One Year Old Refuses to Drink Milk

My opinion is NEVER force dairy products (especially "milk") on anyone who doesn't want it. Milk products are mucus forming. Consumption can lead to cyst forming (benign and not) as well as to a build up in the intestines that keeps the body from absorbing nutrients from the food it is trying to digest. Your child is wise instinctively about how he should be fed - follow his lead. Rice "milk" is fine if you need to bottle feed him - or almond milk. They have good nutritional value. If you want to supplement with "vitamins" my suggestion is to use only pure herbal formulas and preparations - be very careful of fillers in common products. Keep your child healthy with whole wild foods and he will become amazingly strong and resistant to disease. If you are interested in some specific suggestions about what is proven excellent and pure feel free to contact me. I am a certified herbal consultant and can help you learn about how specific herbs and combination formulas can address health issues.

1 mom found this helpful

My son always refused to drink milk also, except in his cereal. Continue to offer it to him every now and then but don't force it. After consistently offering it to my son every now and then for 3 years, he finally started drinking it about 6 months ago (he's 4 now) and LOVES it! In the 3 yrs. that he wasn't drinking milk, I gave him Calcium gummy bear supplements. Good luck!!

We don't to milk either.... my girls just never liked it. You can get more calcium through spinach than you can milk.... so I do lots of fruits & veggies to get the nutritents my kids need. One yummy recipe is a spinach drink that I make into pocicles.....
fill your blender up w/ spinach leaves - don't pack it down....
add 1 banana
add pineapple juice till it blends
add ice if you are drinking it.... my kids love it as popcicles though!
Also I have added Juice Plus+ to their diets to get more fruits & veggies. Juice Plus+ is 15 fruits & veggies that has been put into capsule form for adults & gummy/chewable form for kids.... my kids LOVE them! There is some really good research on the product which shows that it does great stuff for our DNA, immune system, etc. I am a distributor so you can check out my website for more info.
corajuiceplus.com
Hope this all helps! Fruits & veggies is the way to go to get the nutrients you kids need! Blessings!

If he won't drink milk, a good substitute is Pediasure so he can get the nutrition. It is more expensive, but my daughter drank pediasure from 1 year old until 18 months. At 19 months we switched her to Whole milk with carnation and she took that just fine. She still won't drink milk plain, but will with the chocolate carnation.

I would avoid soy and other store bought milks. Read the ingredients. You can make your own. But I would first try coconut milk. It's a real food and you could also make your own.

Also, in parts of the world where milk is not consumed very much, they get their calcium from bone broths. Not the stuff you buy in the store, but real broth made with bones. It's VERY easy to do yourself.

For more info on broth and REAL milk, see http://www.westonaprice.org

I have the opposite problem, both my kids drink way too much milk!!! I would think if your son is eating cheese and yogurt, he should be fine :)

Don't worry about it. all over the world, millions of kids and adults live very well without dairy products. (probably better since dairy is associated with breast and prostate cancer)
Our culture and government "brainwash" us from childhood that we will somehow suffer dire consequences for not drinking milk or consuming yogurt or cheese etc. This is not true, although it will take some thought and planning to substitute something healthful for the dairy.
Rice milk is not full of nutrition..it is a comfort substitute..and I always thought it was watery. NON FERMENTED soy products are risky (non-fermented soy has only been consumed in small quantities by Asian cultures) It is reputed to have estrogen effects. Coconut milk (for cooking and pudding and tapioca)is a good substitute...it is creamy and has plenty of healthful fat (it is added to infant formula).
Your son is very young and there may be some concerns abut developing food allergies if one was to use lots of nuts or nut milk, but maybe some research could yield some finer points on that possibility. Dr. Sears books has a recipe for homemade almond milk, so I imagine it can't be too bad.
Good luck

Cow milk is over rated. There's no need for your child to drink cow milk. Most Americans eat way too much protein, so please do some on line research to find out how much protein your son needs at such a young age. Protein rich foods would include meat, yogurt, cheese, soy beans, is there a reason that he can't have soy milk even if you're allergic? are you afraid he may be allergic as well?

I believe that kids eat when they're hungry and as parents we should provide healthy food choices. The more pressure we put on our kids to eat a certain way, the more we make eating into a power struggle- such as the cow milk right now.

