2 1/2 Yr Old Son Will Only Drink Choc Milk, Not Regular Milk

It's tough once he's tasted the difference... who wouldn't want chocolate? I would do one of two things. One - tell him there is no more cholocate milk and give him regular and only offer reg milk or water (not even juice) until he drinks regular. He'll have fits etc, but don't give in. OR tell him he can only have chocolate milk after he drinks regular -but I think this will still be a battle... good luck

I drank chocolate milk until I was in college, and still have a bottle of it in my frig for special occassions. My teeth didn't fall out and as far as I can tell, it hasn't had any negative impact on my life. (tee hee)

I wouldn't worry about it.

a lot of people will tell you different but sugar has no link to hyperactivity for kids. There is nothing wrong with chocolate milk. in fact they say chocolate milk is the perfect workout snack for adults...so with all that running around a 2yr old does how could it be bad. if you are still worried about the sugar buy. mmmm milk mix in chocolate malt. it mixes great and is sugar free

Your son wouldn't know what chocolate milk tasted like unless you introduced it? Why did you start buying it? Teach him the understanding of what a treat is..... ice cream, candy, chocolate milk are for rare occasions. My 2 year old son eats cereal milk and a spoon, he loves it. Try cereal every day. And there is absolutely no need for whole milk at 2. Buy 1%, and he wants something to drink, he will eventually drink it.

it sounds like the tail is wagging the dog here :) he is TWO!!!!!!!!!! YOU are the parent, you buy the groceries, stop buying the choc milk - you are making this much more difficult than it needs to be... that said, if you don't have a problem with him having choc milk, then don't make an issue of it and continue to give it to him. if you don't want him to have it, then set the boundary, there are gonna be many things he does/doesn't want, start young with letting him know that you are in charge. in our home, my three kiddos drink white milk or water - now, if we are in a restaurant, they are allowed a soft drink of their choosing, but they know it is a special treat. again, that's what works for MY family, it's not a hyperactivity issue, i just don't think they need all the extra sugar/calories from their beverages. that may not be a good solution for your family, but if you do decide to do away with choc milk, do it and don't feel bad about it, don't give in after three days of tantrums, that will just teach him to throw fits for four days next time :)

What if you just DON'T BUY the chocolate syrup? Is your son going to drive to the store and buy himself some more?

He'll probably throw a tantrum or two and then get over it. If you give him two choices "water or plain milk" then eventually he'll chose one of those.

I give my son juice only after he's taken his nap, or as a treat when we go somewhere (Nana's, Gammie's, etc).

I wouldn't worry to much about it, as long as the sugar in the chocolate milk isn't spoiling his appetite for meals. If it is, then have water with meals and save the chocolate milk and use as dessert. He's still getting all the same nutrition as white milk. Imagine if he drank that same milk as white milk and had the syrup you add as a tiny spoonful for dessert. Would it bother you so much then? It's the same thing, of course--it just seems different. We just got my 2 1/2 year old son to drink a lot more water by getting him a special water bottle that's his favorite color. He loves it. Seems too simple but it worked. Good luck!

There is actually a big campaign going on right now to get kids to drink MORE choc milk! http://www.raiseyourhand4milk.com/ Experts agree that the tiny little bit of “bad” in choc milk is more than worth all of the good! If I were you, I would cut out the juice to make up for your sugar worries. I think there are also some choc mixes that have extra vitamins in them (like ovaltine i think?), so maybe you would feel better about those? You could also tell him that if he’s going to insist on choc in his milk, YOU are going to insist that he not have any after X o’clock (whatever works for you), so that it’s not interfering with bedtime. Use it as a teaching moment in compromising.

Have you tried soy milk?
http://www.all-soy-products.com/a21-soy-milk-vs-cow-milk.php

There is a "very vanilla" flavor (made by the 'Silk' brand) that is really good. I don't particularly care for the "original" flavor - but there are different flavors...

Introduce other calcium related foods like yogurt and try to give him a little less chocolate milk over time. Accidently on purpose run out of chocolate syrup a few times and see how it goes. In the meantime I say better chocolate than no milk.

To be honest I don't see what the big deal is here. Just don't put a ton of the syrup in and maybe reduce sugar elsehwere in his day. Also-if there is nutrasweet or any other fake sweetener in your reduced sugar choc syrup I would switch back to regular. Reduced sugar items with fake sweeteners are FAR worse for you than real sugar. This goes for everything, including kool aid and sugar free gum.

I can't stand regular milk and neither can my one daughter. My ped verified that flavored milk for her is better than no milk at all. Honestly, I would cut the juice down to 2 oz and give him a 50/50 blend of that with water and allow him to continue with the flavored milk. If hyperactivity is an issue for him at bedtime, i would give him only water from suppertime on. Good luck!

My 1 year old would not wean from the breast. He has a will of iron more so than any other of my children. For two weeks I refused to give him anything else but whole milk in a cup. In those two weeks he drank may 2 oz everyday from the cup and nursed at night. He became tired and lethargic and started o take more naps. i decided enough was enough and I put nesquick chocolate powder in his milk. he drunk it all up and returned to his happy playful self. He drinks chocolate milk to this day and I only use the nesquick powder. In short, don't feel guilty!!! Switch to nesquick powder and reduce your sons milk to two cups a day (thats all he needs according to the food guide pyramid). My sons is as healthy as can be and is getting his calcium, something which a lot of kids in the us are deficient in!

