Weaning to Whole Milk

My daughter was the same way, but it was 15 months before she was completely weaned from me. My friend suggested chocolate milk...so, i mixed a little bit of the Nesquik powder (it has vitamins and extra calcium) in her milk and served it to her slightly warm (about 20secs in the microwave...just to take the chill off) in her sippy or straw cup and the rest is history!

Try adding a *little* bit of Ovaltine -- it has lots of calcium and other good stuff. We got dd #1 to drink milk this way and just gradually reduced the Ovaltine to nothing.

My 13 month old will not drink milk either. We tried everything. Watered down milk, flavored milk, soy milk, pedisure, skim milk, powdered milk, sippys with straws, about 3 different regular sippy cups. The only thing we didn't try was goats milk. It was like $3.00 for two cups. What I started doing was cooking with milk. I add whole milk to everything that I cook for him. Eggs, sugar-free pudding, mac and cheese, muffins, pancakes, waffles. I also add powdered milk to all of his baby food, yogurt, pudding, anything that I spoon feed him. He still eats like a champ. I also give him the oj with the calcium added. I look for foods and juices that have the most vitamins, calcuim and protein. His doc said to try a bottle (he is also breastfeed with no bottles), I just could not see doing that. So this is what I came up with. It is easy to track how much milk he is getting. Also, remember not every kid is going to drink milk and they will be fine. I weaned any way.

i weaned from formula onto silk Soy milk it is flavered with vanilla then after a month i slowly mixed it whole milk a little more each day until it was completly whole milk

I'll just let you know what worked for me...

I weaned my son at 11/12 months from only breastfeeding (he took a bottle here and there until he was about 4 mos then he refused it). I tried lots of cups and different formulas and finally I found a formula that he liked and he did take a bottle. I started skipping one breastfeeding session at a time every few days or when I thought he was ready to go the next step. Once he was totally on the bottle I started mixing it with whole milk about a 1/4 at a time. Once he was on whole milk I started giving it to him in a cup at meal time. And after his bath I gave him a cup of milk which he walked around with and drank. Then I got rid of the bottle all together and he chugs his milk now.

Hope that helps:)

L.,
Maybe try giving her the milk from a regular cup - little sips. My 16 month old loves to drink anything from a regular cup. Or one of the cups with a straw. Again, DD loves to drink from a straw (especially if it is mine). A friend of mine's daughter refused to drink cow's milk but she would drink soy milk.
You are lucky that she will drink plain water and eat cheese!

I nursed until my daughter was two (no bottles) - just made sure she liked the other dairy products and took her vitamins so I was sure that she was getting her calcium. She's almost four now and I've been using Ovaltine...I figure it's better than nothing and its better than chocolate milk...

My suggestion is just like weaning a bottle fed baby to reg. milk. Since a baby can start drinking reg. milk at 12mo i normally change them to reg. milk in a sippy cup when they eat meals. By now your daughter should be eating small meals each day like Gerber. So I would suggest giving her a sippy cup of milk with these meals. Also have one around when she's away during the day when she plays. If you have her setting up on the floor with toys also include a sippy cup of milk. That way she will have the option of drinking it. Over time she will start drinking it. Go a few days of only offering milk in the cup so she has no other option because children will wait until the pref. thing is offered. So if she LIKES water in her cup she will wait. I'm def. not saying don't offer water anymore that is great for her to drink and you should promote it but for a few days i wouldn't offer it. At 12mo. infants don't have to be breastfed anymore so if you REALLY want to switch to reg. milk ti would be easier if you weaned but i know most don't want to.

I WOULD NEVER SUGGEST CHOCO MILK.... I think it's a bad idea to teach them they can drink (sugar milk instead of reg. good ol milk) I didn't offer children choco milk until later so you can say "We can drink choco milk when we go out to eat, or with cereal or what not"

At 12 months old, my daughter initially did not like whole milk. She, too, was drinking water from a sippy cup. I mixed water and milk together for her and then gradually increased the milk. It took a few weeks, but she eventually made the switch. She also had very few bottles in her first year and had almost all breastmilk, and I had heard that it's harder to switch from breastmilk to milk than it is from formula to milk. Hope that helps. Good luck.

I had the same problem with my daughter. I used a teaspoon of the malt flavored Ovaltine and added it to her sippy with the milk. Worked great. Only took about 4 weeks of that (gradually reducing the amount of Ovaltine until it wasn't needed).

My 19 month old dd doesn't like milk either. She never took a bottle and, try as I might, she won't be bribed to drink cows milk. I know she really doesn't HAVE to to get her calcium so I'm still nursing and have her eat plenty of other foods rich in calcium. I do give her a sippy of milk at every meal. Sometimes she takes a mouthful sometimes she chucks it.

I know that's not much help. I'm mostly just offering sympathy.

Hey L.,
Have you tried soymilk? I, too, am a breastfeeding mom and we don't drink cow's milk in our house. My 2 year old enjoys vanilla soymilk in a sippy cup with some meals. Soymilk has lots of nutrition. It may be a easier transition because it is sweet like mothers milk too. Good luck!