15 Month Old Wont Drink Milk

C.:

humans do not need to drink cows milk.. not even for calcium!. there is plenty of other ways to get calcium.

let her drink water!. much healthier.

P., RLC, IBCLC
Pres. Lactation Support Group, Inc
www.lactationsupportgroup.com

Hi C.,

My 19 month old won't drink milk either. The only liquid he drinks is water, no juice, no flavored milk, just water. His pediatrician is just fine with it. He gets plenty of calcium from the cheese he devours everyday! Don't worry!

T.

Is she still nursing at all, by any chance? My daughter wouldn't drink milk until I completely weaned her (about 19 months). After that she started guzzling 8 oz. of chocolate milk at a time.

It is not a requirement to drink milk. There are many other options for calcium such as yogurt and cheese and many green vegetables.

Don't worry about it!

Have you tried to warm it up a bit? My 15 month old still will not drink anything colder than room temperature. Not water, juice, milk anything. He is just plain stubborn that way. He won't eat anything that is cold either. It has to be room temp or warmer.

I did the same thing. And guess what?
She was ALLERGIC to milk. Please don't force this.
Calcium is available in a number of other sources.
Strained spinach, cheeses, yogurt many others. Google calcium+sources. "Plenty of yogurt/cheese" sounds absolutely fine to me!

Join the club!! I stopped my son drinking from his bottle at about 14months...hence he stopped drinking milk, utterly refused. I was worried too, but I think it must just be a phase, maybe a long one! He ate lots of other dairy products like yoghurt and cheese, so I'm sure they get enough calcium from that. Keep trying, but not persisting...one day soon hopefully she'll take up the drink again!! Can't help you otherwise...I think we finally broke through with milk in the cereal!! Needless to say, I threw out alot of small milk portions that weren't drunk - broke my heart. I read somewhere that if the child sees the parent drinking milk too, that it helps...ahh good luck!!
Caroline

There are alot of folks out there that argue that humans should not drink cows milk at all. There are plenty of people who can't drink milk because of allergies as well. I would talk to your doctor about getting your childs nutritional needs met without cows milk, rather than forcing it on him or her. Chances are good that if you relax about it and try again in a month or so your child will drink it.

The importance of milk at this age really isn't calcium- it's the fats for brain development. My son couldn't drink milk due to allergies so we just put at least one tablespoon of oil per day into his food to make up for the fat. Usually olive oil in applesauce worked well.

There are many other sources of calcium- including the cheese and yogurt she is already eating. Milk really isn't the perfect food people seem to think it is and as long as you make sure she gets those nutrients another way it should be fine. You may want to ask your doc about a vit D supplement to aid in absorption since milk is fortified with vitamin D.

Also, you mentioned breastmilk- that is way better for your babe than cow's milk so you could just continue that. The World Health Organization recommends breastfeeding for at least two years.

Like another mom said, my DD wouldn't drink cold milk, but if it was warmed up just a bit to about room temp she was fine. After about a month of that she was fine and now sucks down those sippys like crazy! Good luck, and if you are really worried about the calcium, maybe the pediatrician could recommend a vitamin?
E.

Don't worry about it. Sounds like she's getting calcium from plenty of other sources, and you actually need much less calcium than you think; USRDA numbers for many nutrients have been influenced by various interest groups over the years and you'll find that the numbers in the UK, for example are about 2/3rd that of the US.

Start looking at other beverages, such as soy milk. It's available in high and low fat varieties, and has all of the nutrients as cow milk - even the calcium. She my actually be having trouble digesting it, or dislike the taste, which also isn't unusual. We don't drink cow milk in my house and I've found that it often smells spoiled even when it's fresh.

My duaghter was the same way...she ate lots of yo baby yogurts that year. But...eventually, since that is all we offered during meals, she did drink milk. Stick with it. We do not drink juice in our house so the only choice during meals is milk and other than that water.

Try rice milk, that's what my son drinks and all his play group friends prefer HIS to Theirs! I personally wouldn't do soy milk because of the hormones in it.

Have you tried soy milk or rice milk? It's actually better for them than cow's milk and still has the calcium and protein they need. It doens't have a lot of fat though, so you have to make up for it in other food sources.

My daughter was the same way, she would only drink water (as she hated juice too...which is just un-needed sugar & calories). Nothing to worry about though, there are plenty of other ways to get the calcium she needs....like you are doing (through plenty of yogurt & cheese). It wasn't until my daughter was 2 years old (she's now 2 1/2) that she started drinking milk...but it HAS to be chocolate milk (I just buy the sugar free chocolate syrup & put a little of that in there). I have continued to offer her regular milk and she still refuses...but nothing to be concerned about, we don't "need" milk to get the right amounts of calcium & be healthy. I too hate milk (always have since I was a baby) and I'm healthy as can be. So, just keep doing what you are doing and make sure she gets her calcium through other sources.

She is prbably getting a good amount of Calcium if she is eating yogurt and cheese and has a good diet of green vegetables. But my daughter had the same problem and to this day does not drink regular milk, so I use Soy milk it is really good and you can get it calcium fortified. I would not choose a flavor right away go with the original as that has a sweet taste already and if that dosen't work they do have vanilla and chocolate.

Hope this works!!
Kesa