Actually, drinking milk causes more allergies and health problems. Try not giving him any milk. How many animals do you know continue drinking milk after they grow older? All animals wean their babies. The only animal that weans and then drinks another animals milk is the human. There is more bad than good in a glass of milk. how do other animals get their calcium and the other good stuff that is typically thought to be in milk? From the vegetables they eat! See gotmilk.com. I would just give him water to drink in between meals. My kids only drink a little water at mealtime if they didn't have enough between. The only juice they get is juice before not during breakfast. Fluids during meals waters down the digestive juices and causes indigestion (i.e. it doesn't digest as quickly) and the food ferments.

Alright I'll stop now. I think if you really want him to have milk, and less sugar, just stop giving him the chocolate. You are the parent not him. If you say no more, he will fuss but don't give in and he will get the idea. He is probably hyper because of the juice in his water. That is a form of sugar too.

My 2 1/2 year old daughter is the same way. she will NOT drink white milk. I asked the doc and he said that it was fine, she needed to drink milk and if that's the only way to get it in her then that was just fine,. I only put a tiny bit in.

To all you people who are being rude: I only gave my daughter plain milk but she would never drink it, she just doesn't like the taste of it. it may be the same thing with this litle boy. I asked the doctor first what I should do and HE said to try chocolate milk!!! my little one would drink water all day but she HAS to have MILK so I give her chocolate milk 1 or 2 times a day other than that she gets water. You don't have to be rude in your answers.

our pediatrician has said not to give chocolate milk due to sugar etc, this was at the time when my kids had already tasted it. i debated for a while, and since i don't give my kids much sugary stuff anyhow i thought i needed to get rid of this one thing too. so the day i decided to do it, i threw away the syrup and the bottles of chocolate milk, as i was doing this ii told my kids who were present that this was bad stuff for their lil bodies and that they would have to drink 'white' milk or no milk at all. my kids were ok with it.
i guess what i am saying is if the rest of his food is healthy then i'd be ok with chocolate milk, but if you think you don't want him drinking that then just get rid of the stuff. he will miss his milk.
btw i had asked the pediatrician about this and he had said he'd prefer kids don't drink chocolate milk at all.

I think a little chocolate in the milk is better than no dairy at all. Depending on his diet, you could try yogurt and cottage cheese too, and skipping the milk. To cut out the sugar, I get plain yogurt and mix it with fresh or frozen mashed up fruit. And I have to blend my son's cottage cheese with pineapple so that the curds are smooth. He is funny about the texture but likes the taste. But if he won't eat that, then chocolate milk isn't that bad. Especially since you are just giving a little bit, not the suggested serving amount. When I do chocolate milk, it is nowhere near as dark as the label suggests. Just do what you are doing and get the better kind. I would try to skip the juice entirely and see if he will drink water, maybe with a lemon, lime, or orange slice thrown in. That will get your sugar down a lot. I have heard that the other milks like vanilla milk are good, if you get a good brand. Just not quik, that stuff is super sugary.

my sons did this for a bit, and I bought the instant breakfast chocolate flavored, and only about a half teaspoon or less per cup of milk. so that way i was giving them extra vitamins and minerals with there choclate milk. Felt less guilty.

replace the choco syrup with ovaltine or instant breakfast at least you can throw in some extra vitamins too if that is all he will drink. Some people dont like the taste of regular milk i know several adults who just dont like it and he might be one of those.

I agree, I even read somewhere that giving them chocolate milk over whole isn't a big deal...........they still get the nutrients that they need for the chocolate milk as well. so, as long as he is drinking milk, that's good.....

And I like the idea of doing other types of milk too......

Good Luck and take care.

I wouldn't be super concerned. I am not a big milk drinker myself. Maybe look for srup that has real sweeteners not HFCS. Then just add a little as you are doing.

We do "chocolate " milk that has literally a pinch of Ovaltine in it (I show them I'm putting it in their sippy cup and let them shake it). I've also got the Trader Joe's Organic chocolate syrup (again its a tiny drip). For a nice bed time treat we do warm milk with a little cinnamon. The kids love it and you avoid the caffeine and sugar of chocolate before the end of the day. Good luck!

I hope you grounded him when he snuck off to the store and started buying himself chocolate syrup-especially since the sugar is the least of the bad ingredients in it...joking, but for real, how long does he wage a hunger strike? Has he starved himself badly?

I would taper it down gradually until it was gone and never give in. But good job only putting a tiny bit in.

If you decide to keep it, get the normal kind with no artificial sweeteners (many are neurotoxins). I would even get a higher quality one from a health food store to avoid the other bad ingredients. There are lots of other places in his diet to "slack" and let sugar and color and chemicals creep in as he gets older, plays with other kids, goes to school... milk is a staple, he shouldn't be drinking chocolate syrup as a basic daily food source this young.
But if he continues, be sure to brush his teeth a lot, my friend's son has tons of cavities and has always had chocolate milk instead of plain (and he's hyperactive). Could be due to other diet stuff, but the several glasses of milk per day with chocolate syrup do NOT help.

just make sure you clean his teeth afterwards - my 6 yo neice only drink choc milk, and has had 3 caps, at around $1000 each, and her teeth are noticeably stained and rotten.

maybe switch of the milk for a bit and get dairy in him with cheese string or yogurt

There is nothing wrong with giving him chocolate milk. My boys drink chocolate, strawberry, or vanilla milk, they still rarely drink it plain. If they have had a lot of milk that day and I do not want to give them another cup of choco milk I just put a small amount of vanilla extract in a glass to make vanilla milk. But all this hype over less than 7 gr of sugar in a kids milk I think is rather silly, it is way better than him not drinking any milk at all. If he is still getting all his dairy from milk, then start adding new dairy items to cut the need for several glasses of the milk a day. Try yogurt, cheese, cottage cheese, and even low fat ice creams.