13 month old refuses cows milk.

[PenguinLover24]

My baby is 13 months and refuses cows milk. For the last month I've tried introducing it in every type of cup you can buy 🤣 adding it to her formula gradually or handing her it straight and she tastes it and refuses to drink anymore. She loves taking her water out of her cup and I got the same one for the cows milk and she won't drink it. She eats three meals a day and loves yoghurt and cheese so she is getting a good amount of calcium but she still wants milk in the morning and at night but she wants formula and not cows milk. What do we do in this situation? She also refuses to take her formula out of any other bottle / cup than a bottle bottle, even if I change the teat to a sippy cup teat she refuses to drink it.

Could you try goat's milk? Several members of my family (including me and DS) can't tolerate milk although I'm fine with cheese. Some people can't digest it properly. I would stop trying with her for now.

She doesn’t need to drink any milk. Just make sure she is getting enough calcium through other sources - yoghurt, cheese, bread, cereal etc

I just binned the bottles and if he didn't drink out of anything else then he didn't drink it 🤦🏻‍♀️
Does she still have warm formula? Milk is pretty cold could be she needs it warmed up a touch ? Maybe try sweetening it a little with a drop of honey or tiny amount of sugar and then gradually decrease this until its just milk. Offer 1 type of cup you know she'll drink out of and that's it. Some kids generally don't like milk though, but as long as she has a balanced diet I wouldn't worry. However I would definitely remove the bottle regardless, so bad for their teeth. Once I removed the bottle my DS slept through and started eating more during the day and drank cows milk from a cup x

Sorry I didn’t read that properly. Personally I’d just cut her off. Keep offering milk in a cup and one day she might drink it. Easier to cut it off now than later

If your baby likes cheese and yoghurt etc then don't worry about it. There are plenty of ways of getting calcium that don't involve drinking glasses of milk. It's present in lots of foods that are not even dairy.

At that age if they like other sources of dairy ie cheese, greek yoghurt, etc then you probably don't need to worry about giving them any cows milk in a cup. My eldest only drank from the source (ie me) until 18 months, completely refused any milk in cups but loved other dairy sources as above. Health visitor told me that was absolutely fine :) You can always try other types of milk too like oat or almond but not essential.

You can try almond milk? Or oat or soya.
And at 13 months I honestly wouldn't stress about bottles, your baby won't go to college using them. I don't understand all the stress of pushing for it so soon, it's my unpopular opinion to give babies time to grow and develop. In the fast paced world we forgot to let them be their age, and just be with some things. Let her use the bottle, bottle, at 13 months your baby is still a little person.

I refused cows milk - never liked it. Mum forced me to gave a hot chocolate every morning as I didn't eat much cheese. When I started to eat cheese and yogurts regularly I was let off the drinking chocolate and I still avoid milky drinks.

My daughter loves cows milk but would never take a bottle, even of breast milk.

For those saying just to scrap the milk all together because she's getting enough calcium, I understand she's getting enough but she wants her milk. This morning for example she was whining for it after a hearty breakfast. I put cows milk in her cup - refused, I put formula in her cup - refused, I put cows milk in a bottle - refused, I put her formula in her bottle with the cups teat - refused but she was getting frustrated not getting it so it's not as if she doesn't want it because as soon as I put her 6-18 month teat on the bottle she drank it straight away. She never had any issues going from stage 1 to stage 2 or the 0-6 teat to the 6-18 month teat. I even tried toddler milk of the same brand and she won't drink that either! I've not tried goats milk and I don't want to try almond as both my husband and I are allergic. Xx

Have you tried gradually adding cows milk to the formula? So make up a little less formula that you normally would then top it up with a very small amount of cows milk.

Yes we've tried this too 😞

My daughter was on formula until 2 under dietitian and paediatrician advice. She didn't accept any drink at all except formula until about 15 months and was about 18 months when she accepted oat milk, at 20 months we were able to start transitioning her from formula to pay milk.
She didn't eat a meal until 13 months and was very slow to wean so formula was her main source of nutrition for longer than most.
I'd keep with the formula for now and every few weeks test her on the cows milk

Hmm that sounds really tricky. We are currently weaning our 1 year old off bottles/formula and have been literally replacing at a time of whole milk into her formula for morning and evening feed. We cold turkeyed the bottle and offered her a free flow sippy cup for her milk which she was a bit annoyed by at first but we just refused to budge and now she will take her milk out if it (less than when she used bottles in fairness but this is no bad thing). I would say keep offering the cup and try and distract her when she starts complaining. I reckon if you persist after a few tough days she will forget about the bottle!

Thank you for your reply, I know it's different circumstances but it's been nice to hear that being on formula longer isn't the worst thing in the world! I was panicking no one ever kept going with it 😭🤣

Thank you for your reply! Can I ask what cup you used? Not sure if hers is free flow or not!

My daughter drank breastmilk until she was 3. She would have continued longer, but I was ready to be done.

Is formula really so different? Why the rush? Why can’t she just keep drinking formula for now? If she isn’t ready for the transition, try again later.

Honestly, just stop buying formula. A few days of asking for it and only being offered cows milk in a cup she’ll either stop asking for anything else or decide she doesn’t want any milk.
My DD refused milk from her Tum Tum cup despite drinking water from it fine. Eventually I ditched the bottles about 13 months and she magically accepted it. I know it can feel harsh but sometimes cold turkey is the best approach rather than prolonging things and upsetting them more with inconsistency. I took the same approach with dummies and it was the best thing we did- I just wish we’d done it sooner in the end.

Definitely not almond if you allergic.
I would just leave the teat your DC likes on the bottle, bottle as you call it. And give your DC formula, wait tell your DC is older and grows out of it.

It's only because what "we are told" to do if you like, from the NHS website, her health visitor etc.

DD was a bit older than yours, maybe closer to 18 months (but we had been moving house and I didn’t want to unsettle her by taking away comfort things). I spoke to a health visitor who said to just cut her off. I bought a transition bottle thing and initially told her if she wanted her milk, she could have it from the sippy bottle, or she could have water from her normal bottle. She rejected the sippy bottle, so I then stopped offering it entirely and just offered water. After maybe 3 days she didn’t even ask for the bottle - it was such a relief!

She would never drink cow’s milk until one day she piped up that she wanted some, and now she asks for a cup of nearly every day after nursery 🤷🏻‍♀️.

Other pediatricians allow it for longer, the recommendation is 12 months. But weeding tell 15 is normal. And honestly these transitions are processes. Some children go faster then others. At 13 months your DC is young, getting other sources in. Just have diet healthy and keep weight healthy.

There is plenty of calcium in vegetables, green leafy veg, and meat. Cow’s milk is for baby cows. She doesn’t need it. She’s having it in yoghurt and cheese form anyway.

I'd keep on giving her the formula. My eldest wouldn't take cows milk so I gave her formula until she was over 2. I never changed to toddler formula because baby formula is more regulated. Although, I did get told of by the dentist who said it was bad for her teeth. Realistically, load of kids have a dummy and she was only having one bottle a night time.

@PenguinLover24 we use the Nuk Kiddy Cup (it kind of looks like a bottle but has a hard spout). I agree with other posters who say cold turkey for the bottle is easiest, I think if you just keep offering the cup instead it should stick!