12month old refusing to drink anything but milk, refusing sippy cup too. Help!

[shiteattheseaside]

Have been trying to introduce water/juice and suppy cup since 6 months and DS just turned 1 and we had a health visitor visit and she told us that he should be off bottles soon and only be having milk at morning and night with juice or water for the rest. But ds is flat out refusing anything but milk, he will not drink from 6am till 10pm if it was anything but milk offered (health visitor said to just offer sippy cup and water and not offer milk and bottle and he will eventually come around)

But hes just not at all. Any one had this issue?

[ricketytickety]

What food is he eating? If you reduce milk you have to up foods. The water should be available all day really in a sippy cup. He may refuse to begin with but after a while he'll get used to it.

[shiteattheseaside]

He eats a decent amount most of the time, breakfast is cereal/poridge/wheatabix/toast. Sometimes a mid morning snack of biscuit/fruit/yogurt, lunch is normaly a bowl of something homade like pasta (but hes normally not interested in lunch). Then tea of something similar although he normally wont eat it. If he doesnt eat tea i will give him supper of toast. He then has a 9oz bottle of milk then bed then up for another 9oz bottle in night (this is even if he has been stuffed to brim in day).

We have been trying for 6 months though and hes still refusing to the point where he will not drink until nilk is offered

[shiteattheseaside]

Forgot to mention, as far as fluids go, if we just offered bottles of milk he would probably have 4x7-9oz bottles in a day then a mid-night one and thats giving him loads of food until he wont eat anymore!

[shiteattheseaside]

Bump

[shiteattheseaside]

No one?

[Batteriesallgone]

Isn't the bottle the issue not the milk? Will he take milk from a sippy cup?

[ChocChocPorridge]

Try some more cups - DS1 was breastfed, and couldn't figure out most cups - we eventually settled on a straw cup (which he proceeded to exclusively use for 3 years!) - I must have bought one of every type of cup on the market until we found one he'd use.

We also (for our sins) could only get him off milk with neat fruit juice (!) which I slowly started watering down, until a few months later when he suddenly decided that it was water or cows milk for him (very occasionally he'll ask for juice or milkshake)

I think it's just trying lots of things until you hit on the right one

[Shirkingfromhome]

Is the issue having milk in the night? Look up milk weaning. You water down milk with water, gradually increasing water and reducing milk during the night so that they gradually just accept water. I don't understand why your HV is saying to introduce juice though.

IMO I think 12 months is too young to stop milk in the night. Although I understand from a dental perspective it's not great for their teeth. We stopped giving ds1 milk in the night around 18-20 months and sent him to bed with water (in the same cup), and he was fine (but he as ready to stop).

If the issue is that he's still drinking out of a bottle then it's a bit trial and error finding one they like. We've got a cupboard full! I would say once you switch then give all drinks out of the same type one so that you can get rid of bottles altogether (again it worked for us but it won't be the same for everyone).

[shiteattheseaside]

He wont take anything out of a sippycup, not even milk. Health visitor said to definatley ztill give him milk at night and during night if he wants but all through day it dhould be water or fruit juice diluted at meal times . I will try strawcup though

[shiteattheseaside]

Also about the diluting milk...she said to not do that and just change as it makes.non accaptance worse?

[shiteattheseaside]

Like yesterday we offered water or fruit juice diluted between 7am and 9pm ( he only took 2oz over course of this) and then downed 18 (!!!) Oz of milk at 9.30

[KatyN]

My son is 4.5 and has only just started drinking juice. I don't understand why your hv is pushing juice, water would be good to drink but if he wants milk then give him milk during the day. Obviously not a huge bottle but in a cup of some sort.
We did hot milk in a bottle and cold milk in a cup and as it was summer he stopped asking for a bottle.
Personally I wouldn't worry too much, increase his foods (make them milky if that is a taste he likes). He will stop having a bottle at some point, just maybe he's a bit young for it now.
K

[Batteriesallgone]

Can you get a second opinion from another HV? I'm breastfeeding so I don't know about cows milk (at that age was still nursing pretty frequently day and night!) but surely juice isn't preferable to milk? Confused what her issue is really. She sounds a bit old school maybe see if you can chat to another one.

[HeadDreamer]

I agree the issue is the bottle not the milk. The NHS recommends only milk and water as drink, except during meals.

