Help! Toddler Continues to Refuse Milk in Sippy Cup.

I had to put hershey's syrup in my daughters milk for her to drink it and she loves it. I don't put that much but if that's what it takes to get her to drink milk, than so be it. LOL

If he refuses the sippy cup, do you give him a bottle instead? if so, he now knows there is an option. I would throw out the bottles in front of him so that he sees them go into the garbage and than offer the sippy cup. He'll come around. :)

Good luck
K.

Hi J.,

I don't know about you but I hate drinking out of a plastic cup. I swear I can taste the plastic. Not to mention that the plastic changes the way a beverage tastes. I have one child, out of four, that doesn't like to drink out of plastic either and has, since the age of 9 months, drank from a glass without issue. Just don't let them wander around the house with a cup or glass of any kind. They must stay in the kitchen and place the glass on the counter/table when done. You will have to be firm because if you've let him walk with a bottle then he'll want to walk with a cup.

I've never understood that; walking with a bottle. I never let my kids do it...if they wanted a bottle they had to sit and drink. If you eat at the table why not teach your child that from day one; food stays in the kitchen or dining room; where ever the family enjoys their meals together.

Anyway, good luck!
CM

I don't think the problem is with the sippy cup. My son didn't like milk until around 20-21 mos. If I heated it up and put a spoon of honey in it, he liked it. But even then he wouldn't drink it every day. Find other ways of getting the nutrients--cheese and yogurt. If you try to force it, you may create an aversion. Try again in a couple of months.

Hi J.
We had the same issue with our daughter-who self weaned from the bottle..but wouldn't take anything from a sippy cup either. We tried several different cups in different colors, some with straws, etc-and what worked for us was picking ONE cup and offering her some milk from it each day. Initially she refused but eventually she'd take a sip here and there. I stopped being so persistent, and that helped. I let her drink milk from my cup, which helped. Also, I put some vanilla flavored rice milk in her cup to sweeten it just a bit. Don't worry about her dairy intake, so long as she eats cheese, yogurt etc, she's OK
good luck!

My son also loved his milk in a bottle, and like yours, drank water from a sippy cup or cups with straws. finally, a pediatrician friend of mine, told me to go cold turkey. don't give him any liquids except milk in a sippy cup or straw cup.

It was really hard, especially when he kept signing "thirsty" and "water" to me. But my friend said his survival instinct would kick in, and eventually he would drink. It took 3 days but my son finally drank milk from the straw sippy cup. I took away all the bottles, and he's been drinking milk out of straw sippy cups ever since.

Good luck!

Hi J.,
Personally, I would not give my daughter Ovaltine or anything like that. My daughter had constipation problems until she was almost 18 months so the doctor told us to only give her 4 oz of milk a day (rather then 12 oz) and give her the rest as a whole milk (Vit D) yogurt. We started making her smoothies every morning with 8 oz yogurt and 1/2 cup fresh/frozen fruit (which was half of the fruit/veggies she should have a day). I would keep offering the sippy cup and just know he's getting his Vit D from other sources.
I use a straw sippy cup for the smoothies, but be sure to get the Dr. Browns bottle brushes, or something like that and clean them good after each use. Sippy cups are actually really disgusting (yet I use them for my daughter). They get mold and bacteria build up if you don't watch them and clean them really well. Also, keep the valves out of them while they are in your cabinet waiting to be used.
Lastly, you could try a regular cup. They take practice, but that is the goal we are all heading towards. A meal with all glasses and no spills, right???
Best of luck!
C.

My daughter refused milk in all forms after I weaned her at 15 months. Talked to the doctor about it who told me she gets plenty of calcium from other sources so just keep offering it to her and eventually she will drink it. It took about a month, but she now loves her milk and drinks it at every meal. As long as your daughter likes cheese and yogurt, she is getting enough calcium, especially if she also likes leafy greens. Don't make a big deal out of it and just keep offering it to her. She will eventually suprise you and drink it.

My 1 year olds *refused* milk in various sippy cups (including straw cups and sports bottles) although they would drink juice and water. What finally worked for us was for me to bring them their morning bottle -- when they are really hungry -- and then pour the milk from the bottle into the sippy cup in front of them -- let them see it. They took the milk immediately and never went back. Maybe they just needed help associating their milk with the cup? And because they wanted it so much, they didn't waste time refusing it.

I gave this piece of advice to another mother who was having trouble and it worked for her too.

Good luck!

Hi J.,
I have to agree with the straw cup approach. Straw cups are so much better for preventing dental issues later, anyway. But I would toss the bottles and never let them be seen again. Then offer him milk from the straw cup every day. If he doesn't want it for a while, that's okay. Going a week or 2 weeks or even longer won't hurt him a bit in the long run. It's just a drop in the bucket of time. Be consistent, offer it every time he wants a drink, and I guarantee you, when he realizes the jig is up and this is all he's going to have to choose from, he'll start drinking it. Kids hate a change of routine, but they also love to push our buttons, so just make it a no nonsense issue. If he pushes it away, put it back in the fridge and walk away. He'll very quickly realize the game is over. And I, too, would avoid adding any sweetener or flavoring to it. That just prolongs the inevitable and gets him hooked on sweet drinks at an early age, which is a terrible thing to do for a young child. Good luck and God bless.

