My son just turned one in June, & we were going to start weaning. But he HATES cows milk. Takes a sip & chucks his cup, wont even LOOK at it again. My mother in law suggested soy milk; thoughts? Has this worked for anyone else?
He doesn't need milk, soy or otherwise, if he is getting nutrients from other foods. No need to push it or stress. :-)
My first son had a violent allergic-type reaction...aka projectile vomiting...from soy formula, so we tried other alternate milks when he turned one. Most successful- coconut milk, almond milk, and rice milk. I started mixing the sweet and tasty coconut milk with cows' milk around 18 months, had him over to whole milk by 2, he is a fan of whole cows' milk now.
My daughter has a dairy allergy and she gets soy in other parts of her diet like yogurt etc, so instead of doing more Soy in her milk we do Rice Milk and she loves it. I tried it and do not care for it, but she loves her rice milk and it has all the same vitamins etc as regular milk.
My only suggestion is do not do too much of the Vanilla flavored Rice Milk, that tends to cause constipation.
I used to warm up the regular cow's milk with a little bit of honey. Pretty much tastes like breast milk then.
My concern about regular soy milk is it's overall reduced fat as compared to whole milk. There is a lot of important brain development going on the next few years and I know lots of parents will say their kids get fat in other ways. But getting fat from McD french fries or hot dogs does not provide the same health benefit.
Perhaps trying the milk sweetened with whatever you are comfortable sweetening it with and warming it a tad.
Ditto Luckymama below about trying formula mixed in to help with the transition.
Were you breastfeeding? If you were, do you have pumped milk? If you do, use this. If you don't, use his usual formula. Put an ounce of cow's milk in the breastmilk or formula, and use that to give to him instead. As he gets used to it, add a little more milk. Do it gradually until it's ALL milk.
How long has he used the cup? Is cup and milk new to him? Could it be that he doesn't like the actual cup?
Also, temperature is something to consider. Are you giving him cold milk? Is he used to warm formula/breastmilk? If so, warm it up til he gets used to drinking it the new way. Then gradually cool the milk down.
Hope one of these help you. I doubt he'll like soy milk any better than cow's milk. It's different - that's why he doesn't like it. Some babies need time to transition.
Dawn
I mixed both kids formula and milk 50/50 for a week or two at first. I would avoid soymilk. Your MIL probably doesn't know much about soy, otherwise she wouldn't have suggested it. It is definitely touted as a healthy alternative, but just read about soy so that you are informed, to get a good idea of what I mean. Both of my kids turned down cows milk at first, thats why we mixed it. They get used to the formula or breastmilk and cows milk is very different than those! Figure out what you're going to serve to him and stick with it. Remember, he doesn't need nearly the amt of milk as he did with formula or breastmilk. So don't stress if he doesn't like it much at first. He will get used to it.
Talk to your pediatrician on this one. Soy milk for growing children is iffy, as it contains a lot of estrogens; this is to be avoided in boys. We used rice milk for our son at first (besides breast milk) and this worked well, and we also made sure to offer whole milk 'cream top' yogurt daily, so he was getting good fats to help with myelination (myelin is a good fatty layer which accumulates around nerve cells and helps them to transmit information faster and allows for more complex brain processes).
I would try mixing formula with the milk....like 3/4 formula 1/4 milk then go to half and half, etc.....that should help him get used to the milk.
