Won't Take Milk

I had the same problem with both of my boys (now almost 4 and 19 months) The only way I could get them to drink milk was to add Nesquik to it, they like the chocolate and they are still getting all the benefits of the milk. My younger one was harder and I just kept trying until he learned to like it. Also, since it took a little longer his pediatrician suggested multi vitamins if he wouldn't take the milk and let him drink water. Poly-Vi-Sol is what we used for a couple of weeks until the milk kicked in. Good luck!

Don't fret. My son didn't start liking milk until around 2 years old. There's such a big difference. Breastmilk tastes sweeet and changes with the food you eat. Cow's milk tastes much more plain. Try Organic milk, tastes more buttery. I gave my son the drinkable yogurt, chocolate milk (very little chocolate). But they really don't need to drink that much milk since he's eating solids now. He can get his protein and calcium from his veggies and meat. And before you know it you'll be going through 3 gallons milk/ month when he starts liking it.

Before you go out in public, nurse him and when you are out running around bring his sippy or special cup.
I used a special cup when the time came for us to not nurse in public, and I went through many different cups.
When you do travel with milk remember to bring it back into the house.
I can't remember what age my ds was when we started to not nurse in public but I do recall letting him gently know that he could wait until we get home, I would say softly in his ear...only at home....and hand him his special cup, but sometimes the nursing is out of comfort and you must show your child a new form of comfort to distract him from your breast.
Pick up a special lovy to hand him when he grabs at you in public, it is all about distraction.
Remember that Animal Milk is not as sweet as breast milk.
It will take time and much love and patience.
Congratulations for Nursing this far!

I never breastfed my son for multiple reasons, however I have heard many ideas from other mothers who have. I have been told that you should just start by explaining in his terms that he needs to drink out of the cup only now. My son is 22 months old and believe me they understand what you are telling them, it may only take a few times or it could take longer. I have also heard of trying to get the child to see the cup in a different way. I got my son to drink from a cup because "mommy and daddy" took the lids off of their sippy cup and drank from one like my son's. He loved that all our cups looked the same and never could give him a bottle after that. Try to make the sippy cup look more inviting to him, at that point is won't matter what's in it. It's all about breaking the habit, he feels the breast is comforting and nice, so you need to find out what else is comforting and nice to him and concentrate on that instead. Good Luck and be patient it will all happen in time.

Well, it sounds like he's not ready to wean! AND, you CAN breastfeed two babies at once. It's called tandem nursing. Anyway, a lot of kids will stop nursing once you get pregnant because your milk changes. Some kids don't care, though. I'd talk to your pediatrician or even consider tandem nursing.

Maybe if you used a different kind of sippy cup?

I know my youngest wasn't too keen on being weened from the bottle, so I bought the Nuby sippy cups with the soft tops. I put warm milk in it and he liked it. Plus they are cheap, so if its a bust, you didn't waste much money trying it.

Also, you could try finding another activity where you two can be close and bond. Maybe reading a book on your lap before sleeping.

If yours is as stubborn about weening as mine was, all I can say is stick to your guns. Haha, I hope this helps! Good Luck!

OK, this will raise eyebrows, but I added chocolate syrup to milk, my kids never went back. Baby #4 goes a little wild when she sees me drink chocolate milk and insists that I share. She is still breast/bottle fed, but once we hit a year, I have a feeling the chocolate milk will prevail...

Change is always difficult, and it is especially difficult for infants and small children because there is no ability to understand the need for the change. The best way to change is with a change in routine, as well as constantly reminding and constant watching over of your son. While weaning him on to milk is a necessity, it will not stop the behavior towards wanting your breast. Your son (if he doesn't already) will "get" what no means, and when he tries to pull at your shirt much less get to your breast, explain to him, very simply, that it is not ok. He will not understand that it is inappropriate for him to do that, but he will understand a very simple "no, that's not allowed." He will come to find out that he is only allowed to have your breast when you say it is the right time. With vigilance and consistancy, it won't be long until he stops that behavior.

At the same time, or after, what you can do is pump some breastmilk (if you can...I had enough for 3 kids after I had my son, but I couldn't pump more than a drop) and mix that in with whole milk (I know, yuck, but it is the best thing for him right now). Start cutting back on his nursing times once every few weeks or month (whatever you can do...start in the middle of the day and work yourself out ending with the nighttime ones, keep him busy, he won't notice) and during the day when it is not time to nurse, he only gets milk (mixed w/breastmilk or not), water or a small amount of watered down juice and he only gets it in a sippy cup. Since he already knows how to use his sippy cup, it shouldn't be too much to ask. When he "asks" for a drink, or it is time, let him choose. You can have water or milk. At dinner time, he can only have milk to drink or he can have nothing. Sounds harsh, but it'll be OK. Giving him the choice will help him to decided among the "most gross." Being that he is one, you will have to do something like hold one in each hand and let him point and then switch hands and ask again. Children this age do have some preferences and some will actually choose the same stuff both times. You may have to set a cup of both in front of him and let him go for whichever he wants. Like I said, he won't go thirsty for very long.

