Taken 1 year old off formula/bottles - now she won't drink milk at all!

[Katieh]

I've just taken my 1 year old off the bottle as she was relying on it to sleep day and night. Now she won't drink milk at all out of a beaker - have tried formula, formula and cows mixed and cows milk. Now I am worried she's not drinking enough milk - I know she can make up with dairy products, cheese, yoghurt etc... which she does to some extent - I feel she should drink at least some milk? Anyone else had the same problems/any ideas??

My health visitor, the nct website and Penelope Leach baby book that I read said that there is nothing particularly special about milk after one year. As long as they have lots of other dairy products. I know of some people who've been told they still need a pint a day but I know many people whose children didn't have any milk after a year.

oops maybe it wasn't the nct web site. I'll have a look again as I'm sure I read it somewhere on the net as well

thanks jane313 - that's kind of reassuring... she is the littlest thing and I just worry about her food/fluid intake!

I read this on the babycentre website, written by Penelope Leach

"Furthermore, anything that is in one food will also be in some others so no single food is absolutely necessary. A generation ago milk, for example, was thought essential for children. Now milk is recognised as a food that some children are far better off without; even for the rest, it's only an easy-to-take package of useful nutrients. The valuable proteins, minerals and vitamins that milk contains are in other foods too, especially the many foods made from it. There's no virtue in a cup of milk that isn't in a cup of yoghurt, any more than there's especial virtue in an egg gazing one-eyed off a plate. The milk and egg in the pancake your child enjoys is just as good."

My ds was the same, when I took him off bottles at 2.5, but he came round within a couple of months, and went onto cow's milk in a cup. Which he now loves... is 5 next week.

Just give it a break for a little while, it won't do any harm, esp. is she's having fromage frais etc. and try again in a couple of weeks.

I kept my dd on formula in bottles until she was 2 years old. The formula is supplemented with extra vits and minerals which I thought useful because she is such a poor eater. However if she had been a good eater I wouldn't have bothered.....

At 2 years old she made a seamless transition to cows milk - however she only has milk as a drink at night and then still in a bottle - uggh horror! So if you are really concerned then what the hell - switch back to bottles. The advice is, as you know, to phase out reliance on bottles but I can't see the harm. I can't imagine that one nocturnal bottle will give my dd ongoing dentistry issues!

However if your dd is a good eater and eats plenty of cheese, fromage frais etc then well done on banning the bottles and stick with it.

handmecarefully, my dd1 used to still drink out of a bottle at nightime at 2... Now she still has milk but in a beaker, however, when dd2 came along and was drinking milk in a bottle, she decided she would like to do the same - how can you say no!!
btw, since not drinking so much milk dd2 has suddenly become an amazing eater, just in the last few days... she was obviously full of formula milk and hence refusing/picking at food!

Can you use a spout on a bottle base rather than a straight beaker. Neither of mine took to milk out of a beaker at a year in fact dd is 3 and only just switching from spout (Avent) to open cup for milk (other drinks have been fine for ages) but she drinks very little as a result. It is very much a ritual of asking for it whether it gets drunk or not. Interestingly when we have been away and she has only had it at breakfast out of a glass she hasn't really bothered. Can you offer her some at a different time of day to previously, say as a mid morning snack to break the association with sleep routines.