pint a day?

[Evita]

HI, my daughter's 13 months and I think is supposed to have between 16-22 oz milk a day. But she regularly only has around 10-12. She doesn't eat much at all, doesn't like things like yoghurts or cheese but does have some meat and the odd soya dessert. What do you think is likely to go wrong with her if she continually misses the correct milk mark?

Is this an impossible question? Any answers / suggestions really gratefully received ...

Evita, I hope you get some responses soon. I am also interested in any replies you get as my DS2 (17 months) gave up b/feeding last month and now doesn't drink any milk (doesn't like it). He has yoghurt, milk with his Weatabix and likes food with cheese sauce but I suspect he falls short of the milk mark many days too.

Hi Demented. My problems also started when my daughter cut out her breast feeds. It also coincided with us both being ill, so a lull in my milk production which never picked up. I sometimes feel it was so easy when she was breast fed, at least I KNEW she'd drink something nutritious!

I think the milk provides fat and calcium, both of which can be obtained from other sources, but milk is the most convenient.

I have 4 children and only one of them liked cow's milk. When I stopped B/F I just made sure that they had calcium from yogurt, cheese, petit filous etc. They drank juice with meals. There is calcium in white bread as well. I really do not believe that babies 'need' to have a pint of milk to drink as such. I used milk in cereal such as weetabix and redibrek and custard etc. Don't worry about it Evita, you could speak to a dietician who could advise you of the best foods for her without the need for drinking 1 pint of milk.

Evita I think I have replied to you on another website but here goes again.

From about the age of 12 months dd only ever had about 10oz of milk per day. A cup in the morning and one in the evening. She is now 2 and is a healthy happy child who eats everything.

My sil on the other hand got all hung up on this pint a day thing becasue of her HV and tried to force the stuff down her dd. As a consequence she didn't eat much and they are having all sorts of stress over it.

If she wants more give it to her if she doesn't then fine.

Hi Julie, don't think I've met you elsewhere! Maybe someone with the same name? In your case, was your daughter also getting milk type protein / calcium from other sources? My worry is that my daughter doesn't really eat anything in the way of dairy stuff and so I can't top her up that way. But thanks so much for your reassurance.

Evita - I've heard such a variety of recommendations on how much milk babies of this age should get that I've come to the conclusion that no-one really knows. Some people say a pint, some say 2/3 pint (ca 10 oz) and others have come up with other figures! So 10-12 is well within the recommendations I've come across, and I would say that even less than this is fine. As others have said there are lots of ways of getting the goodness of milk. As long as your dd is healthy and happy there's no reason to worry.

Thanks Pidge. Unfortunately my daughter isn't that keen on eating other dairy products. If it's not a potato waffle she'd not interested. Sigh ... but I'm trying to stay chilled out about it and somehow trust her body knows what she needs.

Just looking on a website - it says 270mg calcium per day, some alternatives that aren't dairy are: soft serve frozen yoghurt 1/2 cup = 100mg
1 med portion of orange = 55mg,
1 cup calcium enriched fruit juice = 300mg.

I'm definately not a dietician but what about looking into something like spirulina which you can make smoothies with juice, it has heaps of vitamins (incl calcium) and is supposedly safe for all.
Good luck

I read that a min of 350ml = 11.5 oz is required for 12 month plus babies so you're doing OK.

Thanks everyone.