Nutrition in Toddlers

I got the following advice from the woman who does daycare for me. She has 25 years experience and I go to her for a lot of advice.

Do the transition gradually. The first day replace 1 oz of formula with whole milk in each bottle or sippy cup that day. You can also do this even slower... doing one bottle at a time... Then the next day (or after two days) replace one more ounce. So gradually you are switching over to whole milk... This is also good because if your daughter has any reactions to milk, they will be gradual.
Also, my son prefers the milk if I warm it up a bit, he drinks more of it if it's not straight out of the fridge.

On another note... at 12 months their growth rate slows down considerably. My son went from eating everything I offered him to just about 5 foods and just a little of each food. Then I read the following:
- A 2 year old may eat much less than a 9 month old. Sometimes seeming to not eat anything much.
- Look at the whole month to see if your child is eating a balanced diet. If offered a healthy variety of options, babies will eat what they need. They self regulate. This means that they may eat a lot of carbs one week and no veggies and vice versa the following week.

I hope this helps,
A.

1 mom found this helpful

my daughter refused cow's milk also when she began giving up breast milk. when i tried soy and rice milk, she did fine. i found out 6 months later that she is lactose intolerant so maybe she was trying to tell me something.i second the goat's milk suggestion. it is much more easily digestible.

Try goat's milk. You can get a big can of powdered at Whole Foods. Goat's milk is the closest thing to human breast milk, so it is more ideal than cow's milk anyways. Good luck.

What we did was take a small bit of milk and mix it in with the formula. Every day put a little more milk and a little less formula until one day the mix is all milk. If she refuses one day, put a little less milk, and stay at that mix for a day or two. Then, start putting more milk again.

Since she is refusing milk, I suggest no more than 1/4 milk to start.

try 1/2 and 1/2 and then maybe soy milk. I never did formula, but what what what I did with breast milk to do the transition.

I would mix just a little cow's milk to her formula and increase the amount slowly over the next few weeks. Just because she is allowed to have cow's milk now doesn't mean that she'll like it....

If you kid grows and develops, you don't have to worry about her food intake. If you think how tiny her stomach is, it is not surprising if she feels full after a few bites.

My daughter (4) was and still is a very picky eater. She'll eat chicken one day, and refuses it the next. I have learned to offer a certain food many times before she'll try it or eat it again.

In the the meantime, I am convinced that her body tells her what she needs.

I had the same problem with my daughter. As soon as I started to warm it up, she was completely fine with it. I think that it is a sudden transition when the baby is used to drinking something warm to begin with. Good Luck!

If you haven't, try slowly transitioning her. Start with mixing a 5th of milk and then the rest formula and then add a little more each week

Hello,
My daughter is also in the transition stage, and she only will drink the cow's milk if I warm it up. We did a slow transition by mixing with her formula and gradually going all the way to cows milk. But, goats milk is great to use if you can't get the baby to drink the cows milk. The only problem is you can't just run out for goats milk at the corner store if you run out, and it costs about 4x as much as cows milk, it's the same price as formula unless you get the powdered kind which is not quite as high in nutritional value. Anyway, try making it warm and good luck!

I have been really happy with the nutritional advice in "Child of Mine: Feeding with Good Sense and Love" by Ellyn Sater (not sure I spelled her name correctly, but the title is right - lent the book out to a friend). I used to get really stressed out about my 18 month old daughter's eating, but after reading that and making some small changes I feel much more confident about what we're doing.

When I was transitioning my children to cow's milk, I mixed small amounts of cow's milk with breast milk (or formula...whatever they are used to drinking)until they were drinking just the cow's milk. It does take a week or two and they didn't drink a lot of the cow's milk initially, but after a few days they were both fine. Also, if your child eats yogurt, cheese, cottage cheese, etc. that is considered a dairy serving. So even if she isn't drinking enough milk at this point, you can supplement with other dairy items for now. Good luck!

I suggest an unsweetened enriched soy or rice milk, they are delicious. Cows milk is often difficult to digest. Mimi

Hi. My son refused cow milk when we tried to switch him from formula. We tried every trick in the book, mixing it in different proportions and refusing formula and trying to only give him milk. Nothing worked. I took him to his Dr.'s and they told me that as long as he is eating other dairy products (yes, even ice cream) he would be perfectly fine. He ate yogurt, cheese, ice cream, cheese curds and other things. He would only drink juice for the 12 months (literally) after his 1st birthday. Lots of fresh vegies and fruits too. He would have milk in cereal once in a blue moon. He is now a very healthy 9 yr. old boy who loves milk. :)

You can give her orange juice with calcium my son went from breast milk to the oj he refused milk now he drinks cows milk. All the kids at school drink it so now he is comfortable.
good luck.
ps my pedi said it was okay as long as it has calcium in it.

Hi,
A lot of toddlers are sensitive to cows milk. Try adding a small amount of Enriched rice milk to her formula. My daughter could not have Cows Milk and had to do the rice milk. Now she can but prefers the rice milk. Dairy causes lots of problems. Adding it slowly to ones diet is your best bet.

You may want to try using soy milk to see if that helps at all. :)