How Can I Get My One Year Old Daughter to Drink More Milk?

does she drink from a bottle?? This is going to be an unpopular post, but I know that both of my girls would chug their whole bottle, but when I switched from bottle to cup, they would just sip. I kept them drinking their milk or formula from a bottle until after they were 2 years old. (their teeth are fine, btw) Give her milk between meals. My kids eat at least 4 meals a day, also. We eat breakfast, then my 3y.o. eats a snack midmorning, then lunch, then after school, they both eat a sizeable snack (a quesadilla, or grilled cheese sandwich and fruit or something similar) and then we eat dinner. so that is two more meals than I eat. And my 3 year old drinks 2 or 3 10-oz cups of milk in between. They are pretty skinny children, 50% or less and I always have to take in their pants to keep them from falling off. So maybe try to feed her 4 meals a day and offer her milk/formula 3 times a day. Good luck.

My kids aren't CRAZY about milk, but besides water it's all I offer so they drink it with every meal. We don't have juice around the house. Real fruit is the best. Also I think if you push them into drinking it they push back and refuse it(maybe thats just boys!!)Relax, there's other options.
J.
Mom of 7 yr old twin boys

First, do you think your daughter is happy and healthy? Do you think she is active, curious, busy? Have you looked at milestones for her age?
My daughter is also "small" in both height and weight, and my husband and I are on the small side. My daughter seems just wonderful to me and developing just as an active 14 month old should. I don't give her any cow's milk, nor any formula. Just breastmilk, water, and whatever food she would like to eat.
Those "percentiles" are really skewed. I believe they are based upon formula-fed babies from the 1950s from the midwest. I don't think babies from non-western countries even register on these scales.

The last doctor visit I had really made me angry because the doctor didn't even ask about genetics, nor her development, just said, ooooh, you should be concerned, look how her height and weight dropped off. She also told me that breastmilk doesn't have enough fat in it at this point.

I believe my breastmilk is exactly what my daughter needs, after all, she's a human! Not a cow!! Cow's milk is highly allergenic anyway! I get a lot of sinus issues when I eat too much dairy.

What I did take from the doctor's visit is that I can give my daughter more healthy fats to eat, and not worry. Avocados, plain whole-yogurt, olive oil, ground nuts (no allergies here!)and seeds, tofu.

I hope my experience helps you to trust what you know about your own daughter, and maybe seek a second opinion!

-A.

May I ask if it is necessary for you to stop nursing, as your milk is far superior to cow, goat, and formula. Dairy is very difficult for young infants and toddlers to digest, as their stomach acids and esophagus are still immature. Is she eating solid foods? good. healthy fats and protein are a better source for growth. Try avacados (I mix with a kiwi or other fruit for flavor, or mix it in with her favorite food, as she won't notice as much), beans, chickpeas, lentils. A mothers breastmilk is always superior to cows milk or formula, try the laleche.org website for more information on weaning, weight and foods to try. Good luck, and you are to be applauded, not criticized for breastfeeding. It is not uncommon to nurse for 18months to 2 years, as the only liquid supplement for your baby.

When I was transitioning my daughter (now 2) from breast milk to regular milk, I would add a little bit of yogurt drink to her milk to sweeten it. Mind you, breastmilk is much sweeter than regular milk...so once offered a "plain" cup of milk they probably don't prefer it. Eventually, I lessened the yogurt in the milk and she will now drink plain milk. I save the "yogurt milk" as she calls it, for her glass of milk in the morning (more of a routine now that she associates with breakfast). My ped advised me that she needs 16-24 oz of dairy each day, it doesn't necessarily have to be all milk. I also put her cup back in the fridge after each meal if she hasn't finsihed it - I did learn quickly to only give her about 3-4 oz at a time so I wasn't tossing too much. Good luck!

PS - the yogurt drink is also a good tip when you have to give your little one medicine that doesn't taste great! just add a tsp to the med and tada!

