18 month old will not drink any milk - nothing works

[AlCookie]

my 18 month old has never been fond of milk. he was breastfed and never took the bottle (well i gave up). once we weaned him, i have had a hard time giving him milk. for the past 1 yr its been milk from a spoon n cup, syringe, glass (tried tried n tried).

he drinks other liquids from a regular glass or his straw bottle but he will not drink milk. very casually he says - 'no....'. n thats it. i tried adding flavours to it, i tried sitting n drnking with him. today its been like more than 3 months where i have been giving him milk from a syringe!!!!!!

i cant do it anymore now....its not a long term solution n i will b joining work in another 3 months. he has to learn to drink milk himself. i dont know what to do!!

a toddler wont starve himself - today morning he spilled all the milk because he just didnt want to drink it. i cleaned up the mess, washed his clothes n now i have left him. should i offer breakfast as usual???? if i feed him other things as usual, will he ever drink milk??? n if i dont....i start crying - i cant deal with him roaming around empty stomach for hours!!!

Cows milk, as someone else says is not an essential thing for toddlers...or in fact anyone! You just need to find calcium in other forms.

Tinned sardines are really high in calcium too. I wouldn't touch them but babies are odd so you never know.

The Vegan Society suggests tahini on toast. Obviously an acquired taste.

And there are lots of children who don't drink cows' milk - my brother wouldn't drink it either and after discovering later that he's actually intolerant to milk, my mum realised that he was probably refusing it because drinking it made him feel ill!

Golmandra's suggestion of a referral to a dietician is a good one for reassuring both you and your family that your DS's diet is fine without milk.

Offer yogurts, cheese, milky puddings. There is no need to worry about not drinking milk.

My DD stopped drinking milk at 11 months!

Seriously don't worry about, lots of toddlers don't like milk. My mother had a serious allergy to all dairy products when she was younger - and there weren't the alternatives available that there are today - she is now a very healthy 80 year old .

Totally agree with this comment:

Cows' milk really isn't an essential part of a child's diet, however the milk marketing people have done such a good job on us that most people (particularly health visitors) believe it is!

my ds1 has never had any milk since he stopped bfeeding at 18mths. he is now 5 ft 9 massive feet and still growing. he ate cheese and yog and i would eat custard and rice pudding and i put milk in his mashed potato or in cheese sauce etc.

there are lots of other sources of fat you can give.

if he doesnt like milk he wont drink it. i never drink milk as i dont like it. i am 34 and it doesnt appear to have harmed me. i stopped at about ten mths and refusrd it from then onwards.

Many, many years ago I was a nanny & looked after a little girl who wasn't a milk fan. Her mum would make a smoothie with milk & fruit & put it in a big glass with 2 straws & give it to me. Guaranteed every time she would come over to me & want to share. I wouldn't worry too much though about drinking milk if his diet has other dairy to compensate.

You can add cheese (any sort, but I'd go for full fat, hard cheese, like cheddar, or red Leicester if cheddar tastes too strong) to pretty much any food. Another way to increase fat intake is to add mayonnaise/hummus as a dip for meals, or use more butter on bread. Try cheese slice as a sanck, or chunk of cheese.

Personally, I'd avoid the processed cheese slices as the usual source of cheese. Can't explain why, just not fond of processed food. If the thin slices are essential to get him to eat cheese you can buy presliced cheddar/jahlsberg which helps - my kids have all loved the flavour of those.

I'd also give up on milk as a drink. Have water available whenever he wants, and he'll be fine. I'd cut back my toddler's milk drinks by/at that age to milk at breakfast then water/diluted juice at other times anyway.

I think you should stop pushing with the milk. Perhaps he just really doesn't like milk. Give him his dairy through other means. Yogurts, cheese sauce with pasta, cheese sandwiches, etc. He'll be absolutely fine not drinking milk.

9th centile just makes me feel low....he has been following his curve so i know he is doing ok n no matter how much milk or whatsever i manage to get into him, he was never fat n prob will never be.

i just have to calm myself down. being a full time mum...all i think about all day is feeding him. its kind of spoiling our relation now. i get worked up n that makes my son angry too.

i did say earlier that other than milk he eats well...n today he seems to be on a food strike. i know such days do come along n he will eat properly again. but its just so hard to take control of urself in the moment

i will try some other cheese varieties...ahhhhh (sigh)

Nothing wrong with the 9th centile! my daughter hit the line at 10 weeks and has been there ever since (nearly 20 months now). It#'s as if the 9th centile line has been written for her...

