Almost 1 yr old refusing milk

[May9322]

Hi all…. FTM worried sick here.

My daughter is one this week, still having formula but eats very well. She’s not much of a breakfast person like me and her dad but she has a big lunch and tea and lots of fruit for snacks.

last Friday she started refusing her milk, she’s not so much as had an oz since Friday morning when she had an 8oz bottle. for context, no temp, she’s just cut 3 teeth but they’re through the gum, and Saturday she had sickness and diarrhoea but not badly, one episode of each.

shes been a bit more wingey than usual but otherwise her smiley playful self, and obviously sleeping a bit more as clearly she had bit of a tummy bug.

so 48hrs since symptoms came and went, she literally purple cries if you go near her with the bottle. We aren’t even offering it, just bringing it near! So we’re SO worried. It’s so hot right now so I’m panicking like mad and the calcium loss at such a young age.

she is still eating fine, so we’ve watered down meals and fed her more fruit to help her hydration along with purées for more water. She is sipping her water bottle and having reasonable wet nappies.

we’ve been here before as soon as she’s ill she refuses milk, we’ve taken her to doctors before and it’s always the same outcome - ride it out. Plus we are getting hydration in somehow!

am I over worrying?! Will she just take it when shes ready?

Have you tried in a cup/sippy cup/water bottle rather than a 'baby' bottle?

Could you give her porridge or similar for lunch/snack if she's not a big breakfast fan? Cheese and yoghurt for calcium too.

She might have just associated the bottle with being sick bless her, I would try a different cup. Might also be the heat if her milk is warm? I wouldn't like a warm drink when it's hot.

Like others have said, I'd ditch the bottle and the formula. You're supposed to at 12 months anyway so she seems to have done it for you!

She only needs 300 of full fat cow's milk a day so try mixing some with breakfast cereal, ready brek is fortified with calcium and adding berries will give more water and giving her some milk in a cup.

Make sure you offer a daily vitamin and give her some calcium rich foods from this list.

Don't forget too that milk provides fat and protein as well as calcium so make sure you give her plenty of protein and some good fats like olive oil and oily fish. Girls can have oily fish twice a week, boys three times.

My eldest pretty much stopped drinking any milk before she was one so I used to give her a petit filou after every meal in an attempt to get calcium into her.

Sorry for delayed reply, I came down with the sickness bug she had and I’ve been so unwell. Now I know why she’s been such a misery, I’ve been awful, had to have time off work and I WFH so I usually battle through flu etc but no chance with this!

I didn’t mention she’s got severe CMPA. Hence I’m more worried as vegan cheeses and yoghurts aren’t nutritionally great at this age. We’ve not started the milk ladder yet because of how bad her symptoms were (blood in stool) so she’s on medicated formula, and we will transition her to soya milk shortly. (All advised by the nutritionist she is under)

I tried the open cup as suggested and she reacted the same…I panicked and took her to the doctor. They says she’s got a really bad tummy bug and still isn’t feeling great, coupled with this heat bless her. He told me not to worry about the no milk as she’s eating, and even though she’s low on calcium in her diet because she’s not getting the formula at the mo he said not to worry unless it’s weeks of it. He told me to expect her not to be right until next week with how bad her tummy sounded! He felt it and listened to it and said it’s just gurgling and feels full of gas (Despite no more sickness or diarrhoea) so I suppose it’s just a ride it out scenario and hopefully when the weather cools this weekend we will have our happy ray of sunshine back!

Also incase anyone comes across this thread… he suggested I stop offering milk so often, incase she develops an aversion. So just offer morning and bedtime which was her norm and no more.