Take care,
M. M.

You may want to run this by your Pediatrician, but a nurse midwife friend of mine who exclusively breastfed for the first year (all three of her children) says that goat milk is actually the closest to breastmilk. You might try that. Good luck. Or you might try mixing pumped breast milk and reg. milk.

Nursing is a relationship between your son and you. If you are done then make sure when weaning to spend extra time with him and only take away one feeding at a time.

Next, if you continue nursing one year olds understand the not now OR wait. (for public situation) World Wide recommendations are to nurse your child until 2. People who get offended really dont understand the benefits.

With the milk....He really doesnt have to drink it. There are so many other ways to get calcium. Yogurt, ice cream, cottage cheese, cheese, some veggies. The list goes on. Milk doesnt have much to offer him plus he is used to you sweet tasting milk. So offer him water for hydration and other foods for calcium, vit d etc.

As far as the nursing make sure its your desicion to quit. People can look down on you but this is your baby you dont want them controling your decisions

I see some really great suggestions here... and one more for you. : ) Try Vanilla Soy Milk, it's sweeter than regular milk and plenty of calcium, protein, and other good stuff. You can even mix in some Carnation powder formula for extra nutritional oomph. It worked best for me to wean to a bottle FIRST while weaning from the breast (but make sure you get the ones with wide-mouth bottle and the large rounded nipple NOT the standard bottle ones, that way it is more breast-shaped, then in 6 months or so wean from the bottle to soft-sip cup). Now hold him CLOSE and CUDDLED just like breastfeeding while offering the cup/bottle but fasten a towel or blanket around yourself to make it impossible for him to get what HE wants! Oh yeah, and make sure you wear high neck shirts without buttons to prevent accidental public embarassment! (Been there done that!)

Hi S.,

My friend had a simmilar problem while weening her daughter. Her Pediatrician said to try mixing breast milk with the cows milk 50/50 (if you pump), or to put it in 2 sippys and both of you get to drink from one. If he sees you "having so much fun" while drinking from your "special" cup, he will likely be inclined to join in the fun.

Hope this works for you! -Janell-

I remember this hard time so well as I have 5 kids, oldest is 20 and I have a 5 month old. It is very difficult to wean mostly emotionally. What I did with child 3 and 4 is, I announced that Mommies bobbies hurt and actually left to go to the Doctor when i returned (from the store of course) I had bandages on them, and I showed the baby and said Mommy has a booboo, for a day they would pull up my shirt and look and hug them, kiss them and then run off to play, althought my kids were about 18 months when I did this, it made it very easy to stop as it was not me who was stopping them it was the booboo's. Worked great
Good luck to you and just keep giving them milk in the cup they will eventually take it or just offer water until they decide they like it.
Huggs to you!
D.
____@____.com

My son did the exact same things. He still does not drink milk, he hates it, I tried adding stuff to it with no luck, but he does like yogurt. So I started giving him Danimals Smoothies, he loves them and it give him the calcium he needs. As for weaning, my method was odd, but it worked. My son was very attached to the breast, so I gave him a pacificer and told him "no nursing" but let him rest his head on it instead. It actually worked. The first few days he would have a fit about it and I would put it away and that would make him more upset, but I told him he could rest his head there, but he could not nurse. His attachment at the time was pretty strong so he took what he could get. Now he is weaned and has a stuffed animal he favors instead of me. Of course, still no milk.

It might help to break this problem down into two parts: first, getting him to see milk from a sippy as acceptable and second getting him to accept that he can still have a warm and snuggly relationship with mom without constant nursing.

Everything I've ever heard or experienced suggest that the best way to go is gradual. That is, to start with replacing one of his feedings. Pick a particular feeding time to replace, and stick with it. This will help your milk supply adjust as well, so you don't end up painfully engorged. (But at first you can express the milk and store it in the refrigerator.)

You might want to pick a feeding that coincides with Dad being home. He might be more willing to accept the sippy from Dad, especially if you and the breast milk are no where in sight. (It's pretty common for them to be stubborn when they see "the good stuff" is around.)

