16 Month Old and Milk

My son hated regular milk for a long time, but he loved warmed Very Vanilla Silk. Its expensive but it is loaded with vitamins and minerals.

check out www.milksucks.com soon and get educated on what is REALLY in our milk these days and then be thrilled to give your smart daughter nothing but water! When she does want milk, let her have almond milk (even Costco now sells it! inexpensively). Grind up a GOOD miltivitamin supplement like Jungamals from Pharmanex. I still love milk and so do my children, but we are much healthier without it! We still eat ice cream, etc., but day to day, no yucky milk to make us more susceptible to sickness.

My son does not get cow's milk. The only dairy he gets is oganic raw cheese or organic plain yogurt a couple times of week. He does get powedered goat milk in the morning with some Cocoa Meal Shake in it. He also gets a Chewable Cal Mag Plus - both from Shaklee. We don't use anything else. You don't know what's in that stuff or if it even breaks down in the body.
J.

There's nothing wrong with warming it up some if she takes it better that way. You can slowly over the next year not heat it quite so much so by the time she is two or so she will be used to cold milk. I think warm milk is very soothing to little ones. Also if you haven't switched she should just be using a sippy cup.

V.

Kids dont actually need as much protein and calcium as we think they do. If she doesnt drink milk often thats ok. If you would prefer to supplement with Pediasure then go ahead and do that. That is a wonderful way to supplement and kids love the stuff!! Just dont worry too much about it and get yourself all stressed out. Youre doing great. Give it every other day or so but with the lack of milk (I dont know what her eating habits are) just make sure she is eating lean meats, veggies, fruits, dairy, whole grains, etc. and not a lot of sweets or junk food with a lot of grease. Dont give anything thats fried. Im sure you know all of this, but my point is that if she eats well, the milk thing isnt a big deal at all. Supplement if you think it will make you feel better and it can never hurt. Good luck!

Have you tried mixing it with chocolate or some kind of flavoring.

Welcome to my world! My kids both stopped eating everything they normally ate around that age. Have you tried those yogurt drinks? My kids didn't like cold milk either, but they came around. I would put a yogurt drink and dilute it with milk in their sippy cups, and then started to add more and more milk. They both love milk and is probably them best thing they put in their bodies! If she's eating cheese and yogurt, and eats veggies and fruits, she'll be fine. You could try the pediasure, but it's expensive and she may not like it. Good luck, it's wonderful when they start gettin independant, but difficult at the same time!

Don't stress about the milk! Keep offering it to her but if she doesn't want it, that is OK. Milk is not the only source of calcium or vitamin in her diet and she is probably getting more then plenty from the other foods that she eats. A lot of juices now a days are even fortified with calcium. As long as she is eating dairy products in general she will be fine. I am a BIG milk drinker but I think that the doctors all have us moms WAY to stressed out about how much milk our toddlers are getting. Little ones have not learned yet to tune out their instincts like adults have. As long as you are offering her healthy choices, she will eat what she needs.

yogurt is a good source of calcium, as well as other foods. there are veggies to snack on as well. cheese and crackers. Just look for some other calcium foods. Keep introducing the milk but even if you can get 1 cup of milk a day and have other foods the kids will be fine.

Give her milk with all of her meals and water any other time. Eating will make her thirsty enough to take in enough required milk. If she complains about having milk at dinner, just tell her that she can have her water when she is finished eating. She might rebel and not drink at the first few mealtimes, but she will get distracted enough later and be fine with it. Milk just with the meals, snacks can have water or juice. Give that a try. Good Luck!

If your child is not overweight, add a little chocolate or strawberry syrup. This was advice my doctor gave to me since weight was not a concern. Now I have to negotiate to get him to drink other things. Hope this helps.

Could you try mixing a little chocolate with it...my son will not drink plain milk...I do not mix it strong just enough to make a difference and change the color slightly (I don't think he needs all the sugar in the chocolate)

You can always try a little bit of chocolate in it!

My daughter is about the same age, and she doesn't like her milk cold. I put it in the microwave for about 30 seconds just enough to take the chill off (be sure to mix/shake it to get out the hot spots). It's not warm, more like room temperature then. That seems to help. Sometimes I warm it a little more at night for her bedtime drink. She still has days she just doesn't want any, but I've been told to look at what they eat/drink for the week, not the day. As long as it balances out over the week they are doing fine. This makes me feel better on those days she won't eat a thing.

Hi Kim, Have you tried warming her milk up a little bit before giving it to her? I did that with my daughter in the early days after switching from formula to milk and it really helped. Another thought is if you're giving it to her in a sippy cup, she may not like the kind of sippy cup. A lot of kids are very particular about the kind of cup they drink milk out of. As a last resort, you might try putting a little bit of flavor (chocolate or strawberry syrup) in the milk if she won't drink it plain. I know it seems crazy to give a small child the extra sugar but I've been told by pediatricians that it's better to have a little flavor added than not to get enough milk. Just some ideas. Good luck!