20Mos Old Drinks WAY Too Much Milk

We learned the hard way that milk does cause constipation, esp if they are already getting cheese and other dairy. It took me a while to get a workable solution. My ped had me giving a cup of pear juice a day, but that would cause a major blow out. The solution I found was Silk Soy milk. It tasted a lot like milk, at least my son thinks so, and it is chock full of fiber and protein and no cow's milk. One glass of this a day with his other milk and he has been regular ever since. Maybe try giving him some of the Silk. They make a version for kids.

Hi! K.,

I'm a new member to mamasource and I have sooo many comments and suggestions. Kids are sooo fascinating !!!! They all have so many different demands. It's hilarious.Try my suggestion that I just wrote to another mom. Make sure your babies' belly stays good and full all day long. I usually feed my 16mnth old girl three balanced meals and two healthy snacks a day, which equals out to eating about every two to three hours. This way, she is satisfied all day and only drinks about 8 to 12 ounces of milk a day. She has milk with breakfast and in the evening, well before bed time. Sometimes she doesn't drink milk but once a day. She's getting her calcium with foods like yougurt and cheese, etc. My mom's a nutritionist and one thing that we have mastered is my baby's diet..... And that's one of the only things....If you already follow this eating regimen, than your baby is just being a greedy little pumpkin and should be weaned the hard way, Cold Turkey...And be careful with too much juice (more than 4 to 6 oz a day), it's bad for the teeth. I give my baby flavored water with splenda, she thinks it's juice and my doctor said Splenda was fine but not aspartame.Good luck!

hm yes that is way too much. is he eating other stuff?
you might want to start watering the milk down, start for example 7 oz milk, 2 oz milk and work your way up. hopefully he won't like it as much.
i can't tell you that even if he eats well that much milk is good either. he needs the water. juice is ok too although i prefer my kids drink water and milk in the am and pm
good luck
vlora

Hi, I'm leaning more on it being a behavior that needs management. My 7 month old kind of does the same thing. He cries when the milk is finished. I would warn him of the volume as he is drinking it. Oh you have drunk half, Oh there is only a little more left. Oh its finished. And when its finished, that is a time for celebration. Yeah, Yippee, you drank it all. Such a good boy. All the smiles and congratulatios throw him off a little, and then its binky time. More fun. J.

I have a toddler and am always worried about her diet. I work with a lot of dieticians and they have told me that as long as she is drinking milk that she is fine. It sounds like that is where your son is getting all his nutrition. Does he eat well? I know they say not to stress kids about their diets to much because it can make meals harder to give them. You might try a 2% if you want to get away from whole milk?

Do you think it's more of a comfort thing for him? Also, you may want to use 2% instead of whole milk only to cut down on the fat content that he's getting. Maybe that will also keep him from drinking so much because it'll taste different. Best of luck!

My last son was exactly like that (now 2). He was drinking 5-8 cups of milk a day..between the age of 6 months to almost 20 months. He is perfectly healthy!!!However, we did give him lactaid between 12-21 months. The Doctor said if he had to have it do Lactaid for a while it was safer on his stomach, then when he turned 1 he said it was okay. Then we started giving him water at bedtime and then he started liking water...He still likes milk but only at breakfast and dinnertime. All three of my kids had some kind of faze and the time frame can very...he will grow out of it. My two year old is strong and tall and wears 4-5t clothing..he is very solid and bounces back from illness fairly quickly, I attribute that to the amount of milk he drank. My son's milk history was favorable, you are the Mom and you control his intake. Doctors say we let our kids do things excessively all the time so at least it is something healthy..one day he will say you give too many vegetables, too much meat, too much salt, too much play time! Relax, Rocco will be fine. Maybe work on his temper instead of his milk intake! Milk is healthier than a bad temper:) Good Luck Mom.

My chidlren actually never drink milk so I have the opposite problem. Can you give him 2% milk or 1% milk? It is still expensive at the rate he goes through milk but it would decrease his fat intake if you are concerned about his weight or his diet.

K.,
i have a 4yr old son who drinks milk like it is going out of style. he also is very light for his age(although he is tall lol) i would never try to discourage either of my children from drinking milk. the one thing we need to think about is, when we were kids all our parents and doctors told us to do was eat our veggies and drink our milk. if we got a little constipated we got prune juice and we were good to go. doctors keep changing their minds about everything(i.e. how much milk to drink, which side to have them sleep) that most of the things they say can be taken with more than a grain of salt. as long as your son is a healthy growing boy, i wouldn't change a thing.

I have a two yr old, and she can not have reg milk. I give her silk soy milk.She is very much like your son, and when she says,"Milk",I better give her just that. She drinks water also, but refuses juice. I am actually glad she does not drink juice. As for too much milk, I agree that too much whole milk can be a problem, but not if you dilute/subsitute it with soy milk. I would do 4 oz soy and 5 oz milk for the first couple days, and then do 6oz soy and 3oz milk and go from there. I hope all goes well.