At this age she should drink about 16-24 oz of milk.
I don't think it really matters When you give it to her - whatever works best for you and your daughter!
At first, my daughter didn't like regular milk so I would put 8oz of milk and one small banana in the blender and give it to her kind of as a snack (smoothie) - she looved it! and then I slowly decreased the amount of banana, until she was drinking just milk.
Our pediatrician says you can leave milk out for about an hour or two at the most (depending on how hot it is in your house I guess...).
I usually only put it back in the fridge if it's been out less than 15-30 minutes. And if she still doesn't drink it all the next time I give it to her, then I toss whatever is left.
Good Luck!

Does she look healthy to you, do you notice that she is growing?

I toke my son to the doctor at about 3 months, we say a diffrent doctor in the office, he looked at my son and told me he was way to skinny, that he was really worried about him and his weight. Of course this made me worry, so we made the next appointment in a month. I was suppost to feed him more then I use to, but he never drank more then 4oz at a time if I could get 5 or 6 in him his eyes would roll around like they were swimming in liquid then he'd throw it back up.(He never drank more then 4oz at a time even at 1 years old.) The next time I seen our usual doctor, I told her why we were here and so she looked over him and told me he's fine, he looked healthy to her, he looked just like all of my other kids did. They were born big 8 pounds, 8.7 and he was 7.10, after birth they stayed small in weight and length. I'm 5 foot my hubby is 5.10. As a child I only weighed 36 pounds at age 6 now I'm 105. She said don't worry as long as he looks healthy and is growing he's fine.

You are the one seeing her day after day, you are the best judge. Just because she is tiny doesn't mean a thing. Especially if she looks healthy and is growing. Offer her milk and cookies show her how to dunk them. kids love to dunk things. You just hold the glass so it doesn't spill, we still dunk grand crackers, and don't eat them any other way. Chocolate milk is another way to get them to drink it. I always put it back in the frig and gave it to them again. My kids are still alive. Plus we left it out for long periods of time when it was in the bottle. I would forget the formula and just do whole milk/Vitamin D milk. She's a year old she doesn't need formula. Good luck to you. Remember you know her best. Ask the grandparents about your growths as kids. J.

The question is : Does she really need to drink more milk? Your daughter is only going to get as tall as her genes let her within the boundaries of nutrition she receives as a child. If she doesn't like milk, try yogurt, cottage cheese, regular cheese. Try soy supplements, soy milk. Ensure for kids. More meat in her diet. As long as she gets enough protein and calcium her bones will grow. I would also get a second opinion from another doctor and since she is so low on the growth curve make sure that there is nothing else going on metabolically. You already have her on formula(Soy or Milk?) so she is getting protein there and from you. I think a second opinion far away from your current doctor might give you peace of mind. Also if you really think you must give her milk, offer a sip at a time. One sip an hour over the day should be about one cup.

Sophie gave great advice, the other responses just scare me. Milk is loaded with calcium which is what will help your little girl grow. My son loves milk and drinks it all throughout the day. He lets me know when he's thirsty, about every 4 hours or so. If he doesn't finish it I put it back in the fridge for next time. Yogurt is also a great alternative. YoBaby yogurt is made especially for little ones and will have a lot of the vitamins that your daughter needs. You could also alternate milk with Enfamil Lipil Next Step. It's designed to help little ones that are behind on the growth chart to catch up to everyone else.

Our family does not drink milk and we only eat a small amount of other dairy products and they are all organic. I would research it and learn about both sides of the argument before deciding. I personally believe that the standards they use for the norms on charts are based on society at that time. A breast fed baby will not come close to comparing to a child that is fed formula or cow's milk. Those are very fattening and most milk has growth hormones in it. Milk is very mucous forming and linked to disease. I would prayerfully consider both sides.

God Bless!

J.

You can give your daughter the calories and nutrition she needs without increasing her milk intake, especially if you're breastfeeding. My dd is 13 months and still nursing. I haven't even introduced milk yet and don't plan to until later on. She's starting to get little bits of yogurt and cheese with the meals and snacks we eat, so I'm not even worried about milk intake. Plus, I know plenty of vegan or milk-allergic families who give their children fully nutritious diets without dairy. It just takes creativity.
If your daughter is healthy and happy, don't worry about her percentiles! They're based off of (mostly) formula-fed babies anyways, so it's a skewed comparison to start with. Is her comparison to other children really so important, as long as she's healthy? Why start the comparing now? That will happen plenty when she's older.
Lastly, I do refrigerate leftover milk my child has drunk and offer it within a few hours or at least that day and think it's probably fine, as long as it's not sitting out at room temperature for long.
Best of luck, N.

