My Son Won't Drink Milk..

I eat a vegan diet because I think it's healthier. I don't think it's a big deal that he doesn't drink milk. If he's not drinking any fluids at all, though, I'm concerned. I would concentrate on water. One idea I have is to spotlight your own example. When you take a drink, say, "I'm thirsty. I need some water/juice.."

Do you warm the milk or give it to him cold? When I got done breastfeeding and put my kids on milk I warmed the milk when I gave it to them and slowly gave it to them cooler and cooler until I was giving them cold milk out of the fridge. It was a very easy transition. I just thought that our milk comes out warm, and so to make an easy transition I would warm the milk.

I had much the same experience as Melanie. When I went weened my daughter at a year, she didn't like regular milk. I didn't push it too hard because she was drinking other things, but now with my two kids, I go through 3-4 gallons of milk a week. It just took some time. I didn't push it daily or anything, but I would put milk in her cup and eventually she started drinking it and liking it more and more. Good luck. I know it is easier to look back on it now and think it was simple, but I remember it didn't feel simple at the time. :)

Consider trying offering water in a fun cup, like a straw cup with animal pictures on the side. I found one I could slide family photos in to decorate and my boys have loved that. Water is best, second only to your milk, which truly trumps all--there is nothing that comes from any farm animal that even comes close to what YOU can offer your little man nutritionally and comfort-wise, so good for you!
Some moms like to offer water flavored with a splash of fruit juice, or making juice ice cubes to add for novelty and a bit of flavor, but my pediatrician told us to go easy on juice because it's mostly empty calories--only actual fruit has all the fiber and vitamins that makes it worthwhile.
Store-bought chocolate milk and a lot of chocolate mix stuff has high fructose corn syrup in it, and that's not particularly good for anyone. Your son might like rice milk or soy milk--it comes in a vanilla flavor that many kids (and adults) just love.
You're wise to offer something to drink, but unless he's showing signs of dehydration it's probably not a concern. Personally, my extended family members have ruined my second son (now three) from enjoying water like my first son because they have offered far too many novelty sugar drinks. Every time we visit them it takes me a week to de-tox him to drinking water again!
Orange juice and broccoli both have more usable calcium than cow's milk, if you're concerned about calcium or other minerals. Most of the world does not drink cow's milk (since it's really for baby cows, it's just us Americans that have decided it's for people) so there are many other excellent ways to meet nutrient needs as he grows.
You might find the book "My Child Won't Eat!" useful. you can order it online from La Leche League (www.llli.org) or borrow it for free from your local LLL group. I really liked it; it helped me keep my worries in perspective and have some info for feeding in advance of when I needed it.
Best wishes!

my 1 year old will eat anything as long as I say "mmmmmmm! Yummy!" when I present it to her. For drinks, try getting her a new cup. How does your son do with straws? or maybe a cool character cup? My son loves all things Diego.

I have twin girls that are 15 months old. They hate regular milk but LOVE vanilla soy milk. My doctor said that was fine. Maybe you can try it and see if he likes it. Hope this helps!

My son was about 1 1/2 when he began refusing to drink white milk. I always mix his milk with enough 1% choc. milk to give it color, this seems to work. I also give him OJ with vitamin D, yogurt and cheese. Milk doesn't have to be the only way to get the nutrients. My son is now almost 3 he is growing like a weed and seems very healthy!

My daughter did what your son is doing, and my doctor told me to put flavor in the milk as well. I tried strawberry Quik powder. That was the only way she drank milk for a year! I slowly put less and less in there until she was eventually drinking milk plain. Otherwise, buy the chocolate milk he likes from the store and mix it with regular milk so he is getting some plain milk as well. Good luck!

Maybe you can try the toddler formulas, I use Similac Go & Grow. It is loaded with iron and calcium among all the other vitamins and minerals infant formulas contain. Then slowly start adding regular milk until eventually he is drinking just the regular milk. He may also like the milk warm since that is what he is used to.

Personally, with teo intolerant children who didn't drink milk, I think it is over rated. Just make sure you educate yourself on other sources of calcium or suplements..talk to your doctor.

