My 16 Month Hates Milk!!

Maybe you could gradually cut back on the amount of choc youput in it until she is eventually drinking it plain?

I'm hopping on the soy train! I've just recently discovered vanilla soy milk (we buy '8th Continent' brand) and I haven't had to use sugary syrups since then. It also has a longer expiration than milk so it doesn't go bad as quickly. My daughter is the pickiest eater I've ever seen and she thinks the soy milk is a 'treat' :)

S.

My son didn't like milk. He did like all the other dairy products cheese etc. I gave him soy milk and he also drank whole milk with Ovaltine (I like this better than other "syrups" because it has a few more vitamins). Hope this helps.

My first daughter also hated milk, and still drinks it only because I make her at 6 yrs old. Her dad and younger sister are lactose intolerant, so they don't drink milk at all. We tried everything, and now I do flavor it (the 4 oz per day she drinks) with a very small amount of an Instant Breakfast type powder, so at least she's getting vitamins in addition to the sugar. Here are some other things we tried: a few drops of vanilla (not extract, that has alcohol), peppermint, pureed banana or strawberry. I also find calcium everywhere I can, like Apple and Eve juice boxes, OJ, yoghurt, cheese, and tons of whole grains.

Hi Brooke,

It might be a good thing that your child dislikes milk... it is so full of hormones that it might not be doing all the good that we think it does. I would stick to high calcium rich foods.
1 C of parsely has more calcium that a 12 oz of milk... or so I have heard.
Have you ever tried juicing your veggies? sweeten it with carrots and an apple. It is delish!

I have always hated milk unless it was in something. Then I found organic milk. It is naturally sweater & simply has more flavor. I actually like milk now. I like milk so much that I asked for a glass at a friends house not thinking about it. I almost spit it out after the first swallow. I had forgotten what a difference organic makes in the taste. My four year old son gulps organic milk down, but will only sip other milks. He also prefers his chocolate milk made with Cappacino flavored soy milk which has no coffee in it. He is not a fan of the vanilla flavors, but will drink flavored soy better than regular milk. Being hydrated is still more important than whether she drinks milk or not. Calcium & vitamin D are found in many wonderfull foods besides milk.

I cannot get my 19 month old to drink milk either. I have tried disguising it in all kinds of flavors, strawberry, chocolate, vanilla--to no avail. He sees me pull it out of the fridge for big brother and says no no. If I make him a glass of milk and serve it to him he drinks it and immediately spits it out. He does love cheese and yogurt so I try to give some of that daily, and I just keep trying milk. I have heard it takes 12 tries (of course we are way past that by now!) to get a child to try new things. My mom said I never drank milk either and I still really don't care for it.

we've gone thru that a few times as well so far--what worked for us was to add drinkable yogurt to the milk(or start with just the yogurt and then start thinning it down until it was mostly milk) I like the strawberry kind they sell at Costco in a 2 pack in the milk/dairy section, it is organic and not as much sugar as some of the others.

Brooke: Try Silk Vanilla Soy Milk. It has everything milk has but less fat. It has calcium, antioxidants, etc. My daughter loves it. She has been drinking it since she was 1. My pediatrician said it was great. We are not vegetarians but do not like giving cow's milk to our daughter. Try it!

Brooke - have you tried Soy milk? I know that it's supposed to be very tasty. Like the Silk I think is good. As for Calcium, remember that she can get it many ways, and drinking milk isn't necessary if she does it other ways. Yogurt, cheese, cottage cheese, etc. Maybe try to get her to drink a glass of chocolate a day, and get calcium from other areas. Or I think that ovaltine isn't much sugar - that might be better. Remember that there are lots of grown-ups who hate milk, it's a weird tasting thing and not all babies are going to like it either!

Good luck.

Here is my suggestion:

Make her 2 cups of milk just half full, put chocolate syrup in one of them and set it in the middle of the table. Then give her the glass of regular milk and tell her that when she drinks it then she can have the other, which you know that she likes. You ahve to make sure though that if she does not drink it you throw the chocolate milk out in the sink and not give it to her if that is what you want to become of it. Just make sure she is eating extra cheese, yogurt, ice cream, etc dairy products to make up for the lack of milk.