Enjoy the time together eating as a family....

Listen to your gut, if he doesnt want it, there is probably a good reason for it. Give up on the syrups, do you really want to give him all that sugar and food color to make him drink something his body does not want? Have you tried almond milk? It is high in the healthy fats and nutrients. Try and get other calcium rich foods into his diet anywhere you can. I mix spinach into everything. Spag. Sauce, casseroles, shepards pie, stir fry, chicken noodle spinach dish, etc.. Just get creative with other sources. There are millions of people in the world that are very happy and healthy that do not eat any dairy at all, so dont worry too much. If you are set on dairy though, you can also try organic goats milk. Some stores around the valley actually carry it now. My DH could only drink that when he was little.
Good luck.

not healthy but...i had one that didn't drink milk and didn't like chocolate but loved strawberry milk!
frozen yogurt shaped liked those freezy pops were a hit as well.

Hi M.,
Our son did the same thing at 14 months. I tried mixing in chocolate and strawberry and nothing made a difference. He just wouldn't drink it. Finally we realized that if we forced him, any milk that touched his skin left a red rash where it touched. Same with some (but not all) cheese and dairy products. Does your son eat yogurt or cottage cheese? If he won't eat those either but will drink Rice Dream, it's possible he does have a milk intolerance, rather than an actual allergy. Our son guzzled soy milk the first time we gave it to him after our pediatrician told us to quit trying with milk, and we've never looked back. That doesn't sound like it is an option for you, but hopefully there are other avenues you can pursue other than dairy or soy that will give you little guy the protein he needs.

My son is the same way. Once we took the bottle away from him @ 18 months, he never wanted to drink milk out of his sippy cup or a regular cup. We also tried the chocolate or strawberry flavor but still didn't care for it. The only time he has milk is in his cereal now. Luckily he has always liked yogurt & cheese. I make sure he eats plenty of that. The doctor even told me as long as he is eating yogurt & cheese then he is perfectly fine. Our son is now 6 yrs old & he is a very healthy kid! =) You will be fine.

My 20 mo. old son won't drink milk either...and we tried all the tricks you mentioned. As long as he is eating enough protein and vitamins from his other foods then you really shouldn't worry about pushing it. If you are worried about calcium then see if he likes other sources of milk. I mix a little cheese in with my son's scrambled eggs in the morning. My son also loves yogurt and he also loves keefer (milk smoothie). I buy a kids keefer drink at Sprouts called Pro Bugs. It is great because it is loaded with protein and antioxidants. He loves it because it comes in a cool sippy pouch that he can do all by himself. It's not very cheap though (over $5 for a 4 pack). I usually give it to him on days when I feel he just didn't eat to healthy. Hope this helps.

Mine did a similar thing....would only eat it in his cereal. I just make sure he has yogurt, cheeses, etc. Which, he has always eaten. I would not worry too much. Just make sure he is getting the calcium, vit. D from other dairy products. This was recommended from my pediatrician. But, I am agreeing with one of the other mom's responses....just go with your gut.

Both my kids are allergic to milk. So they didn't get calcium or fat or ptotein from milk, cheese, yogurt, butter, etc. And they are fine. I use soy milk in recipes. Low in fat (great for me!), but high in protein. For fat, I used other sources. Meat, oils, nuts.
I read from someone on here to watch out with rice milk with boys because of high estrogen levels. Also, rice milk offers very little nutritional value. Soy milk has more vitamins, minerals, protein, a bit more fat and calories.
The idea that humans NEED cow's milk just isn't true. There are so many other sources out there for your son to get what he needs.
And if it is just the milk he doesn't like, just up his amount of cheese/butter/yogurt. Just make sure it's the good fat and not the ice cream sort of fat.
As for calcium, you can buy soy milk with added calcium and vitamin A and D. Because the kids are allergic, it is WAY cheaper to make our own soy/oat/nut milk. Oh! Almond milk is also very good. Anyway, we make our own, so vitamins aren't in there. But if he is eating fruits and veggies, he's going to be getting what he needs to survive. Just go on a website that shows what vitamins and minerals are in fruits and veggies and make sure he gets a wide variety.