Dear K.,

I understand your concern with your little one having way too much whole milk. I have tried giving my son (who is now 18 months) whole milk when I weaned him off formula milk at about 10 months. He did not like whole milk at all, because he wasn't drinking it as much. I was concerned and did something about it (without telling a doc, because I believe a mother will know what is best for her child, based on her child and situation. Most doctors just tell you what they think is best, based on what they studied in their medical training, but really ..do they really know everything that think is best for us, really good for us? No. For example, as for whole milk . .it can either be addicting for some (cause of the fat) or too rich (too much fat for them to handle)for others. Mine did not like whole milk, and turned up his nose at it. Now, if I were to follow the doctors advice, trying to force my son to drink whole milk, would not be best for him (as for our situation) . .because he would getting enough milk. When I took him to the doctor, the nurse told me this: "Oh, he is not drinking enough milk, make him drink more." But I told her that he does not seem to like whole milk. She did not suggest anything, but said to me to keep trying. I have, and knew that this advice was not best for my son's situation. When I came home, I thought . .why am I letting other people dictate my son's life, who are not his mother. a mother should be the one to make the decisions to do what is best for her child or children. I believe, if we mothers want to let others know how our responsiblity as one is very important to the human race, why don't we take charge of our own family lives, instead of some doctor that just studies it for a living (to just make money off of, and heck, they don't know our children as well as we, mothers do.
Whew! Ok. Now that I let it all out . .blew off my steam, lol . .this is my advice, coming from a loving mother . .like you. I know how you feel. You are sincerly concerned about your son's health, that too much saturated fat can harm him . .that is, if he is drinking too much of whole milk. From what you said on here, it sounds like your 20 month old son is ADDICTED to the saturated fat in the whole milk. Some can ..and end up really loving it. I would suggest something that might help. I am not going to say something that will force you to keep trying to give him whole milk, but cut back on it ..like a dotcor would suggest. I believe its not good to deprive a child from wanting milk, because he may need it more than most realize. Children's growth rates differ, so you can not say that he can only have this amount of milk, like the doctor suggested. That's just not good for your son. He may be growing so fast right now, that he needs alot of milk to nurish such growth. My suggestion is this: You are concerned about giving him too much whole milk. And it would not be good to cut it back, because he will fuss for you taking away the amount of milk that he needs to grow. I would advise you to still give him whole milk, but dilute it with some cold water and put a few ice cubes in it, so that there is more volume of milk in it for him to drink. He'll get alot more milk, but alot less of the whole milk's saturated fat content. Do this, with his 4rd cup (dilute it with water) and every cup he demands afterwards ..so that he still gets the fat from his recommended 3nd cup of whole milk. This will help reduce the amount of saturated fat he consumes, while giving him BOTH whole milk and water that he needs, lol. I know this is kinda tricking him, but hey . .if sees its milk, he'll probably accept drinking the diluted whole milk. He is just a baby, and don't know that too much fat in the whole milk can do more harm to him than good. I would not worry about him drinking too much mlik, but just see that he gets all the milk he wants, but do it in a way that the milk will have less fat (by diluting it with cold water, or same temp as milk), after the recommended amount. I suggest you try it. If it does not work, and are concerned . .give him 3 9 oz of the whole milk, and then 2% milk, afterwards.
Since my son did not like whole milk that much (he was drinking very little of it) I wanted him to drink more, so he will grow up being healthy. I switched over to 2%, and he began to drink more of it, than the whole milk. It has some fat, but not as much as whole milk. He seemed turned off by the whole milk being too rich in fat, cause he hardly drank it. When tasted the 2% he drank more, and the recommended amount, too.
If your son refuses the diluted whole milk idea, you may want to put him on 2%, whereas he will still get fat, but not alot of it. Then, you can give him as much as he wants, without worrying about the sat fat content, because it'll be much lower than the whole milk's fat content. He will drink his fill of milk, then . .lol.
Hope this helps,
A.
a mother of my 1st child, 18-month old son, named Chance.

P.S. My son is very healthy being on 2%, and seemingly smart child for his age level. He is not too chubby or unhealthy at all. Mny doctors say that the sat fat in whole milk is needed for brain and motor skill development, cause these body functions are growing, but mothers should be realistic about their child's health, that too much sat fat from this milk is good for them. I would suggest giving children 2%, and give them as much as they wanted. This way you won't have to worry about it getting their stomaches sick or being unhealthy (too fat from it). I believe, as long as it has the same amount of calcium for their bones to grow, and some fat for their brains/body .that is better than over-doing it with fatty whole milk that is not really all that healthy for the body, despite what doctors say. To me, I believe most doctors don't really know what is best for us, people. Many people try what they recommend, but it ends up not working out makeing people worse than they were before. If doctors knew what was best for us, there would not be so many sick and unhealthy Americans in this world. You tell me? Do doctors really know what is best for us? Do you know what my answer would be: NO.

Hi K.,
Wow, i don't think i've heard of a toddler drinking too much milk!!! I would say that you are doing the best that you can by trying to taper down the amount he drinks. If he doesn't have any problems with constipation, that's good but if he seems to be having trouble, then i might give him some #2 Gerber fruit like apples and prunes or some fresh fruit to combat that issue. I didn't know that milk could if consumed in large amounts irritate the lining of the stomach. If you really are concerned about these issues and are at your witts end with his tantrums, i would suggest getting a second opinion--it can't hurt and maybe another doc will have a different perspective.
Good luck!!!

Stef

My daughter who is 3 almost 4 drinks gallons a week. She drinks plenty of water, & some juice. I all ways been a big drinker of milk. If you are worry try adding water to the milk or giving him 2% or lower. But I really don't see anything wrong with your son drinking alot of milk unless he is putting on weight or not eating. I had a problem with my daughter not eating & just wanted milk, so I just told her no milk until you eat. Sometimes she didn't eat for a good bit but she did eat & then she got her milk.