gone off lunch-time milk

[jodie1984]

hi, ds is 9mths and has been having his morning and lunchtime milk from a beaker for about 2wks now. however the last 3 days he has not been interested in milk at all, not even out of his bottle. ive offered him juice afterhefuses the milk which he happily drinks about 3-4oz of. should i also offer some cheese or yoghurt? he only drinks 5oz in the morning with about 3oz on cereal and 6oz at bed time. i know this is not enough but he has never drank the 'required' amount.

sorry forgot to say he only refuses his 3.30pm milk.

anybody??

I think they should have about 18/20 ounces of milk per day at this age but this can include milk with cereal, milk in foods, etc. Dairy products such as yoghurt, cheese, etc will also count. At this age my dd had cut down to 2 bottles a day (morning and night) so I made up the difference with yoghurt, cheese sauces, etc. As long as you give other sources of the calcium, etc then your lo doesnt have to take so much as a drink (which he clearly isnt so interested in now).

Both my two started refusing their afternoon milk (dd at about 10mths, ds at about 13mths) and I think it was just when they were able to eat more at lunchtime and didn't need the extra 'food' in the afternoon.

The advice on how much milk they should get seems to vary a lot - if he's getting a good variety of other foods and has a healthy appetite for them, then I wouldn't worry too much. Maybe just go with what he wants for a month and keep an eye on his weight? Do you have a good HV who could give you some info?

thank you very much for your advice, i feel a lot more relaxed now. my HV is ok on some matters, when we went for ds's 6-9mth check at 8mths she said he only needed one bottle of formula a day just for the iron from 6mths or half in the morning and half at night. at the time ds was drinking all his milk so i did not go into it further but i wasnt sure myself.