I Tried to Give My 11 1/2 Month Old Daughter Milk. She Hates It!

My daughter was the same way. I mixed a small amount of Nestle Vanilla powder mix in her milk, she took to that, and I just slowly left out the Nestle until she was drinking straight milk. It's just like the chocolate milk powder. Good luck!

When I gave it to my son, he didn't like it at first. So I tried warming it up and he loved it. Hope that works.

Stick with it! It's really hard to replace the essential fats and calcium and protein of whole milk. Goats milk is as good, but not any easier to like. Soy isn't as complete. Keep trying!

My sister in-law adds a little chocolate syrup. She says that if a baby's been drinking breastmilk, it tends to taste a little sweeter...

My son hated milk at first! In time, he got used to the taste now and he now drinks it all the time. I guess my overall advice is just to wait it out. Things I tried though were switching up with different sippy cups, thinking perhaps he didn't like the cup we were using. I tried flavoring it with Quik powder (chocolate and strawberry). Apparently some kids love the strawberry, but mine couldn't care less. We switched to organic milk, after hearing that it tastes better than non-organic (and that was from adults). We tried different brands of organic milk. In the end, we supplemented with yogurt - YoBaby makes yogurt with whole milk in it. My ped told me that yogurt counts ounce for ounce as milk. We also started giving my son orange juice with his breakfast, as one of the orange juice brands makes juice for kids that's chock full of calcium. After a while, my son grew to like the taste of milk and we didn't have to depend so much on the yogurt and the oj.

First of all, wait until she' over 1 year. Cow's milk is irritating to infants' intestines--why rush. Secondly, when she is over 1 year, try mixing the cow's milk with what-ever she's used to drinking. With my older son it took doing bottles of 6oz formula/2 oz milk for a day or 2, then 4/4, then 2/6, then just cow's milk. Smoother transition for all.
B. S.
Family doctor and mother of 2

Hi F.,

I wouldn't worry about it - she doesn't need any milk other than your breastmilk (or formula). If you want to wean her, just give her water once she is 1 and make sure that she gets calcium from other foods. The only reason you need cows milk is for calcium, so if she won't drink it, it's not so bad. My son is 3 and never drinks cows milk. We tried rice, soy and 1%, 2%, and whole cows milk and he refuses them all.

I give him a calcium supplement and I try to make sure that he gets calcium from veges.

J.

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Your daughter's instincts are correct....don't give her the milk! Check out these websites below for more information. I know it seems crazy, but the dairy industry has BIG money to advertise and sell their products; that doesn't mean they are telling us the whole truth. You can google info about it on your own. Your daughter can get calcium from foods like broccoli & other veggies. Good luck. -M.

http://www.preventcancer.com/consumers/general/milk.htm

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0ISW/is_2002_Nov/a...

You'll need to mix it with formula. Try 3/4 formula, 1/4 milk for a couple days to a week. Then go half and half for a while. Then go 3/4 milk and 1/4 formula for a while, then go to full milk. You can mix it in a pitcher if it makes it easier.

K. B
mom to 5 including triplets
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HarrisburgPAChat

F.,
My son is the same way, he loved it in his bottle but refuses in any typ of sup, sippy, chocolate, strawberry, soy...etc.... so I give him yogurt, cheese, ice cream etc... all kinds of dairty tyo make sure he is getting his calcium.
Christina

Have you tried putting some Chocolate or Strawberry syrup in it? When we started giving our first daughter milk she wouldnt drink it either but then we tried using the Nestle Nesquik chocolate or strawberry syrup in it. She loved it. Over time we just stopped mixing as much in and finally she was drinking just plain milk. Now she drinks both.

Did you try to give it to her straight? I always did it gradually, just adding a tiny bit to their bottle until they were okay with it. But that being said, my younger dd did not like cows milk & once she tasted just the tiny bit of that in her bottle, she refused to drink it. So...we tried vanilla soy milk & that she liked. So...we used that for a while & then we eventually tried cows milk w/ vanilla carnation breakfast in it which she would drink. So that got her to cows milk & now she will only drink it flavored but at least she gets it. And...as much as I can, I try to flavor it w/ the CIB as that gives extra nutrients. She is not liking that as much as syrup though. She knows her sugar! But she needs the fat anyway.

HTH.

both of my little ones hated milk at first too. I did warm it up at first and slowly dropped the temp over a few weeks until they would drink it cooler. They refused it but I would only give them milk at meals and through out the day and they eventually began drinking it

my son went through about 3 months when he wouldn't drink it either- i bought the very vanilla soy milk fortified for kids and mixed it- about a fourth soy the rest whole milk- that did the trick.
A.

I would refrain from adding syrups or sugared items to milk to get it accepted.

Thank you for the links Maria.
We don't drink anything but organic milk for many reasons including the ones linked to Maria's post.

You can always try Rice Milk, Soy Milk, Hemp Milk or Almond Milk as an alternative or simply continue with formula or nursing.

