Toddler Refusing Milk

Even though I hate to do it, have you tried adding some chocolate or strawberry syrup to his milk? Just a little bit. Or another thought that would be more healthy,maybe a fun new cup that he could even pick out, that was just be his, maybe Mickey Mouse or whatever. Another thought would be fruit smoothies with milk, just to get some fluids in him.

Try flavoring his milk with a sugar free chocolate or strawberry. You dont have to use very much, and gradually decrease the amount. My son loves using different kinds of cups, so maybe try introducing a new cup with a straw or something. Good luck

get a sippy-cup with his favorite cartoon character on it. Fill it with diluted juice and leave it where he can reach it so he can get a drink anytime he wants.

He is just exerting independence. Try not to act like you want him too do something too much or it will be a battle.
I know for my kids they both went through moments of not wanting milk. I then gave them Pediasure, it has yummy flavors and has calcium and Vitamin D, plus other vitamins.
Try chocolate milk too or even strawberry. Both of my kids went on milk strike and just wanted water for like a week or so, then the flavors got them interested in them again and I slowly just went back to regular tasting milk.
Try getting him strawed character cups too, that makes it more fun and something new for them to try in drinking.
Good luck, if your Dr isn't worried I wouldn't be unless you see signs of dehydration.

The same exact thing happened with our son when he was 15 months old. It happened when I stopped heating up his milk. When I tried heating it for him again, he still refused. He won't drink it to this day unless it's chocolate milk. We also do the enriched Kids orange juice (has calcium and vitamins). I know juice isn't the best, but at least it's something, and it has the calcium and vitamins in it. Good luck, and don't stress too much. My son, now 3 1/2, is very smart and healthy.

Try adding flavorings to his milk w/ meals, they have sugar free if sugar is a concern, and then just leave a cup w/ water or juice laying around so that he has easy access, it could be teething or a phase. Good luck I don't have much more as far as advice.

As long as he's getting what he needs from other sources there's no need to worry about it. I haven't drank milk since I was very young and have never had any problems from it. I do eat other dairy products but not very much, you can get everything you need from other sources and there are always supplements if you just can't get quite enough in his diet.

Don't worry about it, his Dr's not worried and neither should you be. It may just be a phase or an intolerance to something but you'll figure that out over time.

He'll be just fine.

If he absolutely won't drink anything, I would offer popcicles. I know it's not the healthiest but it's better than no liquids at all. As for not drinking milk, keep offering it, but don't force it. My kids mostly just have milk with their cereal, and only occasionally besides that. So just keep offering, try and make it fun, see if that works.

My son started refusing a lot of the things he was allergic to, even though he was showing no other signs I think he knew how it made him feel and so he stopped eating it. This was at 15 months, so it may be worth your time to do some allergy testing. But before we found out he was allergic to soy milk the doctor suggested putting some chocolate in his milk.

My 4 year old has never drank milk either. After weaning him at 14 months I offered milk and he has never liked it. The doctor said not to worry, as long as he gets dairy elsewhere. My son loves yogert and cheese and can eat a large 1 lb.tub of yogert in a day if I let him. He is perfectly healthy and no problems because of lack of drinking actual milk.
As long as he still has 3 wet diapers a day then he should be ok, even if they are only slightly wet. If it becomes less than that, they keep an eye out for dehydration.

M., this is a pretty typical phase for your child to be going through. Just keep offering milk, but make sure you are offering plenty of water, too. I think this is the typical age where they aren't drinking milk as much as they used to. Good luck!

I have a 15 month old also and we had a short episode of this. I added Vanilla (sugar free) instant breakfast to his milk. The Dr. said that it would be fine, sctually good, for him. It worked and I only used 1/2 packet to an 8 oz bottle. Then I would sneak in a regular bottle every so often and now he's back to drinking plain whole milk again. Good Luck.