I would recommend trying one of those soft spouted sippy cups. They have an easy to grip middle and a soft nubby top. In fact they don't look like "sippy cups" at all. But they have that nursabilty factor that makes them a good stepping stone to regular sippy cups and drinking glasses.

Another trick is to put your expressed breast milk in the sippy. As time goes on, you can mix 1/4 regular cow's milk in, and then as he accepts it gradually increase the mix until it's straight cows milk.

I like the warming suggestion as well. And of course finding other ways to comfort him and let him feel secure. You might try getting a tube of baby lotion and using it to massage his little feet or back. He might also be ready for a special stuffed cuddly toy.

S.,

I breastfed my first until he was 2 and I'm currently breastfeeding my second (who is 6 months old). At one year old, he will understand "no." And I simply stopped breastfeeding in public. I work full time so both my kids had to take a bottle (with varying levels of success - both would rather have not). To stop breastfeeding in public, make sure you nurse him (or feed him solid food) thoroughly before you go out and take a sippy cup with water. If he's thirst, give him the sippy cup. Just be consistent and persistent and he'll catch on. You may just have to plan short trips for a while. My older boy didn't start drinking milk until he was about 2. It took us a while to figure it out but he didn't like the texture or something of whole milk. Once we started 2% he got used to it and took it fine. We were concerned he wasn't getting enough fat but it was all we could get him to take so our pediatrician said to make sure he was getting enough "good" fat in other areas of his diet. So we would mix butter or olive oil into some of his foods. You can also try mixing the milk with water at first to thin it out. Or, if you pump at all, you can start mixing the milk with breastmilk and slowly increase the amount of cow's milk to breastmilk until it is all cows milk.

As far as getting pregnant again, I wouldn't worry too much about that. From what I've seen, getting pregnant usually moves weaning along pretty quickly. Many women develop really sore boobs when they get pregnant so that speeds up the weaning process (mommy iniated). And many women have their milk dry up and that speeds the weaning process (baby iniated). Do keep in mind though that not every baby is truly ready to wean at one year. You shouldn't be weaning a child from breastmilk to cows milk. You should be weaning a child from breastmilk to a balanced diet of solid foods and cows milk CAN be a part of that but it really should be more of a beverage than a major source of their nutrition. The reason I breastfed my older son so long was simply because he was really, really slow to start solid foods. Cows milk is not a complete source of nutrition for a one year old and I didn't want him starving or not getting the nutrition he needed. If you are really determined to wean right now and your son isn't getting a well balanced solid food diet at this point, you may want to seriously consider using a follow up formula instead of cow's milk. I know formula "looks" expensive but if you use the powder and you look at how much it makes, it is about the same price per gallon as cows milk.

As far as weaning in general, I took about 6 months to actually do it. I started limiting nursing during the day as much as possible. Basically I just nursed him less and less and less until he wasn't nursing during the day. Then I started doing the same thing at night. Night was the hardest but we all survived.

:-)T.

My daughter was exactly the same. And, I didn't have enough supply to pump, so the 50-50 option with breastmilk was out. At first, I just tried to give her a HEAP of yogurt, but having her completely off milk was freaking me out. I was all over the web trying to find solutions. I didn't really want to give her chocolate milk, I didn't really want to do strawberry either. She was 13 months old, so I tried warming it up with a bit of honey - she still wouldn't take it.

So, I put a splash - maybe 1.5 oz to start and then took it slowly down to .5 oz - of pediasure - that pediatric Ensure type drink (vanilla) in the bottom of her sippy cup and filled the rest up with cow's milk. That stuff is potent and sweet, plus it provides extra vitamins. She gobbled it up. I only did this for about two weeks, went through one six pack of the pediasure, took the quantity down as the time progressed and now she takes the regular cow's milk without a problem.

Her appetite decreased greatly while she was getting the pediasure, but now that she's gone off it, her appetite is again insanely large.

Good luck!

Hello,
When I weaned my son(now two)at a year he was in the same situation as your son. He would not take a bottle and he wasn't crazy about milk. The first thing I decided to do was to only breast feed at night for about a week and then I cut him off completely. To help your son get the calcium he needs until starts liking milk you could give him yogurt and cheese. I would occasionally put a little bit of strawberry milk mix in and my son seemed to like that. You can also try those pediapals drinks, although they are quite pricey. After a couple of weeks of not breastfeeding my son did start liking milk. Just keep at it even if you waste gallons:) Also from my experience I think it is good that your son will not take a bottle because you will never have to break him from that. I hope this has helped.
L.