Which do you think is worse, absolutely no milk or milk with a spoonful of hot chocolate?

[User310]

Hi,

I have been feeling very guilty the last few nights because I have added a tea spoon of hot chocolate to my 20 month old toddlers milk.

He had a virus not too long ago which caused him to drink and eat very little. This lasted around 6 days and when I tried to reintroduce a glass of milk at bedtime (or anytime for that matter) he refused. I usually add vitamins to his milk as he won’t take it any other way. After trying and failing to give him vitamins in his juice I reluctantly made a cup of hot milk with some hot chocolate in so I could give him his vitamins and because I was worried he wasn’t going to get enough calcium etc. Obviously the inevitable has happened and he now expects a hot chocolate every night!

My question is, would you rather give your toddler a hot chocolate made with whole milk and vitamins before bed or just forget the milk and vitamins all together?

Thanks in advance, guilty mum.

I wouldn't worry about it at all, especially as he's just been ill. I'd keep an eye on the amount of sugar overall, and you can always phase it out if you think he's having too much. Chewy vitamins are basically sweets by the way, or worse, full of artificial sweetener, so I wouldn't switch to them.

You could try cocoa powder,which does not have sugar.

Nobody's saying children shouldn't have milk before bed, just that it's not an essential if OP would rather cut it out.

If he's getting diary and calcium then I wouldn't give him caffeine like this no. It's a drug.

I used to give mine chocolate ovaltine before bed from about 18 months old.

Why does he need milk? No it's not the end of the world but I wouldn't want to get in the habit of giving my toddler sugar every day. I'd look into some alternative vitamin options - couldn't you just mix the liquid drops into some of his food?

Isn't it the lactose in the milk that's the long-term problem with giving milk immediately before bedtime? Of course the hot chocolate powder will contain more sugar on top. I think it's recommended to wait a good while afterwards to brush teeth as the sugar in the milk weakens the enamel.

I don't think it's a massive issue but it's not a habit I'd particularly want to get into either, I'd try reducing the amount of chocolate first and if that doesn't work just drop the bedtime milk (or keep offering a small amount to reduce waste but you never know he might go back to it).

My dd picks and chooses when she will drink milk since we dropped the bottle, she will finally take it from a cup now but doesn't always bother. She has milk on cereal, yoghurt, cheese etc so I don't worry about it. You can put the vitamin drops in porridge, yoghurt, mix into pancake mix, even on top of fruit.

When my youngest was anaemia (aged 4), my lovely doctor told me to give him chocolate Ovaltine because it's full of iron.

I think one spoonful of hot chocolate into milk with vitamins is FINE.

It was the only way I managed to wean mine off the breast at 2.5y, a level teaspoon of hot choc powder in the warmed cows milk. You don't need to add anything like as much as the package says to add a chocolaty sweetness to convince a toddler that they're having a treat.

I think I'd rather no milk if he's eating dairy in the day.

Nothing wrong with the odd treat but jaffa cakes, quavers and hot chocolate on a daily basis at 1 years old is a bit much.

I'd stop the hot chocolate to break the habit and try to reintroduce milk in a couple of weeks.

Always clean his teeth afterwards and perhaps try to reduce the amount of hot chocolate powder (try 3/4 tsp for a bit and then slowly reduce to 1/2 tsp). But it could be worse so don't stress to much!

@WTF475878237NC

If he's getting diary and calcium then I wouldn't give him caffeine like this no. It's a drug.

Who said anything about caffeine?!