Hi Brooke, How old is your daughter?I have never been a milk drinker myself, if she likes cheese, yogurt, cottage cheese and other dairy products they all have calcium. Also, I think they make vitamins with calcium for kids. I never used it but I wonder if she would like soy milk or other milk alternatives, goats milk. I know it doesn't sound good but it might taste different than regular milk. These are just suggestions, the health dept. in your area might have some good ideas. Good luck.

My daughter was the same way at that age. I ended up using choc syrup and even strawberry syrup. It was the only way I could get her to drink milk. Now at the age of 4 she doesn't care if she has the syrup in it. She likes to have a cup of milk every morning when she wakes up. Just take a deep breath and don't stress over it too much. Just give her other sources of calcium until the milk thing passes. String cheese and yogurt are good. Yoplait makes a yogurt for younger kids, its a lot thicker then regular yogurt my kids love it!

Dear Brooke -

It may be giving her a stomache ache because she has an undiagnosed allergy to milk. Dairy is one of the most common food allergies in children. My son has dairy and wheat allergies and we had him tested through the Great Plains Lab when he was 2-years old (he's 6 now and has been on a special diet for four years now). Here's the link to Great Plains in case you're interested in learning more: http://www.greatplainslaboratory.com/foodallergy.html

In the meantime, you can try giving her soy or rice milk to see if she takes to it better. They even have chocolate soy milk now which I find it pretty yummy.

Good luck!

- B. C.

I can understand your wanting to limit sugar. Personally, our pediatrician recommended adding nesquik (or choc/strawberry syrup or whatever) if that's what it took to get our kids to drink milk. Another option is carnation instant breakfast or simply looking for other sources of calcium (mostly yogurt and cheese for kids!). I know that I don't want to eat/drink things that I don't like so I try not to stress if my kids sincerely don't like something--we look for other ways to get the same nutrients. I have one child that really does not like milk but she eats cheese and yogurt and she is a great water drinker! Though I would feel better if she drank milk, I am thrilled that she already has the habit of drinking water at a young age!

It would be wonderful if we could have 100% control over our life and children. Give her the chocolate milk and watch her grow with contentment. She will have the much needed benefits of vitamin D and calcium. Sometimes we pick and choose battles that seems to be a big deal now but will be absolutely meaningless when bigger challenges are presented in the world of parenting. I am a bit more concern about her intake of fluids and your need to be in control to the point where she may be deficient in fluids.

hey i had the same problem with my youngest son i just put a little bit of milk in a bottle or sippy cup and put either soft cereal in it or i put soem pediasure in it he drank it just fine now he drinks milk all the time no problems.

I have to go with Elizabeth R, Silk Vanilla Soy Milk. My oldest daughter never drank milk, until she tasted soy! Up until a couple years ago, she ate all her cereal dry : / ! Of course, I was never worried about it, since our doc said not drinking milk was no biggie as long as her eating habits were healthy (you get more calcium from veggies then you realize!) and she was taking her daily vitamin.

Good luck mama!

Hi Brooke,

I know how you feel. My youngest son used to drink milk all the time until he was about 1 to 2 years old, when he refused to drink it anymore. I didn't want to place chocolate syrup in his milk either, but I ended up doing it because I'd rather him drink milk then not. I even tried Nestle Nesquik, but he disliked that because it doesn't mix well.

I just try to remember that hopefully this too will pass, and I hold out hope that he will like milk again when he gets a little older. I try not to dwell on a little squirt of chocolate syrup here and there. Just keep your child away from a lot of other sweets, and I think she should be fine.

Good luck!

my suggestions if the chocolate mil gets her to drink it get ovaltine. it has less sugar than the syrup

Does she like juice? No one says that the only source of calcium and vitamin d has to come from milk. I have a four year old who was breastfed, and NEVER learned to like milk. She gets her calcium and vitamin d from other sources. We use an 8 oz. glass of Tropicana Orange Juice with added calcium and vitamin d. We also let her eat cheese, yogurt, and she loves the Hersheys' squeezable pudding with added calcium. It's not something she gets everyday, but it's a treat that she looks forward too, and I know it's adding a little something she needs into something she loves. Try to find other ways to add dairy products without stressing about her drinking the milk. Carnation instant breakfast is another thing you may want to ask your pediatrician about, but I wouldn't worry about the milk, my daughter has never had a cavity and is very healthy otherwise.