I have had that experience. My son was doing simular things around the same age, only with many foods. He is now 17 mos. and last week finally started eating more and a wider variety. It was scary for me because I didn't know why he was avoiding so many foods and would barely drink juice or water. We even resorted to vitamin water and frozen treats to try to get the liquids in him because we were worried about dehydration. The doctor was laid back about it, but it did worry us. Now he is back to normal. As far as the milk goes, I know there is alot of hype with it, but he can get the nutrients many other ways so try not to worry too much. He might just grow out of it in a few month. Best wishes! J.

My son was finally diagonsed as low tolerance. What does this mean? Well, he always had issues with milk. He had "baby pop" diapers until he was two years old and I finally brought him in to see doctors. I went to a wonderful allergist, Dr. Bock in Boulder. He helped me get on the right road even though my son has no allergies. Then we did a bunch of food controls and diet diaries. And then saw a GI that I also love. Now, my son is on a pascription whey milk I did get partially covered on insurance. He feels great. Once we removed all dairy...ALL... for two weeks, he was like a new kids. He wasn't moody and sleepy all the time. It was like taking off the shutters. His eyes are clear and bright now. He is also soy and corn free too. So try that, Try taking out all dairy for a couple of weeks to see what is up. I would actually recommend you go all the way with rice, some basic (non-gassy veggies), plain chicken, and bannanas and apples for two weeks. Just see what he does. See if there are mood changes. Then challenge in the food groups again just like you did when he was baby learning solids.

what i do is put chocolate malt ovaltine in his milk along with nindo +1 these mixers are full of good vitamines and minerals. about one scoop of the nino+1 and any where from one to two scoops of the ovaltine the i mix it in his sippy cup in the morning. i am not sure what a nutritionist would say about all of the fillers but it work for my son and he is a picky eater. good luck on it let me know how it works.

When my daughter was younger, between her and myself, we would go through TONS of milk. To this day, I LOVE milk. My daughter on the other hand, tells me that she doesn't like it. I don't make her drink alot of milk however, I do tell her that she has to drink whatever milk she puts in her cereal and then once in a while, she will ask for milk with Ovaltine in it. Even that is rare but she gets her milk from other sources such as cheese and yogurt which she loves. She does drink ALOT of water though which is good. Most kids her age (she's 8) that I know drink alot of soda and while I don't tell her she can't have any, she always chooses water even if we are out to eat somewhere. Just try to give him milk based foods like I mentioned above or try the milk with Ovaltine.

Milk is not as essential to our diet as we would like to think. My children rarely drink milk after about 15-18 months... I offer it to them and some days they drink it and some days not... Yogurt is a good, they even mix there cereal in yogurt rather then milk somedays.

If you are worried about him getting enough liquid, just keep offering drinks ever little while, little kids need liquid, but not as much as adults... Just make sure he is staying hydrated.

If you are worried about vitamins, you might talk to your pediatrician about a kids multivitamin (calcium is still essential but can be supplemented through other foods. But milk really is only a good source of vitamin D (The sun provides this) and Calcium witch can be gotten through other dairy products and foods.

Good luck, keep in touch with your doctor if you are worried and just offer drinks every little while, if he takes a sip of water ever little bit, he will stay hydrated and healthy and hopefully the phase will pass. If you start to notice constipation, I would go directly back to the doctor though. Because this could also indicate lack of hydration.

My son who didn't like to drink loved popsicles and so I would make my own and found he like plain water popsicles as much as any- It got water in him.... and even though I thought he was a little crazy for wanting to eat Ice, he loves it... He also refuses milk with his cereal, for this I offer the yogurt...

Good Luck, Your doing fine and your son will pull through the phase eventually... Just keep offering

Well, kids are survivalists. They know what they need most of the time. They will eat when they are hungry and drink when they are thirsty. I would keep offering drinks to him and keep water always available. He could be just going thru a phase. Give him fruits and veggies to snack on, they have more water in them, and watch for sings of dehydration. If he seems to acting normally and he is wetting diapers, I wouldn't worry too much. Just keep offering him a drink. See if he take it from a grown up cup. Or try a fun straw. Buy him a cup with his favorite cartoon character on it. See if that helps.

