trying to wean 1 year old...not working

[amandamacg]

I've breastfed my ds for almost 12 months now, but am going back to work very soon and would like him to start taking cows milk. Unfortunately he isn't having it at all. I've tried bottle / cup / mixing with strawberry milk, everything but still wont touch....he will take yoghurts and cheese and i was just wondering if this is enough for him and in what quantity i would have to give him yoghurts, etc so he gets equivalent he would get from milk? Thanks for any help!

There's calcium in lots of foods, not just dairy e.g. bread, broccoli & other green leafies, pulses etc. If you are already gving yoghurt & cheese + other balanced diet then he will be just fine.

We moved to just 2 bottles of milk a day at 12 months

I only breastfed for 6 months but then formula. DD would not drink cows milk but would drink infant toddler formula "growing up" milk.

Worth a try?

Thanks pamelat, but we tried him on 4 different formula milk at around 10.5 months and he spat out every single one of them....funny thing is, he's not a fussy eater and will eat practically anything you put down to him, just milk is the problem

my DD BF until nearly 2 partly as she refused cows milk to drink, still hardly drinks any but has some cheese, and milky puddings disguised with chocolate - she hates creamy milky things just like her dad. she is 2.5years old and growing fine and very rarely ill.

He will be absolutely fine on that diet.
The only other thing you can try is to express and then add increasing quantities of cows milk to your breast milk over a period of 2-3 weeks until it is 100% cows, so he can get used to the taste without realising.

Having said that - will he eat cereal with cows in?

My DD had this very same problem at 12 months. Are you warming the milk up? I was doing this and DD was not impressed. eventually realised that she prefered it cold - straight from the fridge. Maybe try that? Also, maybe try giving it to him in a beaker rather than a bottle? Either of these might help x

thanks for this....i tried him with both beaker and bottle but spat it out with both. I tried hot and cold, still nothing i'm afraid...seems he is stubborn like his mum He will eat cereal with milk in it sometimes depending what mood he is in, but prefers it without, so usually a lot of crunching goes on in morning....i'll try expressing some and see how he gets on, but i'm beginning to think he likes the comfort aspect of breast feeding which he won't get from drinking out cup.

Amandamacg - had a similar problem with my DS getting him off a bottle and drinking from a cup. I tried all sorts and eventually found the answer.

Choose 1 option and stick to it. It took me about 4 weeks to get DS to drink warm milk from a cup, but I stuck to the 1 option. If you try lots of things its really cofusing for them.

Are you giving him cows milk instead of a feed or at other times, too? My DS will happily take cows milk at any time other than boob time. I'm trying to wean him as well, so it makes it very difficult.

If your DS won't drink it at all, he may just not like the taste. You could try soya or rice milk to see if he would accept those as a boob-substitute, but I think there are two separate issues: 1) weaning to something other than the boob and 2) making sure he gets enough calcium. The 2nd one doesn't really sound like a problem with his diet.

I think i'm just going to have to take him off the boob and see how he gets on, if he eventually takes milk....my hormones getting worse and now having effect on ds skin (he's got lots of little spots under skin on face), just like his mum (honestly, there are teenagers who have less spots than me!)...i'll stop feeding him and see if he eventually starts taking cow milk...wish me luck! (its hard as well, cos it will be strange giving up the bond whilst breastfeeding, but he is 1 now, so time to move on)