Nothing to panic about.

DS was a milk refuser - BF until 15 months, would not touch cow's milk or soy milk in any way, shape or form (hot, cold, chocolate, on cereal - you name it, I tried it). Also not keen on yoghurty things, though he did eat fromage frais until he was about 3, then rejected that too. But he did eat cheese, and he would eat things like pancakes and yorkshire puddings which are made with milk.

The lack of milk didn't stop him following the 98th centile curve, and he is now aged 15 and nearly 6ft. Still won't drink milk.

And there's nothing wrong with following the 9th centile if that's how he's been growing anyway - you only need to worry if they suddenly start moving down the centiles.

I haven't drunk a morsel of milk since 12 months, I'm now 36 with no fillings . That said I love sardines What's weird about liking them?

9th centile is totally fine! All centiles are is a marker of where your baby is in relation to other children. The 50th centile is not a goal!

If you go into a school and arrange 100 11 year olds by height, you'll have several cm variation and in the middle, the average height. It doesn't mean that there's anything wrong with the shorter or taller children. The figures are just a representation of what you'd see in front of you, not a target. It doesn't necessarily reflect what their adult height will be either. Some DC might grow a lot between 12 and 17 whereas some will practically have hit their adult height by 12.

Nothing at all weird about the freaky, stinky tinned weirdness sardines.

My DS is 2.1 and only tried cow's milk for the first time last week. He still doesn't like it! He was bf until 20 months.

He's always been on the slimmer side (between 10th and 20th centile) and to maintain weight we cooked everything in butter, gave him lots of avocados and nut butters. I made smoothies with coconut milk (the full-fat tinned stuff, but unsweetened) and added nut butters. He also likes red meat. In fact, he's a really good eater, just never took to cow's milk.

Kids can thrive just fine without lots of dairy. I believe two small pieces of cheese and a yoghurt is all they need at the toddler stage.

I have posted about 18 month old eating & lack of milk. Maybe it's a picky age?
LO's of my friends have little to no milk too. I think it's important for dc's to have more milk if they don't have a very varied diet.

Noone of mine were ever milk drinkers, but they'd have custard, yogs, rice pudding, cheese, milk on cereal and so forth.
Now (as teens) only 2 will ever have milk, and it's rarely with both of them, and the other won't at all. They will all drink a milkshake though...bonus, milk and fruit

If he's otherwise healthy 9th centile is fine

To add to the tahini suggestion, perhaps mixed with mashed banana.

Also calcium will be absorbed best if he also has plenty of magnesium - generally found in fruit and veg.

My DD has never drunk milk as a drink.

2 HV's advised me 2/3 portions if dairy per day is more than sufficient.

Cheese, yoghurt, porridge, cheeses sauces e.g. on pasta. Really, it's no problem.

Plenty of people manage just fine dairy free really it's not actually a natural part if our diet. Relax and don't fret about it.

And OP I would suggest not adding Nesquik etc to milk the sugar is not good for their teeth.

My youngest won't drink milk, unless its the suggery ends of the bowl of cereal. So he gets lots of milk on cereal on the days he wants it.
I'm not a great milk fan, but will have it in icecream, cheese sauce (macaroni cheese, cauliflower cheese, lasagna), or pancakes etc.
I'd avoid processed cheese slices - they are usually made with the remains of the milk after the curds have been taken out for block cheese. Philadelphia, and poss babybel are OK tho.
As folk above have said, Milk is not essential, calcium is. Fat is available from lots of sources - tuna in oil, avacados, oil fish etc.

I posted a while back about my now 23 month old refusing milk when I stopped breastfeeding at 15 months. I agree it's difficult with the promotion of toddler milks and the hvs blathering on about it and I felt I failed not getting him to have his morning and night cup of milk.
but he's absolutely fine without drinking it, I make sure he gets a lot in his diet. I stir full fat Greek yoghurt into his soups, give him sardines on toast, green veg, baked beans are also a source of calcium. Cheese sauce is your friend as is cream cheese. He wasn't keen on fromage frais type yogurts and milky cereals initially but I gave them a break for a few months and reintroduced them and now he loves them.

He is slim built but tall, was on the 9th centile for a long time but you only have to look at him to see he's healthy, strong and lively. Don't get hung up on those damn centiles, if he eats well, is growing and you know he's thriving just let them go.