What should you do if your 12 month old won't drink cows milk??

[abitwobbly]

Do they 'need' milk??? I don't think cows milk tastes as sweet as when I give follow on he woofs it back is seconds! I have tried a week of cold turkey with cows milk only but he just pushes it away.

Is water and food enough or should I give formula too?? He isn't a massive cheese and yogart fan either!

They need about 350ml of milk a day - could be cow's milk, formula or dairy in food.

Have you tried mixing formula and cow's milk and then reducing the amount of formula gradually?

Good idea! I'll give that a go. 350ml of milk is no far off how much he would have in his breakfast.....

My DS would barely touch milk when he turned one and I stopped giving him formula (except in cereal or porridge). I kept offering him a cup of milk at least once a day and eventually he started drinking it. He's 2.8 now and drinks gallons of the stuff! I can't remember how long it was before he started drinking it - definitely quite a bit longer than a week though.

Dairy does include yoghurts and cheese, so don't panic if he has these too. I hate follow on milk. Made by manufacturers so they can gather the market where breastfeeding may have finished, and it's far sweeter than cows' milk.

I'd say as long as he has a balanced diet and gets dairy from other sources, not to stress about it too much - keep offering though - he may grow to like it eventually. I'm in the same situation, my 12mo DS won't go near it either!

DD wouldn't drink cows milk or formula. From 12 months I just made just she had a balanced diet and diary from other sources (yoghurt, cheese, milky puddings).

Thanks ladies, thats really helpful xx

My DD was like that. Totally refused to drink it.

It took a while but we very gradually changed the mix of what she was having.

eg week 1 6oz formula and 1oz of cows milk in each bottle. week 3 5oz formula and 2oz of cows milk.

My GP friend said that if you can't get your baby to drink cows milk then you should keep on with formula until 18 months and then ok for them not to have milk as a drink (as long long as they have milk in their food and a balanced diet etc)

I was weaned onto Goats Milk - it's far easier to digest and unlike my mother who had to get a goat and milk it herself, you can get it in the supermarket nowadays!

There is a school of thought that cows milk is not really all that good for us humans anyway look at this
If you really must give cows milk then at least give your DS organic - that way he won't be inadvertedly taking in all the antibiotics and pesticides that cows are teeming with.
I'm not a total hippy tree hugger, I love my cheese -devoured the better part of a really mouldy round of vacherin on sunday - but I did try and restrict my DS's intake of dairy until his immune system was more developed. The nutrients in it are not as readily digested and beneficial as we might be led to believe - vegetables are a far better source IMO.