I have 3 grandchildren and 1 is still on formula, 1 loves milk but my 3 year old granddaughter will not drink milk so what we did was we got nistle choc milk mix and we make a big deal about letting her sit at the table and make her glass of choc milk. She gets so excited and loves it. We make sure she does not have it to close to bed time but she get her calcium this way. A funny thing happened after doing this for a few month she started drinking milk without choc in it and really liked it, which I never thought would happen. So you could try that and see if that helps.

Hi M.,
My first born was the same way. She completely stopped drinking milk as soon as she turned 1, not even a sip. But she did eat a lot of cheese and yogurt. Naturally her father and I were concerned but I was not about to force her to drink it because I am not a milk drinker either! Her doctor, much like yours, said the same thing...that there was nothing to worry about. He also said that she will get the calcium she needs from the cheese and yogurts she eats, oh yeah and ice cream =D. We ended up buying her vitamin supplements and V-8 splash drinks mostly, just to make sure she gets her vitamins. We also tried the Pediasure drinks but she did not like those very much so we stopped just because they are so dang expensive. She is 6 now and growing strong. She will occasionally have milk with her cereal but she wont finish it, of course! Also 'til this day her doctor says there isn't anything to worry about her not drinking milk.
A couple other things out there that can help is if your baby is eating solid foods and can handle breads, try buying the bread w/Calcium added to it. There are different kinds of Orange Juices that also have calcium added to it ( we used the Minute Maid for Kids kind). And lastly if your baby likes soups, one good one to make that has plenty of milk and cheese in it would be Potato and Cheese Soup. I discovered not too long ago that my 6 year old really likes that soup, so what a great way for her to get her milk! Too bad I discovered it this late in the game but better late than never!
Good luck with your little one!

hi there

Mine 17 month old has been slowly backing off his milk consumption. Up until 16 months, he was drinking anywhere from 30-40 oz daily. He is down to about 20/25, but hasn't wanted hardly any the last few days. I asked the Dr. about it and the Dr. said not to worry, that children in CO get lots of vitamin D from the sun, and as long as he is eating cheese, yogurt, cottage cheese etc.. and eating his foods well, this is normal.

Not sure if this helps. I have had a terrible time switching him to a sippy cup. He will drink water out of a sippy, but not milk.

I asked my Ped. how much milk my son should be getting a day (he is 13 mo. old) and he said that he only needs about 8 oz. wich is a cup! He also said that Mild isn't really as important as everyone thinks it is. it is only important for babies and young toddlers. He said it isn't a big deal if my baby didn't want to drink it. that he would get enough nutrients from everything else. Mine does like milk though, so I don't have this problem. Anyways, maybe he will just drink water and a little juice (like a cup) and that is okay. I always have a water bottle out that I drink out of and when it is by me, my kids drink a ton more water! They are thirsty way more often then I thought they were. Well, good luck and keep it available to him.

Have you tried chocolate milk? You can find lowfat chocolate milk anywhere or just buy the mix-in stuff. Maybe you don't want him to get used to always having the sweet stuff, but maybe as a temporary fix or a once a day kind of thing?

Toddlers go through stages in which they decide to eat or drink only certain things. I know when my boys an currently my two year old decide milk is not for them I just switch to a calcium supplement (in the vitamin aisle) and wait it out. My 2 year old will currently only drink milk when I put Nestle Quik in it and then only once a day when I am lucky. It's a process of offering things over and over and over, etc.

On the no liquid part if he doesn't want to drink try popsicles!

Toddlers, even though it drives us bananas are huge experimenters and eat and drink when they need to or want to. We would just like it to happen in 3 meals and a couple of snacks. Think of him as a little browser and offer stuff all throughout the day. The only rule we have is that the toddler sits with for family for a couple of minutes at meals before he runs off to do something else. Sometimes he even a eats a couple of bites before he leaves!

