I can't actually wean my toddler on to Yakult, can I?

[Thistledew]

DS is 18 months and still breastfed. He feeds morning and night, and often once in the night. On the days I am out at work he is fine to go from 7.30am to 6pm without feeding but if I am around during the day he will most often ask for a feed mid morning and mid afternoon.

I have been trying to gently wean him off the breast by offering him an alternative drink, which he does sometimes accept. He will drink water or fruit juice quite happily, but isn't often interested in more than a couple of mouthfuls of cows milk

Today for the first time, when he asked for "boo-boo" (breastfeed) I asked him if he wanted water or juice and he asked for "pink juice" (what we call Yakult), guzzled down a pot and then asked for more!

Given that this is the first time he has actively asked for an alternative to a breastfeed I'm keen to encourage this trend, but don't think unlimited Yakult is the answer!

Does anyone have any suggestion as to something I can try as an alternative to cows milk to wean him off the breast?

[Harebellmeadow]

How about a yoghurt based drink, eg kefir. Most likely not to a toddlers taste though - Yakult is yummy, deliciously sweet. (Would also give to my child if she would drink it). What I don’t know is whether the sweetness is from the bacteria or from added sugar. I don’t see anything else wrong with Yakult except for (if any) added sugar - good bacteria aplenty, although your DC will already have a good stock from the breastfeeding. Oh, and the price of the teeny bottles.
If your DC doesn’t want the cows milk, it might be worth letting him follow instinct and not drink it - it may not be right for him (baby led weaner here).

[Thistledew]

Thanks Harebell - I will try kefir or some sort of yogurt-based smoothy. There is added sugar in Yakult, which is why I'm not keen on him guzzling too much of it. I'm not too hung up on him having sugary things as he is very much on the skinny side despite eating well generally, and he is very good with teeth brushing, but I don't really feel happy with him having two or three pots every morning and evening as a substitute for milk!

He loves cheese, butter and yogurt, and doesn't generally have much of a sweet tooth, so I'm happy he is getting a good amount of calcium, but he does seem to need a tummy full of milk to go off to sleep still.

[LIZS]

Could you add food colouring to milk?

[SandLand]

What about strawberry nesquick, that you can tgen reduce the powder loading into once he's used to drinking from a cup rathervthan you?

[Thistledew]

I don't think Nesquick is any less sugary than Yakult.

I'll have an experiment with some yogurt drinks and maybe making my own.

[hairRaising]

Have he tried milk alternatives such as oat/almond/soy to see if any of those click with him? Goat?

Though you'd have to check nutritional angle as now sure if you need extra calcium or fat etc

[Thistledew]

I had an experiment today with various other drinks.

I bought some vanilla smoothie, some pouring yogurt and some berry compote (yes, I could blitz my own fruit but am looking for a quick and easy alternative).

I mixed some of all three, which he tried but wasn't too enamoured with and didn't have more than a couple of sips. I then tried him on the vanilla smoothie as I thought that maybe it has a similar sweetness to the Yakult. It was met with such total disgust that he just let it run out of his mouth and didn't even swallow any!

It's obviously not the sweetness he is going for. Any other ideas of a Yakult substitute?

[SandLand]

Milk in a yakult bottle? Is it the container he is after?

[Thistledew]

I might try that SandLand, but you are right that he does like shaking it up and peeling the foil so I don't know how I would sneak the milk in there.

[Applesandpears23]

We let my daughter have natural yoghurt sweetened with some honey. Also the bottles that kids squash drinks come in are very popular. She will drink water in one of those bottles.