14-Month Old Won't Drink Her Milk!

The rule in my house is that my daughter, who is 3, has to finish her milk before she can have anything else to drink.

I give her a big sippy-cup of it with breakfast and if she doesn't finish it, it goes in the fridge until she is thirsty or it's lunch time. Once the milk is gone, she can have her favorite - apple juice - which I dilute 50% with water.

This is the rule regardless of what other calcium-rich food she is eating that day. I think if you replace the milk with other calcium-rich foods, it will be SO hard getting her to start drinking it again.

Good luck!

I had the same problem with my daughter. Also not wanting to give her sugar and artificial flavors, I added CINNAMON to the milk (and just a tad of sugar the first time or two). She drank the milk when it had cinnamon in it, and after 4 or 5 days I didn't have to add the cinnamon anymore.

Hi S.,

At this age milk isn't necessary as long as she's getting the calcium and vitamin d from other sources - not sure of the specific amounts - check with the ped. A serving of calcium is much smaller than most of us think - I do remember that from this same discussion with my ped, as neither of my kids like or drink milk. For what it's worth, I'm 41 and have never been a milk drinker...my bones and calcium & vitamin d levels are just fine...it's a beverage not a food source after age 1.

Good luck!

N.

Many cultures do not drink cows milk. You're daughter will be fine and you can be mindful of her calcium from other sources! Rice milk and soy milk are the two most sugarful and refined milk substitutes in our grocery stores! Soy also bring up a lot of concerns with phytoestrogens particularily in young girls. I wouldn't sugar-fy a milk with syrup, or powder just to get my kid to drink it. Perhaps try kefir a fermented yogurt drink or goat's milk. Almond milk also comes in an unsweetened form. Calcium comes from lots of places and Vit. D is actually a synthesized hormones and taking it orally provides poor absorbtion.

My ped. says 16-20 oz. of dairy for our babies (13 mo old twins) which can be accumulated through milk, cheese, yogurt, etc. any calcium rich dairy product will do. My son was refusing milk in his sippy (which we have used for water only previously) but would greedily drink it out of a bottle, so I knew the milk wasn't a problem. When we switched from his old sippy to the pop-up straw-cup type, it worked like a charm! Now they both drink water from regular sippy, milk from straw sippy and only one bottle at night. Good luck!!

Our pediatrician said 2-3 cups a day. Of course, our daughter has now been diagnosed with a milk allergy so we are having our own calcium issues with milk substitutes.

If you can get her to eat yogurt, cottage cheese, cheese, cream cheese, etc. daily in addition to the 8 oz of milk then don't worry about it. Plus, when my daughter was first transitioning to milk (before the allergy diagnosis) - we did sippy cups of milk cold turkey quitting the bottles but I did warm the milk slightly for a few days and gradually made it colder and colder to the point where she loved cold milk. Good luck!

Kids do not need milk. They need calcium so if she is not drinking milk no big deal. Just make sure you feed her other foods rich in calcium. My daughter is 18 months old a refuses to drink milk but eats other products rich in calcium and is doing just fine.

My daughter was the same way....I just kept giving it to her and that was all I gave her and eventually she caught on and drank it up! And is a good milk drinker to this day.

Its ok if your child goes a few days without milk- you can get orange juice with calcium- ice cream, cottage cheese etc.. she just needs 4 servings a day. Many kids go through this.

Hi S....little ones can be stubborn, but mommies have to be persistent in our efforts! One thing...they do make a sugar free strawberry syrup you could try. Also, does your daughter have any other signs (rashes, sick easily) just wondering because my nephew was the same way...would not drink his milk and they just recently found out he is allergic to milk (among other things like peanuts, eggs, etc.) but it has been a long road to this and lots of doc visits and finally an allergist...hopefully this is just a case of your daughter asserting her power and personality! Best of luck and try some sugar free alternatives if the sugar content worries you!

