I know milk is important to babies and my doctor would like my 14 month old to drink about 16oz of milk a day. But she takes one sip and doesn't drink anymore. Tried chocolate milk, strawberry milk but to avail. Any suggestions? We do give her plain yogert organic. Thanks for your help!
Try some fun cups with characters or crazy straws, or play a game where she has to take sip for every sip you take.
Good luck!
Does your child like yogurt? Ours loves yogurt, but would never drink milk, so we started making "kefir" using 1/2 milk and 1/2 yogurt (which will still go through a sippy straw) and he loves it!
She might be allergic. I would trust her. There are many other things to eat/drink besides milk.
I assume that the milk to which you refer is cow's milk. 16 oz per day seems like a lot for a 14 month old. In Asia, most people, including young kids don't drink cow's milk or any other type of non-human milk and are quite healthy without animals' milk. (Some studies, surprisingly, have shown that the two countries that have the highest rate of osteoporosis, which many people think is caused, at least in part, from calcium deficiency, are the U.S. and the Netherlands, which also have the highest rate of cows' milk consumption.) Most Asians get most of their calcium from vegetables and other non-dairy products.
Lynne E
If I understand correctly, the reason for wanting babies to drink milk is the calcium, protein, and yes, even fat. I used yogurt as an alternative. I breastfed my son until 18 months. I couldn't put him onto milk, as he had sensitivities to it, so I gave him lots of yogurt. Yogurt actually has more calcium than milk. I gave him plain, full fat, organic yogurt and added fresh fruit to it, usually blueberries. He loved it.
If you're curious about why my son could eat yogurt when he wss sensitive to milk, it has to do with the organisms in yogurt that predigest the protein, making it more digestable.
One other suggestion is to try to avoid adding sugars to things for as long as possible. So much out there is loaded with sugar, especially high fructose corn syrup. I personally tried to go for as long as I could without giving my anything sweetened. He was perfectly happy with his natural foods with only fresh fruit added. Once they get a taste for sweetness, well, they don't want to go back.
Back to the milk - what I did was try to find foods that provided the nutritional value of milk.
There is a book called Super Baby Foods that I used. It is a great resource for recipes that will provide what your baby needs. For example, there are grains that are high in protein that can be used. To add some fat, I added flax seed oil to what I made, which was tasteless to him. I even used to put it on his waffles, and we called it "waffle juice".
My son is now almost 6, so this was a few years ago, but that's what I remember doing.
Oh - and that's great that you give her yogurt that is organic. I personally believe that of all the foods, dairy is most important to go organic with. Too many hormones come through the non organic milk and such. As a result, girls are developing at a much earlier age (breasts). I don't know the impact on boys yet.
I hope that helps!
M.
If your child doesn't like milk, why not try cheese (muenster cheese, laughing cow mini cheese squares are good choices) or yogurt. My older son never liked milk after the 1 year he was breastfed. He only likes milk with his cereal (which would be another option for your child). My daughter is the only one who likes milk, but it has to be chocolate milk. My other son, doesn't like milk, but LOVES cheese and yogurt. I assume your dr. wants your child to drink milk to get a good amount of calcium. Cheese and yogurt should be good alternatives. Good luck!
M.,
We had the same problem when my son was younger. His pediatrician said that he didn't have to drink milk, he could get calcium from other sources, like cheese, yogurt, etc. Talk to your pediatrician. My son now drinks plenty of milk and he loves chocolate milk. Your child will eventually drink more milk.
My daughter was getting "bored" with milk so I changed the cup I used. I had been using a straw cup that was the Litterless brand from Rubbermaid (BPA free). I bought a no spill straw cup from Target (Munchkin brand and also BPA free). It's blue and pink and she loves it!
I have three healthy children who have never liked milk. The oldest one (8) will drink chocolate milk once in awhile. I have been told that as long as they eat cheese, yogurt, ice cream and dark green veggies they will be just fine. They all are 75 percentile in height and weight.
:)