Good luck!

My daughter was the same way when I introduced whole milk after she was done with the bottle and formula at 12 months. I tried carnation instant breakfast (all the different flavors) and she liked the chocolate. Once she started drinking more milk I just started weening off adding the carnation instant breakfast and she will drink the plain whole milk (although she does notice the difference because she takes a drink, then holds the cup up to look at it!)
I agree with you on trying not to add the extra sugar to anything, that's why I felt a little better using the carnation instant breakfast vs. Nestle quik.
I also brought this up to another mother and since her son, my daughter included, always had his formula warmed up, she warmed up the milk and he drank it like a charm!
Also I asked my pediatrician and he said as long as she's getting enough calcium by eating cheese, yogurt or other calcium enriched foods, that you don't really need to force the milk.
Good Luck.

My son would not drink milk either. My pediatrician did not seem concerned about it. I just made sure to feed him a lot of foods with calcium like cheese and yogurt. Even some juices are supplemented with calcium. If your daughter is getting her calcium from other sources, then I wouldn't be concerned.

16 months - she's ready to start having some control issues. My advice is "Choose your battles wisely." You can either only give her dairy products in other forms (ie, cheese) or you can give her some flavor in her milk - forcing her to drink it plain is going to backfire, I guarantee. If she'll only drink it with some flavor, give her the flavor - YOU an control the amount of flavor and what you flavor it with; it's up to her to drink it. If you really want her to "learn to like it plain," you can taper off the amount of flavor you add & she'll never know you're doing it. I employ a little fun with milk & my kids - we add the flavor to the milk in a cup we can shake w/o spilling and sing, "Shake shake shake, shake shake shake, shake your (chocolate/berry) milk, shake your (chocolate/berry) milk." (You know the tune, "shake your booty".) In the end, I could have put a single drop of syrup in it, and they gulp it down just because it was fun to make it.

Use chocolate milk, the benefits outway the risk. I am a nutritionist and have been working in maternal child health for over 10 years. If you worry about the hormones buy it hormone free from Trader Joe's or your local health food store. Or offer cheese, yogurt. She needs 2 cups milk or 4 oz cheese, or 1 1/3 cup yogurt.

Brooke,
I kind of agree with some of the other moms, by adding the choc. syrup. Not only is it important to get the calcium from milk, but also kids need whole milk until the age of 2, to help with brain development! Good luck, A. R.

Remember, it is not only the calcium whole milk gives to babies, but the fat in it helps brain development. I put ovaltine in my kids milk when they don't want it "plain" it has vitamins that choc. syrup doesn't have. If she absolutely wont drink the milk then make sure she eats lots of whole milk cheeses and yogurt. Also remember that Broccoli has calcium in it and you can get calcium enriched orange juice and apple juice too.

Don't fret. I know that nearly all pediatricians recommend children drinking milk and most people go through this ritual of having their children drink it. It is not necessary if your child eats a healthy diet. Try other calcium rich foods such as leafy greens cooked, broccoli, sweet potatoes, oatmeal,fortified non-cow milk cheeses, tofu, lentils. My kids have been unable to have cows milk due to an intolerance to it (not the lactose, but the protien casein). My oldest child is the only one that ever had a chance to drink cows milk much while he was younger, but it caused him so much congestion I just stopped it all together. My middle child would drink a little of it but I could never get him to drink much at all and come to find out he had an allergy to it and felt miserable every time he drank it. He had a terrible adenoid speech until I stopped trying to give him cows milk products. My daughter is just now 20 months and I have yet to let her even taste cows milk. We use fortified rice milk, goats milk, almond milk and hazelnut milk. My kids only drink about 9 oz of milk in a day and the rest of the day they drink water. They get their nutrition through diet. If you are REALLY concerned about the calcium, there are chewable calcium and D supps made by Hero called Yummy Bears. They taste very good and are soooo easy for the little ones to chew.

Remember that she can get her daily allowance by eating other foods like cheese,ice cream,cottage cheese,milksahke,eggnog, ect. here is a web address that might help you www.kidseatwell.org

Have you tried warming it up? my daughter WILL NOT drink cold milk. Anyhoo, worth a try. Also, if she is having any cold or alergy symptoms (congestion, runny nose, etc) milk can seem thick and really aggrivate it. Best of luck.
Jen