Baby won't drink milk. Help.

[bamboostalks]

Just weaned 13 month old off the breast(easier than I thought..by going cold turkey). She has never had a bottle and drinks water from the cup but will not drink normal milk. I don't think she likes the taste. Is there anything I can do as I am really worried about her calcium intake.I give her cheese and yogurt which she enjoys but don't think that this can be enough to compensate. Any advice gratefully received. TIA.

Hello bamboo

When my ds was 12 months old, I started to try to give him milk as a drink. He'd only been breastfed and had water up until then, but had milk on cereals, in porridge etc. I tried various different types, temperatures, beakers cups, I even tried rice milk with calcium, as it's quite sweet and light, rather like breastmilk, but everything was to no avail. I tried for a couple of months and then gave up as he just wasn't interested.

He self-weaned from bf at 18months, and at that point, I spoke to the HV and she said it wasn't a problem if he didn't drink milk, as long as he had calcium from other sources, he'd be fine. He liked yogurt, cheese, custard etc, so that was good. She also suggested sardines and broccoli as non-dairy calcium sources - and he loves broccoli! He is 7 now and in great health, still doesn't drink milk. I understand many different cultures in the world do not drink milk after weaning with no ill effects.

I'm not sure if this advice would apply to a younger baby though - you may want to check with your HV.

HTH

Thank you, she does have milk with cereal in the morning. I wonder what if anyone knows recommended daily amounts and now much is in certain amounts of other foods. I did try sardines but she consistently rejects them. Loves brocoli though so will focus on that.

Ds self weaned around his first birthday and just gave me a dirty look if I tried to give him a cup of milk!

I just made sure he had plenty of cacium, porridge at breakfast, cheese on toast, yoghurts.......He is 14 months now and just starting to drink a bit of milk in the evenings.

My son seems to have recently self-weaned from breastfeeding after he had a bout of chickenpox and cut one of his top front teeth. I have been expressing once a day in the hope that he will take a drink in the evening but so far he just looks away when I offer him the breast.
He has a dairy intolerance so I have been giving him goats milk on his cereal and mixed in with his food. He is able to eat goats cheese and goats yoghurt. I worry about his calcium intake.
I had no idea that broccoli had such a high calcium content so will feed him more of that as he does like it. He will drink water from a cup and sips small amounts of goats milk occasionally from a cup. I worry about his fluid intake that he is not taking enough.
Any advice is very welcome
Rachelle