I nursed my son too. he didn't like milk either. he knew what milk was and cow's milk is not it!!! I used carnation instant breakfast as chocolate milk for the next 8 years until he went to public school and learned what chocolate milk really is (sugar laden)! as a 4th grader.

he is now 16 and still does not drink white milk. I bought that seinfeld cookbook to get some nutrition into him. teens and babies grow so fast. I'd rather sneak now and explain later.

A.

I was a Nanny to a boy who at two stopped drinking milk and his doc said to give him dair any other way.

Chocolate milk won't hurt him. He's used to breast milk which is fairly mild in taste; try to water down the juice and make it less strong. It's really better for his teeth than straight juice.

I wouldn't know what to do about the water. Neither of my kids like water much. Good luck!!!

I have 13 month old twins who were the same way when they turned one. Two weeks after they turned one they self-weaned and I really started to worry about them not drinking. My doc said, just keep offering it and when they finally figure out they're really thirsty, they'll drink. They continued to drink hardly anything for another week and a half(which really had Mommy freaking out!), but then one day it just clicked for both of them. They're guzzlers now, drinking anything I put into their cups. Stick with it and he'll get better with drinking. Try to not worry too much, he'll come around. Good luck!

I agree with Jenny P!! Another option is goat's milk. My husband was raised on it since he was alergic to his mother's breast milk (which is so wierd for me to imagine!) =) But really, the purpose of milk is to feed a newborn infant to fatten them up till they are old enough to eat solids. Our society is abnormal to encourage milk throughout childhood and adulthood =) It's an intersting topic to research.
Just another idea. Good luck!
D

You can continue to set out a sippy cup of water. Encourage him to at least take one sip for mommy.
Even put some gatorade in it or pediayte to make the water taste better and encourage him to drink.
Watch how much he puts out in urine, that is a sure sign of he isn't getting enough to drink.
Instead of chocolate syrup you can get Pediasure, it has calcium and vitamins and mimics milk, my kids love the flavors of those, though it is pricey. Also you can give him some carnation instant breakfast in his milk, my kids love the strawberry flavored ones.
Just keep getting him to drink throughout the day, offer strawed cups instead of sippies as they get more from that and my kids LOVED drinking from a straw.
Good luck, if he is having five to six wet diapers a day he is getting enough fluid intake.

my son is 17 mos and won't drink milk either, not chocolate or strawberryor regular, so we give him smoothies. I use a bag of frozen strawberries(thawed), 2 bananas, a thing of vanilla yogurt, and about 12 ounces of orange juice and he loved those (it makes about 3 large bottles). Good Luck

Hi C., We just went throught the same thing with my grandson who recently turned one also. He would not drink milk. His doctor told us to give him soy milk. He drank it well. It is vanilla flavored and sweet. Then one day he was here and I didn't have any soy milk so I gave him regular and he took it just fine. It only took him about a month of soy milk.
Good luck.

HI C.,
So far 4 of my 5 kids have all gone through this and the younger 2 still are to a point. They prefer chocolate milk over "white" milk so I spoke to my Dr about it and he said that's fine. Milk has alot of water in it and they'll stay hydraded, to reduce the sugar, mix it half-n-half with white milk, it'll taste the same just not as thick. Try warming it up too, since your still nursing some he may like his milk warm. When it came to getting them to drink water I made water available for them, we got a countertop water dispenser that they can just drink from like a water fountain or they can use a cup but the fact that they can get a drink when they want one makes it easier for them and more likely they'll drink it.

C. C

Hi C. - sorry didnt have time to read all the posts. My son rejected milk at 1 as well. He's 2.5 now and still won't drink it. If he will drink choc milk that is a good thing. One thing that worked for me is to dilute the store bought choc milk with regular milk - same goes for juice. I consistently water down juice whenever I can to reduce the sugar. the milk boxes from Horizon work great - they come in Choc Vanilla and Strawberry - I think the plain tastes funny.