GREAT job breastfeeding, keep it up!!!!!!!!!! Give her cheese chunks, plenty of fruit & veg, lean meats, beans, tofu, you can offer milk in a sippy cup whenever, but YOUR milk is WAY better for her. Cow and soy milks have alot of hormones & chemicals, your milk is made for HER>

My ped has been trying to get more weight on my middle child too, He is now 4 is in the 107% for height and in the 8% for weight, makes finding pants hard LOL. He can EAT though and I have no idea how to get wieght on him. We do alot of cheese, full fat yogurts, and whole milk. I let him have a bottle until just over two just so he would take the extra milk, did not help him with his wieght. Some kids are just smaller the others. At this time I would not be so much worried about where she falls into the % but if she is generally happy and healthy. Feed her when she is hungy and make those snacks count. BTW my other two kids are both very tall too, but are just fine for in the wieght area, actually my oldest was a bit round until recently and she is now 9, my youngest is tall and round too, he is three. All kids are different! Good luck and just make sure what she eats counts and that hse is happy and healthy. DO not raise your kids off some chart that says that should do this or that. God Bless!!

C.,

You've gotten some stellar advice...but, I have to say it's odd that a doctor would suggest that more cow's milk would help your daughters growth.

Height and weight, as I understand, for the most part depend on genetics. If you and your hubby are short, then she will more than likely follow suit. However, you can never really tell.

My son is a preemie, but now at age 2, you can't tell the difference between him and other boys his age. But, again he's 'average' on the charts, and that's more than I could have hoped for 2 years ago when he was 3 lbs. 4oz.!! At 1 year old, my son's doctor didn't push whole milk because we were doing formula/BF combo and suggested we do so as long as possible. It wasn't until he was 16 months old that we introduced 'milk' (soy milk for my monkey--lactose intolerant) as a drink, rather than formula or breast milk...but, dairy itself was something we introduced in the forms of smoothies, yogurt, cheese (cubes, string or slices) and that has always been a part of his snacks throughout the day/week.

I would sit down and make an appointment to talk to your son's doc, just to sit and talk about the opinion on milk. Many people choose to keep their kids 'milk'-free and that is something that requires dairy from other sources, which there are many, but again its up to you and your preferences.

Milk is okay to sit out for short periods, as one of the other Mommies mentioned, but my Mom taught me to throw it out once it's been sipped...something about bacteria and such sitting in the milk, kind of like BM.

It also, might not hurt to do some research on a doc that follows your parenting style, and is more open to discussions and explainations.

Good Luck..

p.s. I noticed you're in Burbank...who's your doctor??? My son's pedi is in Burbank.

Switch doctors! Or at least get a second opinion. If you are still breastfeeding, and breastfeeding regularly, your daughter is getting everything she needs to grow. If she is not growing, something else may be wrong. But for a doctor to simply say, give her more cows milk, is nutty! Definitely old school. See another doctor in a different practice. Most likely your daughter is just fine.

Hi C.;
I have two boys 6 and 8. I found that getting them involved in the process like letting them pick out their new sippy cup from the choices I offered them was always successful. My boys like spider man sippy cups. If you remove the seal it flows faster more like a cup. Keep in mind however that if she is not drinking it all in one sitting and you don't want to waste it the seal can prevent any backflow from contaminating the milk.
I have also allowed them to be involved in preparing their "baba" (that is what my kids called the milk in the bottle, sippy cup or cup) My youngest son likes to drink his milk while he snuggles with his blanket, and now I still resort to that when he has to drink his medicine which we mix with his drink. Nowadays the drink will be the green juice machine drink or some type of smoothie or soothing tea. If your child is not in the failure to thrive category I wouldn't worry so much about it. You may also consider a fun straw or giving her cookies to go with her milk. I can always get my kids to drink more milk this way. Another thing you may want to consider is try to give her milk with less fat (try 2%) breast milk doesn't have as much fat as cow milk and that could also be a problem she may not like the taste of the whole milk. Good luck!

