Full fat cow's Milk - how much do you give your child?

[LizziePizzie]

I just told a friend my 18 month old DD gets over 1200 ml of full fat cow's milk in 4 bottles a day and she thought that was a lot. Is it?

My DD doesn't have the biggest of appitites so I am wondering if she is filling up on the milk and not eating. I always feed her about 2 hours after the bottles so I assumed she would be hungry then.

At 16 months mine has milk in a straw cup and breastfeeds at night, so it's hard to judge, but he'll down about 2 and a bit cups of cows milk a day (his only drink), so I suppose about 500ml, plus 2-4 bm feeds.

As an adult I'd struggle to drink more than a pint of milk (plus tea) a day, so over a litre at 18 months feels to me as though she might be substituting.

My 17m old has about 4oz on waking, and the same mid-morning and mid-afternoon

He has cereal with milk

And a bedtime bf

That is quite a lot. My 17 month DD has been having only 2 cups of milk a day since 1yo old which works out at about 400 ml max, sometimes a lot less because she doesn't always drink it all.
Try giving her milk for breakfast and before bed only and see if her apetite improves.

That does sound like quite a lot. Is that 4 full bottles? I would have thought most 18 month olds would have one, perhaps two bottles of milk in a day. One at bedtime and maybe one in the morning. I think 2 hours isn't that long for an 18 month old to be digesting a full bottle of milk and still be hungry, their appetites are pretty similar to adults at that age in that they can go between meals, although most toddlers do best with a small snack in the morning and afternoon.

I would try spreading it out a bit, don't cut it all in one go. DS is 3 and his food routine hasn't changed much since 18 months, he has:

Breakfast 8/9ish
Snack 11ish
Lunch 12/1ish
Snack 3ish
Dinner just before 5
Milk at bedtime 7ish

Maybe to spread it out a bit you could keep the feeds at bedtime and in the morning, but for the two during the day only give her half a bottle, perhaps with some fruit or something as a snack, to get her used to the idea of snacking, and slowly phase the milk out this way.

And I would give the snacktime milk in a cup as well - keep the bedtime bottle if you want to for comfort, but probably best to wean off bottles during the day if possible.

p.s. are you giving her other drinks through out the day? My DD has a cup of water or weak juice with every meal and I offer her more drinks at mid morning and mid-afternoon.

Interesting... I give her 300ml at 8am, 12, 4pm and again 8pm. Sometimes if the day gets away with me, she misses her 4pm milk, so I might cut that one out completely. Should I also cut her bottles to say 250ml? Then 200ml?

Dd is eighteen months and has some milk before bed but that's all. She only has about one once then too. She has never liked her milk so we make up for it with dairy rich foods.

We got rid of her bottle when she turned one. I would offer your dd milk after her breakfast and before bed, but you know her best. Also agree day time should be in a cup

She does drink water out of a bottle (not baby bottle, a sistema bottle) or a cup.

I would aim to eventually cut it right back to around 120ml for the daytime ones and then phase those out completely. 300ml is a lot.

If the 4pm one is easy to cut out then do that now, but try to offer a small snack, something not too filling like fruit or cucumber, peppers, carrot sticks etc. Just don't cut it out all at once as she will have to get slowly into the habit of eating more and you don't want it to turn into a big stressful battle. She will be fine, though, DS barely ate until 22 months (despite me offering all these snacks etc) and he's absolutely fine.

When does she eat currently?

Not a lot - on Christmas day a pile of smoked salmon and 3 prawns! Yesterday a bowl of my home made pasta sauce, which is basically onions, tin toms and other chopped up veg, usually a packet of Organix snaks, breadsticks, fruit pouch. It does vary day to day.

I have aseperate battle with my Mum who is putting so much stress and aniety on my DD and me with regards to her appitite and diet - but that is another thread!

Why is it a problem to drink a lot of milk though?

DS is 2 years 4 months and prefers to get quite a lot of his calories from milk. I offer him food first and he will eat a small meal plus snacks of fruit and vegetables but then ask for milk. He is 'substituting', but I would like to know if this is a problem. He's tall, strong and healthy.

Is he breastfed mumble or is it cow's milk? If breastfed then I wouldn't see a problem in it as it contains a lot of protein, high number of easily absorbed vitamins etc and is a natural part of a young child's diet, plus it sounds like he is eating a fair amount anyway. Cow's milk is fine as part of a balanced diet but it shouldn't be forming the bulk of their nutrition, it is designed for baby cows and doesn't have enough nutrients etc to solely support a toddler. And the toddler formulas etc that you can buy are very sweet and so can cause problems with too much sugar.

OP I would not worry too much (though try to avoid your mum's stress if you can!) but try to encourage your DD to fill up more on food than milk, which is why I was thinking a slow approach might work better.

Thank you for all your advice - I will drop the 4pm feed and make the other drinks smaller and smaller over time.

Sounds like a good plan :) hope it works!

Thanks Bertie that's what I thought.

Ds2 sounded the same as yours at that age. Gradually weaned himself off so much milk and started to eat more.

It stressed me out quite a bit, especially after spending time preparing healthy, balanced meals that were mostly rejected - but was happy that he should have good strong bones!

You've had lots of good advice. A friend told me that hers was the same and some children just take longer to get into food which made me feel loads better.

At 18 mo? Maybe 600ml

At 3 maybe 300.

1200 is quite a lot but fine.

My 2 dds didn't have any cows milk at that age. Dd3, 16m still breastfeeds and will only have cows milk on cereals.
Dd2, 3y prefers favoured milk but can easily go a few days without drinking cows milk.

They don't know need it anyway.
1200mls sounds a lot

I agree with debs At 1 yr old I cured DS's asthma when I stopped giving him cow' s milk and he grew happy and healthy without ANY dairy .Now he's adult and drinking milk he's riddled with allergies!!!

Ds2 is 18 months and has milk in the morning and milk at night. The rest of the day he eats as normal and drinks water in a cup.
He hadn't had milk through the day for months now and he eats anything so has a good varied diet.
Tbh I couldn't imagine him being hungry 2 hours after a full bottle. It does sound like she is filling up on milk.

Haven't read the thread so sorry if I'm repeating. Thought you might like this link and yes it does sound like a lot to me.

Well after a week I am happy to report we are down to about 700mls in 3 bottles and out appitite has picked up. She however has started asking for her milk which is sweet and heartbreaking! She hasn't asked for milk with I wouldn't have given her anyway (morning, lunchtime & evening) so that is a good thing.

JiltedJohnsJulie - thanks for the link - very useful.