Hints on Getting My 17 Month Old to Drink More Milk

Will she eat cereal with Milk in it? My kids love cereal and then at the end they drink the milk from the bowl. I think I started cherrios with them around the time were 15 or 16 months.

Hi there,

My son did the same thing. We ended up adding a little bit of chocolate for flavoring. Also, another thing we do, is add a little bit of food coloring. He loves to drink blue milk! Good luck!

T., many moms just commented yesterday on a mom who was worried about her child drinking too much milk- lots of good info on there about milk. You should look it up in the archives.
I dont think you should worry about it.

my son is 14 months old and he too does not like to drink milk. i weaned him from breastfeeding (or pumped breastmilk) at 10 months and the dr told me at aiden's 12-month check-up he needed to start drinking milk. i told dr my son spits it out he doesn't like it at all. the dr suggested i put ovaltine in the milk and then gradually reduce it so that it is mostly milk. this however did not work for my son. so far the only milk i can get him to drink is vanilla soy milk. but he still only drinks about 5 ounces a day. so i just try and get him to eat foods that give him good calories and like daughter, feed him dairy products. the yogurt puffs are his favorite.

don't force it. the reason doctors want babies to drink milk is for the fat. you can get fat into them through other means, such as high-quality, whole milk yogurt, cheese, avocado, high quality oils, egg yolk, etc.

if you have questions about feeding, i recommend referencing the Wise Traditions on-line journal. dedicated to educated parenting and raising healthy and wise children.

I buy the vanilla Pediasure and mix my daughter's milk with just a splash of it. It sweetens it enough to make her more interested in it, but I'm not adding a bunch of chocolate to it, either---which my mom tried and it turns out my daughter doesn't like chocolate anyway! But I also agree with some of the other moms; if your daughter is easting a lot of other foods with calcium and vitamin D in them, then I wouldn't worry too much about the milk. I only try to increase my daughter's milk intake if she is having a picky eating day and won't eat any leafy green or yogurt or cheese.

As another woman said, I would relax about it a little bit. Our pedi said my daughter only needs 12 oz of milk/dairy a day, so each dr is a little different. However, if you really want to work on it this is what we did when my daughter was younger (and we still often do this) and she couldn't have a lot of milk due to constipation issues. I would make her a smoothie every morning. We would use 8 oz of yogurt, 1/2 cup fruit, a few veggies and some flax seed oil. Blend it up and put it in a cup with a straw. I love that by 10 am she has had most of the dairy she needs for the day and more then 1/2 the fruit/veggies she needs. That covered 8 oz of the dairy for the day and we would give her 4 oz of milk with dinner. Yogurt should count as part of the 18 oz your dr recommends.
Best of luck,
C.

Greetings T.: I have 5 children and several grandchildren. We are all milk drinkers. I think that if you check with how you are feeding your child the way you say then you are getting the milk that you need. Our granddaughter's like theirs with Nestles so we use both the strawberry and chocklate flavor---- it becomes a treat and gets the fluid they need. I also make smoothie and milk shakes with the milk so it becomes a great treat and is healthy as they get alot of fruit along with the milk. Good Luck, Nana G

Hi, I didn't have time to read the other responses, so I hope I'm not duplicating any of the answers. When I finally got my baby off the bottle (about 20 months) I too had problems getting her to drink milk, I started serving her milk in a regular plastic cup and she loved the idea that she could drink the same way as mommy and daddy, a little messy at first but she picked it fast, even today I stick to milk in the regular glass (she turned 2 last month) and juice/water in a straw sippy cup. Works great for us.
Hope this helps.
M.

I think if she is getting that much dairy from other sources she should be totally fine. It's funny how different pediatricians are. Mine said the exact opposite, that if my son was eating lots of other dairy, I didn't really need to worry about his milk intake. Just make sure she isn't filling up on juice or anything, and keep offering the milk. Good luck!

If she's getting other dairy products, then she's probably getting sufficient calcium and other vitamins that ocme in milk. Maybe she just needs to drink water to get sufficient hydration? I would talk to your pediatrician and see what s/he things. Good luck!

It seems like if she's eating all those other dairy products, then that's probably fine! Adding chocolate just seems like a set up for future expectations to always have milk be like candy. Some people say there's an overemphasis on dairy in our culture.

I wouldn't worry about it if she is eating lots of other milk products. As long as she is getting her calcium she will be okay. At 17 mos, I was lucky to get my daughter to drink 12 oz a day. Now at 23 mos, unless she is sick, all she drinks is milk (about 24-32 oz a day, sometimes more). She has done this on her own. We eat lots of cheese, yogurt, etc also.
Please just listen to your mommy instincts and unless you are worried about her actual milk intake, don't stress about it.
Good luck!