[jacksoncannery]

I had the same issue, only difference was I was stopping breastfeeding at 12 months. Same as you, DD point blank refused to drink out of any cup (or any bottle in our case). I was very worried about dehydration but went cold turkey. At that age they wont come to any harm as they are getting plenty calories and fluid from food. I added extra water and milk to any food I could, basically spooned in the fluids, and checked nappies to watch out for dehydration. She was stubborn and kept it up for a good few days but eventually gave in.

With cups, I never did succeed with any of the rubbery or valved sippy cups, only free flow worked, but that may have been because she never drank from a bottle either.

It will be ok, just persevere.

[jacksoncannery]

Never offered juice btw. She came round to water in her own time and now guzzles it.

[DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen]

Don't stress ,he's only little still. I never gave juice at all,milk or water and that's all ds drinks now at 15 too! Really no reason for him to drink juice,I can guarantee no dentists give their kids juice

[shiteattheseaside]

Health visitor was saying he will be getting too much calcium? I was breastfeeding untill about 7 weeks ago (although he took expressed milk from a bottle no problem) and we have just switched to cows milk which hasnt bothered him at all.

Thing is he wont even try the sippy cups (have tried all bat the straw one) he just pushes it away and screams. Also agree with juice really, plus he doesnt take it or water, so id rather we perserveered (sorry i dont know spelling!) With water. (However this is a task in itself as mil is very out of touch and insists on giving him baby juice etc...but thats another thread!)

[shiteattheseaside]

Ds was in hospital not that long ago too with a v bad tummy bug, and they wouldnt let him have milk in there and it worried me as he wouldnt take watet but they insisted thats all ge drank, so he didnt drink for 3 days straight

[DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen]

I can only tell you what I did with ds and that was give him milk. He was a really milky baby he was very much still on bottles at 12 months as he didn't like cups. As long as you're not replacing food with milk, giving him milk won't hurt.

[Shirkingfromhome]

The thing is your HV is giving you guidance about how much milk babies should be having at this stage and what they should be drinking from. Every baby is different so there's no right answer. My ds still drinks milk over water and won't touch juice.

You said you only stopped bf 7 weeks ago? Changing from that, to a bottle to something else new is a lot in a relatively short space of time. I agree with pp about getting another HV's perspective.

If your baby had an upset tummy in hospital they probably stopped the milk while he was poorly so the milk didn't feed the bad bacteria (if you're not sure why they did it you can always ask your Dr).

[Batteriesallgone]

Do you still have milk? Could you go back to breastfeeding? Just throwing it out there as a possibility - there's no need to stop at 1yr, especially if they've not taken to water yet.

[LetsPlayBamboozled]

Yes, I have the same here! Except DD is 20 months old and I have been for an eternity to get her to 1. switch from bottles 2. drink any water.

We have SO many different kinds of cups in our house but she is not interested in having milk from anything but a bottle. She was formula fed but since switching to cows milk she drinks even more bottles of milk than when on formula, twice what's recommended!! She still eats well though.

She would only have a few sips of water from a straw or miracle cup up until about 3 weeks ago when we have had a change. She will now drink water from the nuby cups she has. She has also started using the handles on her bottles of milk and drinking it herself. I hope eventually she will switch over to milk in the nuby but I think the bottle is a great comfort to her.

Also, she drinks a lot more milk when teething, could that be the same for you?

DD has plenty of wet nappies so I have just persevered with offering water in two different kinds of cup (straw/nuby/miracle/tommy tippy sippy cup) put out in the living room for her to ignore every morning.

I know the bottle swishes the milk round the teeth, which is not great for teeth, but I don't think she'll move on till she's ready, she's too stubborn! If she has milk in a sippy cup for example she will take a few sips then ask for milk, ie a bottle she can chug!

My HV has always just said to keep offering the cups. Good luck!

[scrumptiouscrumpets]

Have you tried water in the bottle he usually has milk in? Sorry if you have already tried this op, I have read the full thread but you don't seem to have.

[shiteattheseaside]

Batteries - yeah my milk has dried up, why i stopped otherwise i would have happily carried on breastfeeding, kinda sad really .

Letsplay- oh god that makes me feel better! Yes ds seams to drink double amount of cows milk to what he did formula! Ds also is really comforted by bottle i think especially at night. Although he will happily feed hinself his bottle.

Crumpets- yeah have tried plain water in ordinary bottle but he can tell that its not white so not milk, also randomly he will pick it up, take 1 sip and realise its water and screw his face up and lob it at me

I supose all i can do is keep offering, you cant really force feed them can you