I don't suggest ANYTHING Nestle.
They go into third world countries promote formula over nursing by giving out free formula, then stop, by then the mothers have lost their milk supply. They are poor, can't afford the formula and/or end up mixing with contaminated water.
Which kills babies. :( :(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nestl%C3%A9_boycott

try silk vanilla soy milk. my son does not care for milk either. when he was 7 months he did not want formula any longer or a bottle so i wanted to make sure he was getting enough nutrients and such so i gave him soy milk.when he was around your daughters age, i tried milk and sometimes he drank it,sometimes he let it dribble out of his mouth on to his clothes and made a mess. make sure to give her yogurt also so she is getting enough calcium.

I don't suggest adding any syrup to it, it is so bad for their teeth and they will be like my nephew who at 4 throws tantrums for choc milk!

With all four of mine i started with half milk/half formula (or breastmilk). For a couple of weeks you slowly lessen the formula until you are down to all milk. It works like a charm :-)

Try mixing formula and milk for a while (or breastmilk and milk) whatever she is currently drinking. Gradually increase the amount of milk and decrease the amount of formula.

Good luck.

Some kids are just not milk drinkers. My oldest was like that, my younger loves it. You can try giving your daughter 3/4 formula (or breast milk or whatever she is used to) and just 1/4 milk and then when she is okay with that, increase the amount of milk and decrease the other until it is all milk. It's a pain to measure everything out but it may help her adjust to the taste difference. I ended-up giving my oldest orange juice with calcium because he wouldn't drink milk. Keep trying.

Best of luck!

Both of my kids didn't take to milk right away. They had both been exclusively breastfed and hadn't had bottles, but were fine with sippy cups, since they'd had water since they started on cereal. So I didn't think it'd be a big deal when it came time to introduce milk, but they wouldn't drink it. They liked soy milk, though, so I started by giving them soy milk (silk vanilla flavored soy milk) and then over time I'd add whole milk to it. I started with 75% soy and 25% whole milk; then after a while I did 50/50; then 25% soy and 75% whole milk until I eventually got them to 100% whole milk. Ask your pediatrician first, but it worked for me and my ped said soy was fine from a nutritional stand point. Good luck!

Mix it with your formula or breast milk until she gets used to it.

Hi F., Start slowly. If your daughter is drinking/using a bottle still replace a couple of ounces with milk for a couple of days. Then a couple more, then a couple more until she is drinking all milk. You can do the same thing with sippy cups. Just take your time. Some kids do take longer to adjust to the change from formula or breast milk to "regular" milk. Meanwhile yogurts and cottage cheese are also good sources of calcium and great for kids. Best wishes!

Add a little bit of Hershey's strawberry or chocolate syrup. A tiny bit goes a long way. You can help wash away the sugar by having her drink some water and brushing her teeth. My pediatrician said it is perfectly fine to do this.

Milk is recommended for it' nutritional calcium , protein and vitamin D as well as a few other nutrients. Some babies cannot tolerate milk or in your case do not like milk so eating a well balanced diet and getting enough fluids from other nutrient dense foods besides milk can be an alternative. 1-3 year old children need about 500 mg calcium/day. You can add some chocolate syrup to her milk- that is now recommended by pediatricians if a child does not like plain milk. (My 14 y.o. used to have chocolate milk- now enjoys plain). Suggestions to replace milk include soy milk, fortified with calcium ( make sure it says 30% calcium/cup) That is equivalent to 1 c cow's milk. 1 oz cheese contains 200mg and 1/2C yogurt about 150 mg calcium. Orange juice also has calcium now also 300 mg calcium/cup. In summary 2C of milk/day or a milk replacement plus water. Goats milk (non pasteurized) and rice milk ( not much nutrition) are not recommended.
Also keep trying now and then to introduce milk at a meal and if your daughter does not want it, try it again another time.
E. Fogt, registered dietiten www.emmafogt.com

before ADDING anything to the milk, try starting with 75% formula or breast milk and 25% milk. if she won't take that, make it more formula. if she accepts it, gradually add more cows milk. transition over about a month.

also, is she used to her formula/breast milk warm? if so, be sure to warm her cow's milk. Once she accepts the taste, then work on temperature.

another thing to try is chocolate milk - thats what my son prefers and usually all he'll drink but my pediatrician says "its still milk and its still better than juice"

S. w

Hi - I had the same thing happen with my third child. She wouldn't even try the milk. I ended up giving her vanilla soy milk in a cup and she loved it. You need to make sure it doesn't have too much sugar in the brand you use. I use Silk vanilla soy milk and it actually has a little less sugar. But some on the market are really high. My daughter is now 15 months and she will drink either. I tried milk again about 2 months ago and she decided to drink it. I still give her vanilla soy more often.

F.,
I tried EVERYTHING to get my daughter to drink milk. I flavored it, heated it, gave it cold, in a bottle, in a sippy cup, tried soy milk, reg. milk...you name it. Guess what finally did it? a straw! She saw her older sis drinking out of a straw and let me know she wanted to try it out so I gave her milk in a cup with a straw in it and VOILA! Moral of the story...try and try again. You'll eventually hit upon the right answer. Good luck!