How to Get Child to Drink Milk from a Cup

My daughter had the same issue. She did not want to drink milk at all, much less out of a cup. I found that Gerber or somebody (I'm blanking on the brand name) made these yogurt drinks that were banana flavored (her favorite fruit of course) and I mixed it half and half with the milk. She loved it and took the cup no problem. I just kept reducing the ratio until she didn't notice that her banana flavoring was missing. I felt this was more healthy than adding sweet syrups to her drinks. Hope this helps! :)

Unfortunately, I don't have an answer. I just wanted to share with you that I have the same problem. My son is 19 months old and refuses to drink milk from a cup. I thought he just had a weird habit, but I feel much better knowing it's not just my child. Sorry I wasn't much help.

My suggestion is to back off the milk for a while. If you are looking for something for him to drink, try goat's milk. It's much closer to human milk. You can also try almond milk, rice milk or hemp milk. All come in unsweetened varieties.
Milk is one of the major allergens, and his body might just have that wisdom to know what is best for him.
L.

I had a few thoughts. Try soy milk, maybe his body doesn't like the regular milk. Also maybe he'll drink it out of a straw instead of a regular sippy cup. I know the vitamin D in the milk is important for toddlers growing bones, so just make sure he gets the nutrients he needs from other sources if he ends up totally not taking the milk. Good luck.

My daughter was 8 months when the doctor told me I had to stop breast and bottle feeding and get her on a sippy cup. She was getting a lot of ear infections. Anyway, she screamed and cried and refused to take it. I called my Aunt, who is a nurse, and she said I had to be firm for 72 hours. She said it takes 72 hours for them to realize, that is all they will get. I did this and hated hearing her cry, but after 72 hours she was using the sippy cup like a pro. Good Luck in whatever you choose to do!

My son was the same way and spoke to my ped. about it. Basically we took it by week to week. This is what I did for my son. It might work or not work for you. Whatever sippy cup I use for water, juice, etc. I used the same style sippy cup but for his milk I bought the bigger(taller) sippy cup (Playtex insulator sippy cups). The smaller(shorter) sippy cups I put his water in. I did this b/c I know that my son drinks alot of milk and the bigger one would accommodate the milk amount. Plus later he would recognize that the big cup is his milk-don't know if he does or not but I tend to believe he does. Week one, I elimated the morning bottle of milk and placed the milk in the sippy cup. Of course he took a few sips and pushed it away several times. I would let him play alittle and try again. But there are times he cried but would keep on trying. And times he would not drink all the milk, but that was ok. Afternoon and bedtime milk would be in bottle. Second week, elimate the morning and afternoon bottle with a sippy cup. Would only have a bedtime milk in a bottle. Third week, elimate all bottles and only feed milk in sippy cup. During this time, he will sometimes drink only some of the milk and might surprise you and drink all of it. He will get use to it. There might be some crying but don't cave in and resort back to the bottle. This is what worked for me and my son. Give it a try. Good luck to you.....

I've read all the responses and my daughter was the same way. She would drink everything BUT milk from her sippy cup. I suggest giving her the milk in her sippy cup throughout the day, only have milk, nothing else. She'll eventually have to take the cup if she's thirsty. It will take awhile before she accepts it. I hope that works for you!

I experienced the same thing with my son! He absoutely refused to drink milk from anything but a bottle. He would drink juice, water, etc. from a sippy cup... I just kept offering the milk in the sippy cup & he finally drank it and we never looked back! No real answer - just keep trying. That's the same thing my ped told me also.

Have you tried not giving him anything else to drink but water or milk? If he realizes he can get other things to drink, he is less likely to learn that water or milk are the best things to drink. Make sure you tell him no more juice, etc. You only get water or milk, then follow through. Make sure he gets plenty of calcium from other things until the transition is complete. Good luck!

I'm going through this same issue. Here's what I did, I cut down to 2 bottles a day, 1 in morning, one at night before bed. If you put him in bed with the bottle, stop that first.
We've gone through 2 weeks where I offered milk in a cup all throughout the day, and that failed. A couple of days ago, I decided enough was enough. I gave her a cup of milk only. Then we had breakfast, and she still hadn't drank any milk. After eating, I guess she was thirsty enough, because she drank 2 ounces. I didn't give her any water until just before nap time. I have been putting her to bed with a cup of water just in case she's thirsty, since dd doesn't drink very much during the day without the milk. Of course if you just want to hold out until he gets thirsty, be careful to watch for signs of dehydration.

We're on day 4 of this routine, and up to about 6 ounces of milk from the cup, with no bottles. I've just been supplementing her diet with yogurt and cheese. It's not actually MILK that a child needs, but the calcium and vit D. As long as they are getting enough calcium from other sources, there's actually no need to drink milk at all. And a serving of cheese is actually pretty small, so it's really easy to add calcium to your diet with cheese.

I've actually starting making homemade yogurt, rather than the storebought kind. Might be something to look into if you are interested. The way I make mine, there's a full serving of milk in only 1/2 cup of yogurt, so I've found I can easily supplement my daughters calcium intake.

My daughter was slow to take to sippies at all. The key for me was to get one that I knew she could consistently drink from, then the bottles went bye bye. (My daughter nurses, so that is the way she gets most of her milk. However for cow's milk, she never had a problem drinking it from a straw.)

However, you might want to try a cup with a straw. It might be time to transition past sippies.

Try giving him milk with his meals in a sippy cup. He may not drink too much but may realize over time that if he wants some to drink while he is eating he will have to use the sippy cup. Just present the cup to him and its his choice to drink from it or not and it may take some time but he may figure out eventually. Then you can go back to water or other drinks with his meals.

I tried all kinds of sippy cups with my daughter and finally she took to this standard disposable cup that she tried by accident during one of her meals - go figure!

Good luck,

I am actually having the same problem. My son is almost 17 months. He drinks a bottle right down in nothing flat, but when we give him the cup he takes a couple of sips if that and then is done. I also have tried a bit of chocolate in the milk. I want to see what other people's reponses are too.

Looks like a lot of people have this problem! My daughter, who is now 4, refused to drink her milk out of anything but a bottle. I finally took it away from her because she was simply too old to be drinking a bottle (age 2.5) and she hasn't had a sip of milk since. NOT ONE!! And we tried everything. Because she refused to drink milk I refused to let her drink anything "fun." Now she only drinks water, all day long. Very rarely she'll have a juice box (if we're at a party or something) but she's fine with water. Obviously I've talked to my pediatrician about my concern she isn't getting enough calcium. He said there are plenty of ways to get calcium without milk. You may just need to find other sources! Good luck.

V.,
I'm not if you tried this already but make a big deal out of this situation. Take your child for a special day out and allow him to pick out his very own special "big boy" milk cup. Any cup he chooses buy for him and when you get home and it's time to use the cup, once agin make a big deal out of it. Brag about him being a big boy, clap when he takes a sip from it, reward him a special snack after dinner or whatever you know he will enjoy. Hope this is helpful.

What about trying to water down the milk so it's not as thick. Then gradually bring back the normal consistency. Maybe it's a tactile thing versus "milk".

My sister had a similar problem and she added a little bit of strawberry syrup to the milk, adding less and less over time till it was just straight milk. She also had to try several different cups till the found one that the baby liked.

My daughter did the same thing. She would drink anything but milk from a hard spout sippy cup. I had to get her to drink milk from one of the Nuby soft spout sippies for awhile to get her away from the bottle and then changed all of her sippies over to the hard spout.