How to Get My Two-year-old to Drink Less Milk

We did that... except for that DS easily drank a gallon of milk in a 24 hr period. (As an infant he drank an average of 22oz PER FEEDING... exclusively breast-fed as an infant... so the gallon a day of cows milk was a pretty natural progression of adding solids).

Our Ped group was *thrilled* at his consumption. He had some of the densest bones of any child they saw (he was HEAVY though, thin and muscular, but HEAVY), no worries about mylenization of the nerves- because the fats from the milk provided more than enough, low overall bodyfat, and he drank rBst free pasteurized cert organic milk (we live an hour away from that particular dairy, the milk was also dirt cheap, which was good, because we were dirt poot)... so no worries about hormone or pestacide buildup, blah blah blah.

I'm going to have to agree with Sandy on a 2 year old having a bottle (if that's what you mean).

Our 20 month old wants to drink milk all the time, too. What kind of milk are you giving her? At 2, she should be on 2%, 1% or skim - no longer needs the fat of Vitamin D milk. We give our daughter the recommended amount of milk each day and then water it down the rest of the day. She doesn't like juice (which we water down, too) and will drink water as long as she gets to eat the ice cubes.

Kids, if they are thirsty or hungry enough, will comply with our wishes. It may just be rough putting your foot down and refusing.

It sounds like she has a habit of milk at bedtime that needs to be broken. We didn't give our kids bottles/cups at bedtime, so I don't have any suggestions on how to do it.
Good luck!

I just posted this:
Milk is NOT what is used to be.

I am a family wellness coach and here are two of the sources that I trust:

http://www.formerfatguy.com/articles/dont-drink-milk.asp

http://search.mercola.com/Results.aspx?q=milk&k=milk

Do your due diligence. My children are 13 and 10 and there is no milk, cows, goats NOTHING in this house, hasn't been for years.

If you want a healthy option: This is my kids breakfast. http://liveitdontdiet.isagenix.com/us/en/isaleanshake.dhtml

And as for the "breakfast cereal", you know those little circle ones you want her to eat...check the ingredients. You will see TRISODIUM PHOSPHATE. Google it. Or better yet, head to your nearest hardware store and pick up wall paper remover and see what their number one ingredient is...you guessed it TSP trisodium phosphate.

PLEASE EDUCATE YOURSELF. Things are not as they seem.

Heidi - the best way to get your daughter to drink less milk is to stop giving it to her.

B.
Family wellness coach

My friend, solved that "problem" by telling her son he can go and get it himself... which the kitchen was downstairs. She'd have bottles, or a sippy of milk "ready" in case. But basically, her son stopped pleading for the milk at night, once she told him he's a big boy and can get it himself.

That was just her approach to it.

Oh, and try using a waterproof bed/crib pad under her.

Good luck,
Susan

By "bottle", do you mean an infant's bottle? If so, please switch her to a sippy cup!

A child should not be put to bed with a drink, except for maybe water. When she wakes at night, you might offer her water, but not too much.

Is she eating enough solid foods during the day? If she is truly hungry when she wakes at night, she may not be eating enough during the day.

If you stay consistent and not let her have milk after a certain time in the evening, she will learn & adjust.

My daughter was the same way. All she wanted was milk or juice. I finally put my foot down and said NO you can have water or nothing. Now she LOVES water and only has milk with meals and juice at snack time. She has a cup of water by her bed everynight. She now asks for water instead of anything else. If I were you, since your child is 2, stop the bottle at night. Switch to a sippy cup if you have to, and only put water in it. My son is 1 1/2 and gets a sippy cup of water and yes he cries sometimes, but crying it not a bad thing unless they are in pain or being neglected. Eventhough shes young, if you sit her down and explain over and over and over that water is a good thing, she will eventually drink more of it and less milk. Also, kids do what they see. I drink a lot of water, so that could be why my kids do. If your daughter sees you drinking water, she may want to try it too.

I haven't had this issue but an idea that came to me when I was reading this was to try giving her an ounce less in each bottle every night. It will take some time but be a gradual transition giving her time to adjust to less milk in the night. I second the waterproof pads in bed and try the heavier night time diapers. I think they also sell diaper liners that may help absorb more or waterproof covers taht go over undies when kids are potty training.

Just my thoughts,
J.