put a little choc or strawberyy powder in the milk for flavor it worked and he drinks it, Get the nestle powderes milk %less sugar then the rest and dont do the syrup. I hope this was helful to u :)