DS (14m) won't drink any milk

[MrsMelanieHamilton]

My DS has been exclusively breastfed from birth, and has always been a bottle refuser. He is now 14 months old and I am absolutely ready to stop breastfeeding, we are down to 1 feed a day and he is fully night weaned. He eats plenty of food during the day and has a great appetite, although he has recently become a very fussy eater. It’s been a lovely journey with him, but I’m done with breastfeeding now.

However, he absolutely will not drink cows milk. I’ve tried it warm, cold, with some chocolate powder or honey added to it, he won’t take it in any form. He will happily eat yoghurts, cheese, and foods cooked with milk such as cereal, but he won’t drink it. I’ve tried one milk alternative (oat milk) with the same effect, I haven’t tried any others yet. It’s not a cup issue as he’ll happily drink water and juice from a few different types of sippy cup, but as soon as he realises it’s milk in the cup it’s abandoned and he won’t drink any more.

I’m worried he’s not getting enough calcium. From what I see from friends’ babies of a similar age, they are putting away a few cups or bottles of milk a day! Will it be really detrimental to my DS if he doesn’t drink milk? Can I feed him up on dairy in other ways instead (yoghurt and porridge) to make sure he’s getting enough? Even babies I know of who are on non-dairy diets (either due to allergies or veganism) will drink plant based milks from bottles or cups. I’m worried my DS will not get enough calcium. I’m considering that when the time comes, I’ll just replace his one breastfeed a day with a yoghurt or something.

Has anybody else experienced this, how did you get through it?

I think its equivalent of 350mls of milk or a couple of portions of dairy to get sufficient calcium at that age. Milk in cereal alongside yogurt, cheese, etc should ensure he gets the necessary nutrients

From nhs:
Try to give your child at least 350ml (12oz) of milk a day, or 2 servings of foods made from milk, such as cheese, yoghurt or fromage frais

Ds2 had severe reflux and was on a prescription formula that we finally stopped at 14 months.

He wouldn't drink cow's milk or eat cereal with it on, instead he would eat porridge so that was some calcium but he would eat yoghurts and cheese.

Every day I made sure that he was getting the recommended amount of calcium in his diet but without milk. He finally drank milk at 3 when he started pre-school and finally had cereal with milk when he was 4. I filmed it because he had never had that before.

Have you tried other milks? Oat? Almond? or a follow on milk?

Just give it to him in butter, cheese, yogurts etc. If he doesn't like it, he doesn't like it, and you can't force him to drink it. My mother tells me I refused to drink cow's milk from when I was a toddler, and I never have liked it or drunk it. I'm old enough to have had school milk, and can remember spending nearly all of every break time trying to force the disgusting stuff down.

350mls is much less than I was told! I was told they had to have over a pint of dairy a day, which is why I was panicking. He easily gets 350mls a day so that’s a massive relief!

It's a pint up to 1 year and then 350mls from 1 year

He needs 350mg of calcium a day. Some breads, the 50/50 kind are forfeited and Bear alpha bites are high in calcium. He should also be having a general multivitamin which contains calcium.

The only vitamins recommended for kids are A,C and D. There is no specific requirement to supplement calcium

My kids don't like milk and have never drunk it. Don't worry your kid will be fine.

Sounds like he's getting enough dairy/calcium from other things - I worried the same because my dd always refused to drink cow's milk until about a month ago maybe - she was 2 in November. She's not keen on cheese either but eats yoghurt and loves cereal with (cow's) milk. Now she will happily drink a cup of milk as an alternative to the more usual water or watered-down juice with meals. Mind you, I still haven't been completely able to wean her from her beloved bedtime 'boobies' just yet so you're way ahead of me on that score!

My dd1 was like this. I became pg with dd2 and gave up the bfeeding anyway. It didn’t take long for her to start to accept cows milk. I decided not to worry about the short period where she potentially wasn’t getting all she was meant to and made sure she had cheese/ yoghurt etc.

That should have read vitamin D. Sorry not sure what happened there! Also have a look for different sources of iodine.

I have always been a milk hater and so are both my children. We have goats cheddar but neither will take goat milk.
DS who is 12 is 5’9” so I don’t think it’s done his bones to much harm! Green leafy veg is rich in calcium so we have always pushed that.

DD went off goats cheese about 3 years ago and I was worried about iodine, so I got her a supplement.

I wonder if we only know part of the picture with milk and calcium though, because the Japanese don’t eat dairy and they have much lower rates of osteoporosis than we do in the West.

2 of mine were always milk refusers.
I used to make sure they got lots of calcium via chees, and yogs and custard etc.
They've all grown to adulthood without any issues
In fact ds now loves a pint of milk to just drink on a regular basis !