Trouble with Partial Weaning?

He may not like how thick whole milk is. If you suspect that's the case then you could switch him to 2% milk. If you think it's the taste then try adding a couple of drops of vanilla extract to his milk. That will add very little sugar if any at all.

I had the same problem with my daughter -- at 10 months she self weaned and wanted nothing to do with it, but didn't like milk. So, I did add a tiny bit of chocolate (really, there is a little bit of sugar and flavor, its not a big deal)....about 1/2 tsp and she drank it up like crazy.

Now, instead, I add yogurt to it -- I buy the blended yogurt and add about 1/3 of a container to about 10 oz of milk and she LOVES it. Most mornings I give her a straw bottle and she'll sit there drinking until it is gone.

I mixed my daughter's milk with Stonyfield's drinkable baby yogurt, banana flavored, which my daughter LOVED. I think at first I put 1/3 yogurt, 2/3 milk, then gradually put less and less yogurt in it. After less than 2 weeks, she was drinking just cow's milk and loved it.

Hi,
I had the same problems with my 2 youngest children, now 8 (son) and 2 1/2 (daughter) years old.
My son didn't like the taste of whole milk, so my pediatrician suggested soy milk, for a couple months, then gradually switch to whole milk (half soy/half whole milk).
It worked, so I tried it again with my next child (and my last). She drank soy milk for about a year. Now that she is on whole milk again, she still does not like it much, but I cheat and I dont know how appropriate it is, but I ad about 1 - 2 teaspoons of flavored coffee creamer to her whole milk, then warm it, when I put it in her nap-time cuppy(I have also used chocolate and strawberry, very little, just enough to add a little flavor).
She drinks out of a cup during the day, and has a 8 oz cuppy that she drinks just before she goes down for a nap, and has a water cuppy with her in case she gets thursty during the night.
At a year old, you may want to try introducing a cuppy, with breast milk, or try the soy. But, if you are planning on weaning soon, now would be the time to make that change to soy or whole milk in a cuppy instead of a bottle.
good luck

I am having the same problem with my little 1 year old. She does eat cheese and yogurt with gusto, but only sips milk. She has stopped nursing during the day, but she still nurses in the AM when she wakes up and at night before going to bed.
I told her pediatrician that I was considering going cold-turkey off breastfeeding, and she said that it would serve no purpose to upset her AND not give her any nutrition. She also said I should be patient, and that it will work out. We started OVER praising her when she takes a sip of milk from her cup. That works until she thinks it's a game and spits it all out (cute).
I would love to know if you find a solution!

Stick to your guns, no chocolate! We encourage sweets at far too young an age. I agree with the moms who said try the milk in a sippy cup or regular cup (with assistance!!) Yogurt drinks are a good source of calcium, but have too much sugar to be a substitute for milk which he should eventually drink several times a day. Good luck!!

I'm not sure if it's a good idea to mix the breast and cows milk together in the same bottle. Try giving 2 separate bottles.....I have also heard that it's not good to even combine milks in the same meal, so speak with your doctor about that.

good for you for sticking to your guns about the chocolate! he will take the milk, sometimes it takes time, thats all. my first refused it for months. he will come around. there is no reason he needs the cows milk if you can keep him in breastmilk, but if you want to try to hurry it up, try not mixing it with the breastmilk. maybe try watering down the cows milk a little bit to get it more of the consistency of breastmilk and if he takes it just reduce the water a little at a time. cows milk mixed with breast milk tastes funny.

Ring his neck??? Such violence! LOL! Children do drink chocolate milk and it's not like you need to add very much chocolate...... I think I'd continue with the breastmilk...... it's mother nature's best, right? If you have to give cow's milk though, start off with the 2% milk. The whole milk might seem too rich for the baby. Good luck.
D. N.

When my son turned one and I tried to give him regular milk he wanted nothing to do with it. At this point he no longer wanted to nurse either. I tried absolutley everything to try to get him to drink it (even chocolate) and nothing worked. I finally gave up and started trying to make sure he got a couple of servings of yogurt everyday. It seemed like only a few days after I gave up trying to get him to drink the milk when he started liking it. Now he is 3 and I have to be careful he doesn't drink too much milk. He still does not like chocolate milk ;)

Hi,

If you haven't tried it, I would limit cow's milk to meals and snacks only and also only offer it in a cup (sippy or equivalent). Your child will be less likely to feel that you are trying to pass off cow's milk as mommy's milk. I'm not there with my second yet, but he wants to try anything we drink out of a cup and with my first we introduced him to whole milk in a cup so the bottle of breastmilk was different. Not all children like milk, but they do need the fat in whole milk for brain development, so I wouldn't try a lower fat milk until your pediatrician recommends it (probably at 2 years old).

As long as your son is eating a variety of solids and getting plenty of calcium, he doesn't even need milk, at this point. Try not to worry about it. My second child wasn't into cow's milk at first, either. Make sure he is eating well, and getting things like cheese and yogurt for the calcium, then just start cutting out the breast milk. I wouldn't mix it. Once a week or so, substitute one additional breastmilk offering with cows milk. Are you using a cup, too? At 1, he is ready to drink his milk in a cup along with the rest of his meal. He might refuse cows milk out of a bottle because that was for "mommy's milk".. but new milk out of a new cup might work. Just offer him cow's milk with the rest of his food while slowly cutting back on the number of times you nurse him. Eventually he will start drinking more cows milk. If he only has a cup of cow's milk and he is thirsty, he'll drink it. Though don't be surprised if he doesn't drink it well until a few months after he is completely weaned. You can try sneaking in milk in creative ways to get him used to the flavor, like in baby cereals, oatmeal, and actual rice. I'm sure you can think of additional "mommy tricks."

Good luck.

I switched my girls gradually. I started with 1/4 milk to 3/4 breast milk. I gradually added more milk and less breast milk. I also used soy milk. Supposedly it tastes more like breast milk. My littlest did not like regular milk for a while. I added a tiny amount of chocolate syrup to it and she gave me no problem. She now drinks regular white milk with out problem. As long as she thought I was putting the chocolate in she drank it! Now she doesn't care. Also, I read an article that says studies showed that children who drank chocolate milk developed less of a sweet tooth later in life, prefuring more healthy options to sugary snacks and sodas because chocolate milk was far less sweet.