Like others have said, if she is consuming other dairy products you don't need to worry so much about it. That being said, the way I increased my son's milk intake was to let him see me drinking milk. I got some lactose free skim milk and started having a cup of it with breakfast - didn't say a word, just poured it and drank it in front of him. Soon it was all he wanted!

Hi T.,

Your situation sounds very similar to mine. What I did for my daughter was blend some fresh strawberries and even would add watermelon when it's in season with a teaspoon or less of honey. I use like 1-2 strawberries per 1 cup of milk for example. She just love, loves it and she too drinks from a sippy cup, never took a bottle! Hope this helps!
Good luck
L.
PS - it's like drinking a milk shake, don't be suprised if you drink some too!! ;)

Add chocolate. Ovaltine has the most vitamins.

My pediatrician (and most books I have read) support that there is no reason to push milk if your child is getting enough cheese, yogurt, and other dairy. The issue is to ensure enough Calcium and Fat. In fact that much dairy plus the 17oz of milk can cause an iron deficiency.

What pediatrician recommends 16 oz. of milk a day??? That makes me crazy... Pediatricians recommend all sorts of things - and many of them are blanket statements for a general average - NOT specifically for your child. You get to decide what is best for your daughter. At 17 months of age, if your child is getting a varied diet, especially if it includes meats - your daughter does not need milk at all. She does need water - and fresh vegetables and fruits, whole grains and meats. That's about it. If she loves milk, great - if not, don't worry about it :-)

Hi T.- I would relax about the milk thing. As long as she's eating dairy products and some milk she's probably getting what she needs. See the other Mom with the 20 month old drinking 40 oz., too much, milk a day. Nutrition isn't an exact science and if you research it you'll find a wide spectrum of opinions about the benefits of milk and dairy. As long as she eats a wide variety of healthy foods and you offer the good foods most of the time, she'll thrive. Kids (and adults) have a way of choosing the foods they need to be healthy as long as the right ones are offered. I honestly never even thought about how much milk either of my kids drank when they were little. I breast fed until 18-20 months and then just fed them healthy foods the rest of the family was eating. Both are happy, healthy and pretty good little eaters at 7 & 10. Good luck!

I would go back to the pediatrician and ask him/her what she needs from the 16 oz of milk? Then look at her diet and make sure she's getting it elswhere. None of my kids are big milk drinkers but they get plenty of calcium and vitamin A from other sources and we take them outside without sunscreen for 15 minutes every day to ensure they get enough vitamin D. Many people are perfectly healthy without milk. I have a child with major feeding problems and from experience the more you push a particular item with a toddler the more they push back about not wanting it. Kids are smart and listen to their bodies. If they are full they will not eat. Unless she's getting a bunch of juice or soda she will drink the right amount of milk and water for her when given the choice. One last little note. I find milk to taste/smell sour but I like fresh organic non-homogenized milk and raw milk.

It sounds like your child is getting plenty of dairy. Even though she isn't drinking enough milk, you are filling that with cheese and yogurt. There is whole milk yogurt out there which is really good at this age and it also has the DHA that is very good for brain development.

Have you tried rice milk or soy milk? They are good sources of calcium as well and sometimes easier for kids to get down.
Good luck.

T.,

Did the dr specify that it was 16 oz of actual milk or just dairy? Just curious, because I thought it was as long as they were getting the dairy through any combinaion of products... love to see what other mammas say.

M.

So my question back to the Ped would be where is your research that shows that a 17 month old should be drinking that much cows milk. And what about those children who are severely allergic to cow's milk? Do we make them drink it anyway despite the risk? In my son's case the risk is Death from anaphylactic shock.

Look - most humans aren't designed to eat or drink cow's milk products. It is very hard on our systems - ever wonder why so many people are lactose intolerant? That is because our bodies are designed as infants to process lactose in human milk to use for brain and body growth among other things. As we age, we no longer need the lactose - which is why we don't nurse when we are in high school. :) Cow's milk products have cow's lactose and it is hard on our bodies - and many humans are allergic to the proteins in the cow's milk which causes all sorts of allergic reactions ranging from excemza, fever, lethargy, rash, behavior problems, excess gas, chronic congestion - just to name a few.

Lastly, if she didn't drink any milk or eat any cheese for a week would the sky fall down? No. :) Would she suddenly become calcium deficient? No. :) There are other sources of calcium anyway (dark green leafy vegetables). If the Ped is concerned about calcium intake, simply do some research on healthy ways to get the calcium you need and get it those ways. Otherwise - 16 ounces is a LARGE amount of milk for anyone to drink per day - but hey - the Dairy companies are getting rich from people drinking so much milk - that in reality they don't need...

Good luck to you!

Warmly,
J.