I have always noticed with my boys that they tend to eat and drink more before and during a growth spurt and this can seem to be nonexistent otherwise. As long as your doctor and you feel that he is healthy and growing normally I wouldn't worry too much!

my daughter weened herself from breastfeeding and refused milk. I freaked out--the pediatrition calmed me down and reassured me that she would drink it, it just might take time and not to make it a battle. Try different flavors and "feed her ice cream if that is the only way to get her dair for now" I was kind of surprised but took his laid back approach, which was hard for me--and she now drinks milk. It took a couple of months, she loves cheese and yogurt so we kept her up on dairy--we also used popcicles to get her with enough liquids, and stop at every drinking fountain because those were fun. she's 2 now and most of the time does well with drinking and when she doesn't I stop myself from freaking out and revert back to the don't make it a battle attitude. I try to give her choices with dinner, do you want milk or water? or do you want chocolate milk? or white milk? anyway I hope it helps.

I feel more concerned that his diapers are only slightly wet than the fact that he won't drink milk. Most of the kids in 80% of the world do not drink milk. A lot of research suggests that cow's milk is not beneficial and causes a lot of allergies and other GI problems. I have 2 (of 4) kids that never drink milk. I have one daughter who drinks nothing else but water (seriously). We don't give any of them pop or juice because they are loaded with sugar. You would be surprised how much liquid you do get from food.
Anyway, sorry, I was going on there a bit. Does he show signs of dehydration? If he is developing otherwise normally but you are still concerned, take him in the pediatrician. If you are uncomfortable with what your pediatrician says; get a second opinion.
Good luck!

My daughter too stopped drinking milk. She would only drink milk as long as it was Hot and from her bottle. At 18 months I stopped giving her the bottle and she stopped drinking milk. She wouldn't even touch any dairy (except ice cream) for awhile. Luckily, she drank water and juice, but I was concerned. I spoke to her Dr. and he said that as long as she gets aprox. 1 TB of water per hour she should be fine. He said to count the # of wet diapers she had per day and as long as she was having 3-4 wet ones, she should be fine. He also said that I should pay attention to the color and smell of the wet diapers. If they were really dark yellow and smelled really strong then I should make sure she was getting some more liquids somewhere else. We made our own popsicles out of juice, tried different flavors of milk, and tried different kinds of cups and straws to get her to drink more. She is now almost 3 and sill only drinks milk (it has to be chocolate or strawberry, never plain)once or twice a week. She eats string cheese and yogurt once in awhile and never turns down ice cream. She loves different kinds of straws and fancy cups. She is healthy but still picky. Ask your son what he wants, give him options. Maybe he is just testing his boundries with you. But remember, you're the mom, you have your instincts, pay attention to them. If you still have concerns, then tell his Dr. Good Luck!

I know it's probably not the healthiest idea, but have you tried putting a little chocolate syrup in his milk? I had to do that with my daughter becuase she wouldn't drink milk either. I didn't put a lot in it, just enough to add a different taste. It seemed to work for her. I think it's probably better for your son then not drinking any at all.

HI, my daughter did that also. She is almost 3 now (4/28) and still doesn't drink milk. Her DR. said to get her to have other dairy products (ie: cheese, yogurt). He also said to try making the milk chocolate or other flavors. We use Nesquik that way I control the amount of it. As to the not drinking; have you tried other kinds of juice? Maybe he doesn't like what your offering him. Remember that he will drink when he is really thirsty.

My oldest son through out his bottle at 10 months and wouldn't take it or any kind of milk for any reason. I tried all the flavored milks and everything. My doctor told me that it wasn't a big deal as long as he got dairy from other sources. The only thing he would eat was cheese and he is just fine. I know that his bones are completely fine and then some and he is almost 8. As far as drinking fluids, children will not starve themselves if it is offered and I would admagine it is the same with drinking fluids.

If your son is acting fine I wouldn't worry. If he suddenly changes then I would worry. A quick note about the diapers, if his urine isn't deep colored or smells very strong then he is doing fine.

Since I stopped nursing my daughter at 13 months, she rarely drinks milk, but she loooooves water. At meals she only wants water. I found recently that she likes the Mix1 pretein drinks, so I've been mixing those with milk and giving them to her with a straw out of the Mix 1 container so she thinks it's the Mix 1 drink- kindof like a milkshake. You could also try flavored milks. I know they have strawberry as well as chocolate flavoring.

Good luck.
M.