Hi J.,
I wouldn't worry about it. Sounds like it's becoming a point of tension between you two and it's not worth it when he can get plenty of calcium/dairy in other forms. Up the string cheese, cottage cheese, yogurt, etc... he'll be fine and you can try again in a month or so.
I agree with you about not wanting to start an Ovaltine/chocolate milk habit. Food tastes fine without that kind of "condiment."
A.

Dear J.,
Just keep trying.
Some kids like their milk warmed up. My kids would only drink it if it was cold. My son literally wouldn't drink milk unless I put ice cubes in it.
Don't get in the habit of doing the chocolate milk thing. At least, that's my opinion. You might wind up never getting your son to drink milk that isn't flavored after that.
If you're worried about dairy intake in the meantime, give him little cubes of cheese, cottage cheese and peaches, and yogurt.

I wish you the best!

Hi J. --
Two thoughts on this. One is that maybe someone else can get your son to use a sippy cup for milk. We went straight to a straw cup (more on this in second thought), but our son would only drink milk from a bottle. Then we found out that he was using the staw cup w/ milk for his nanny. He only wouldn't use it with us! We decided to switch his first feeding of the day to milk from a straw cup because that was when he was hungriest. In not too long, the only feeding he was having from a bottle was right before bedtime. Then we finally told him no more bottles. The whole process didn't take too long. A week or two without that much milk will not hurt your son. He won't starve himself. Especially if you don't make a big deal about the whole thing, he will start using a cup in a week or so, if not sooner. The second thing is to skip sippy cups and go straight to cups w/ pop-up staws. I know they are more likely to leak, but if it's meal time, I assume your son will be in a high chair and should be fine. Our son had oral motor skill deficits related to eating, and would not take a sippy cup for anything. The occupational therapists we worked with said to go straight to straw cups. Using sippy cups does not build new oral motor skills from using a bottle (our son's cheek muscles were a bit week, which made using a sippy cup difficult), but using a straw cup does lead to an increase in oral motor skills. Other than the leak factor (which is only an issue w/ a straw cup if it is dropped or turned over while the straw is popped up), there is no reason to bother with sippy cups.

have your son help you put all the bottles ina box and mail them to "the babies". Enclose a note "Dear Babies,
I am a big boy now and get to drink from a really cool big boy cup so I'm sending these to you!"
Try to find a sippy cup with a character on it he likes - let him pick. My son LOVED his Thomas the Train cup at that age.
Also, don't give him the option of a bottle - if he can only drink from a sippy he'll get thirsty quickly and stop MANIPULATING YOU!! Yes, even an 18 month old can manipulate you. ;)

I know you don't want to, but Ovaltine or a teense of honey or Nesquick might sweeten the milk enough for him to take it with less or no struggle. I think if you want to get rid of the bottle habit, you just need to stop giving him the bottle. You can get fortified OJ with calcium and vitamin D or get his diet heavy on the yogurt and cheese until he drinks more milk.

Both my kids, at that age, liked milk in a sippy cup only if it was microwaved (in a mug) for 20 seconds first. My daughter, now 4, still only drinks her milk warmed. My son, age 6, goes back and forth between "beeped" and cold milk. They also both love cheese and yogurt, so I don't insist on milk. They would sometimes drink it if offered a "special cup", with characters on it. My daughter preferred the soft top, especially when teething, and all of our disposable/reusable sipp cups have chew marks on them.

Hi J., Be consistent. If you keep changing cups, or adding Ovaltine, or babying him he will keep refusing the sippy cup. Just gently explain that his milk will now be served in a cup and that he can choose his own favorite cup, but this is the only way it will be given to him. Stay firm and strong and if he really wants milk he will take the cup. Don't forget that there are other ways of getting calcium. Dairy is not as important as the calcium. There is orange juice that is fortified with calcium, he can eat yogurts for infants/toddlers and there's veggies that have calcium too. Pureed veggies or steamed veggies in an infant feeder can help with supplementing the nutrients and vitamins. Good luck.

Give him other dairy, such as yogurt. DOnt worry about it, when he wants some milk he will drink it from the sippy. Whatever you do dont give him milk from a bottle.
-Good Luck
_Raenna

Is there any reason you would not want to offer milk in the straw cup as well? Although my son, was fine with a sippy cup, we started straw cups when he 18 months old. He felt very "grown up" to have milk in a straw cup at a restaurant. I wouldn't worry about dairy too much - try yogurt, smoothies (milk/yogurt-based) or calcium fortified foods - OJ, for instance.

Just a thought

GL