If you are concerned about calcium intake, he can get that from foods like cheese, cottage cheese, yogurt. If you are concerned about fluids, give him what he wants for now and slowly dilute them to a liveable level. My son drinks plain water again but just as often likes it flavored with some apple juice - usually 70% water 30% juice.

Sippy cups can really help keeping fluids up. Check his urine, like the other posts mentioned as well. Also give him milk first thing before his 1st meal of the day (when he is hungry). I never gave my kids milk that young. But maybe Ovaltine (I don't know what is in it) would be good. You could add milk to oatmeal or cream a wheat as well. My kids couldn't drink milk, but could have cultured milk products no problem. So I just had them eat a yogurt every morning and grilled cheese or quesadillas for a snack or meal everyday to keep up the calcium. Remember you could make him pancakes (even boxed) just add milk instead of water. And a sippy cup with water in it sitting out will be used. Oh, he may not be liking having his water so cold (due to the winter weather).

Good luck,
R.

Figured someone would already give this suggestion, but didn't see it, so...

Have you tried pumping and then mixing 1/4 whole milk and 3/4 breast milk for a few days and then lower the ratio to 1/2 and 1/2, then 3/4 whole and 1/4 breast until he is only drinking the whole milk. You can also do the same with vanilla soy milk which is sweeter than whole cow's milk, but still gives the calcium and vitamin D and you can mix that with whole cow's milk to sweeten it up.

Also, you can actually "fool" your kiddo by mixing 1/4-1/2 chocolate milk with 3/4-1/2 whole cows milk. I do that with my son all the time so he is still getting the whole white milk, but it still tastes just like chocolate!

The other thing is that if you are finding that he is not tolerating the whole cows milk and soy milk isn't an option, we have something called Dairy-Ease, which you can find at Walmart or pretty much any grocery store, which is cows milk with the lactase enzyme in it to break down the lactose. It tastes JUST like regular cows milk, but is great for those with lactose intolerance!

Good luck!

S., 25, mom to Tyrrone, 1, newly weaned to fun sippy cups and straw cups (favorite are Nuby brand because they can go in the dishwasher!!!)

As I have posted elsewhere, we have had a good experience with a Nestle product sold at Walmart called "Nido". Our kids have not been able to tolerate soy milk (diarrhea) or cow milk (vomiting) and this was *finally* a good solution for our last child. It is in the Hispanic foods section and costs much less than toddler formula, although that is what it is. Our son drank it from age 1-2.5 and loved it. And still wants it, whenever we go to Walmart. It cost $3.58 per small can, $16.50 for a large 3-4 week supply.

He will probably get to like cow's milk over time, but it is not really taht important for him to drink allot of it. In fact many children drink too much milk or too much juice, neither is good for them, too muck milk can cause a form of anemia and too much juice will cause cavities and too much sugar intake. Water is the best beverage for children and should be what they drink most of the time, milk comes in second, and juice should always be watered down to reduce the sugar content. Yogurt and cheese are good sources of calcium, and if your son eats them he will get enough, if he does not like any dairy products then you will need to give him alternative sources of calcium, just do a search for calcium rich foods online to get ideas, adding powdered milk to recipes is an easy way of making sure your kids get more calcium. Good luck and don't worry, a one year old's tastes in food usually change over time.

You can lead a horse to water.....
Just keep offering the favorites to him. My one child stopped drinking milk (can't remember when), so he gets the calcium enriched OJ.

Some kids are so busy that they forget to stop and drink. When you have a snack, sit down together and share a snack and a drink. Make sure he sees you and the other kids drinking, so he gets it. Always be offering drinks to him during the day. I always give my kids water at night, because I get thirsty at night too. You could even say that everyone needs to drink X before we go out and play so we can stay out longer. I always like to plant the seeds of why you want to do something even at a young age.

There are also some healthier flavorings for water versus the dreaded sports drinks that could help too.

Good luck!
S.

We do store bought milk mixed with white milk. Our boys both love it. If you have a sippy cup that doesn't leak, you can always do half and half juice/water and let him keep it with him. I'm amazed how much our kids drink when it's handy.