There's different aspects to this.

All babies have their own growth rate and size. Some babies are just smaller than others, and their growth percentiles will reflect this and be proportional to it, and it's okay.

Some babies however, grow... but then, they drop in percentiles and in growth and weight. This drop, is then what causes some Doctors to be concerned...especially if the drop in growth and weight is more than normal.

Being in the 5th and under percentiles, means "failure to thrive." It means the child is not growing or gaining weight normally. And, it can also affect overall development.

You mentioned that your child has "gone down" to the 3rd percentile in weight... now, what was her weight percentile previously? IF this drop was significant... then that is why your Doctor is concerned. I don't think he is saying that ONLY milk will make her grow... it's just the food that he observes that she is not getting enough of. Milk fat, is also essential for brain growth.

The Doctor must look at the OVERALL picture of your child's weight/growth patterns... and if she is dropping... then this is why he is probably concerned.

The overall aspects you need to also look at is: is she eating solids sufficiently? How is her development overall? Her cognition? Her physical development? Is she hitting her milestones? Is she on track for her development? Does she have any other medical or health problems? Is she being fed sufficiently? What is she eating? Is her meals well balanced? How often does she eat? What is her activity level? etc.

The reason I say all of this, is because I baby-sat a child like this... and her percentiles were only 5%. BUT, she was also lacking in overall development. So, this was a legitimate worry for the parents and me.

Just some thoughts. You can always get a second opinion.

All the best,
Susan

We don't drink milk either. My kids both nursed past 2 years old so the whole milk at one years of age just wasn't an issue. They ate/eat yogurt, cheese, cottage cheese and other dairy/vit D sources rather than milk. They also have never been sick (ear infections, snotty noses, etc..) - they are 3.5 and 6. Milk contributes to those illnesses. So basically, I wouldn't worry. Especially if you are still breastfeeding. Look up calcium sources other than milk and you may be surprised to see that she can get her daily needs in so many other ways.

Since your Dr. is worried about her growth then you should take that seriously but milk doesn't have to be the way to go. Offer her healthy choices throughout the day. Avocado is a great food to help put on weight, plus it is so good for you. Yogurt drinks/smoothies. She can get her daily serving of vit D, calcium and fruit in just one smoothie. Check out www.askdrsears.com and search their smoothies. I think the one we usually make (although we change it up a bit) is called School-ade smoothie. Don't put the peanut butter in though since she is too young for that.

If you are interested, I can email you some smoothie recipes that we do on a regular basis around here.

Best wishes,
M.
____@____.com

Why is milk important to you? I have two daughters who don't drink milk, actually none of us do. Ask your doctor why he is suggesting that milk will help her grow. Have him show you research that proves milk will help your child grow. I'd like to see it myself if he can find any. Sure milk is "fortified" but that doesn't make it good for you. Milk is stripped of most of it nutrients then they are "added" or "fortified" and then sold to you.

What elese is she eating? Does she get the right nutrition? What is her breakfast, her lunch, her snacks her dinner? Is he getting vitamin D? Is she healthy, is her skin a healhty colour? Does she have a lot of energy? Does she sleep well? Is she happy?

These are what matters, not how tall she is. My goodness if I listend to the doctors about my children when they were smaller...my goodness...I would have been convinced that they both were midgets! My oldest daughter didn't even really register on the height chart for her age category. BTW, she is 12 and 5'2" now.

Critina, you obviously did somenthing right as your 5 1/2 year old is just fine. Don't worry so much about what the doctor says and focus on what your kids are saying. She isn't drinking milk because she either doesn't need it or want it. Either way, she is right. Listen to her. Kids use their intuition WAY more than we do. Trust her. Make sure she is eating the RIGHT foods (if it comes from a package it is not the right foods) and be happy that you have a daughter who is healthy and happy.

B. H. B.A.:B.Ed.
Family Nutrition Coach

I also give my son a straw anti-spill cup when we are in the car. (My son isn't interested in sippy cups. I suppose they are too much work.) And some days when I don't think he drinks enough I will give him "chocolate" milk with the Carnation Breakfast packet since it has a lot of added nutrition - he loves it!