Morning! My now 4 yr old son went through a similar thing; he drank water from a sippy cup but wouldn't drink milk from it. We didn't even consider a regular cup because he was around 16 mths when we decided to stop the bottle completely. He actually stopped drinking milk and we were of course worried. All the advice we received -from doctors & family- was that eventually he would go back to milk. He is stubborn but he did go back to milk (in a cup) after a couple of months! It was hard not giving in and giving him a bottle but we stuck it out. Good luck!

Hi S.,

If you are concerned about the sugar in the Strawberry Quik mix, check out the Chocolate Quik, it has less sugar than the Strawberry.

Personally, at 14 months, I would just be serving her plain white milk - I wouldn't get her addicted to milk with sugar/flavor in it.

She will get used to drinking milk out of her sippy cup in a few weeks. Until then, put it back in the fridge and let her finish it later. As the other posters mentioned, if you are worried about calcium, ask your pediatrician and look for it in other sources (such as cheese sticks, orange juice, etc...)

Good luck,
M.

S.,
Is she getting her good fats and calcium in some other form? How much milk would she drink if it was in a bottle? Will she eat avocados and eat yogurt and cheeses? I would try pushing the other foods she may have a slight intolerance to milk/lactose and is self regulating it. Listen to her ques in regards to foods to some degree and give more leafy veggies these will help the calcium intake. Good Luck

My 14 month old is the same way - seems to be a common problem!!! She is really good with a sippy, but much prefers a straw - she loves juice boxes and milk boxes (shelf stable milk in a container like a juice box). Unfortunately I can't find shelf stable whole milk.

She could take or leave the straw sippy cups and doesn't seem to have a style preference when it comes to cups. The one thing that we have done that has really helped with her milk consumption is adding a bit of Yo Baby Yogurt Smoothie. You could also add a bit of regular yogurt (just make sure that it isn't reduced/low fat).

Good luck, and remember to be persistent! My 3 year old went through the same thing and now she loves milk. Eventually, they come around.

I had a hard time getting my youngest son to drink from a sippy cup too. It literally took about 6 - 8 weeks. I tried different cups, and he really liked the one with the straw and then eventually moved to a regular sippy. In the meantime though, I supplemented his diet with a lot of other sources of calcium (and dairy fats), like string cheese, yogurt, cottage cheese, etc. You don't have to worry too much about milk specifically as long as she gets the calcium and fat from other sources. At 12 - 24 mos, I think they are supposed to consume 24 oz of milk a day.

PS -- Having a dedicated "milk" cup might be good too because if she has milk in a cup she normally uses for juice, she could just be refusing because of the unpleasant surprise of what is inside the cup! (think -- drinking milk and expecting juice...not too tasty! LOL)

Good luck!

Denise

I don't know the answer to your question but I do have some ideas that helped me when I had the same problem.
My son would not drink milk from a sippy cup so we bought cups with straws and those were his 'special' milk cups and he drank it then.
A friend of mine used food coloring, to make it special with color but avoid the sugar. She made blue milk and gradually faded it out. That worked for them.
Another option would be to use Ovaltine-chocolate. It would be healthier than Straberry Quick. Good Luck.

My daughter was breastfed and did not like the taste of milk and refused to drink it. We did something similar, but we used Ovaltine because it has so many vitamins and minerals in it. We only used enough to give a bit of flavor to the milk. We would use less and less over weeks and then she was taking the plain milk.

I just took my 2 year old daughter off warm bottle of milk 3 weeks ago and she would NOT drink any milk but every day I would offer her a sippy cup and leave it out and just this week she starting drinking it and LOVES it!! Everyone told me that it would take time and she would drink it again and they were right. In the mean time I would give her Gogourt (the yogurt in a tube for the calcium she was missing...I would freeze them and give to her like that so it would not be so messy)I would not flavor the milk because you would always have to Just ride it out for awhile and she will drink it. I would also give her a cup and a straw and she would love her milk that way. Good Luck.

Try warming the milk up & then putting it in the sippy cup. That worked for both of my kids.

Warm Vanilla Soy Milk in a sippy cup is a nutritious treat my daughter loves - worth a try. Good Luck!