How much milk for 14mo?

[~inbalance~]

DS stopped BFding a few weeks ago now and is on whole milk, which he loves.  He is drinking about 10-12oz milk a day, in addition to other fluids, but a large amount of this (about 5oz) is before bed.  I started offering him some milk in a sippy before bed after we stopped BFding. 

Now at this point I don't really want him drinking all that milk right before bed, but I'm not sure he'd drink the same amount throughout the day.  So I'm wondering how much milk is appropriate for a toddler his age in total?  I never even did bottles so I have no concept of how much liquid babies are supposed to drink in a day.  I like the fact that he enjoys milk and drinks a lot of it since he's quite skinny, but I wouldn't mind cutting out that bedtime milk if say 6oz for the whole day is considered enough for him.  I just don't want him used to drinking loads of liquid before bed!  But I do want him getting enough milk.  Am I making any sense?    Any thoughts?

[Lolly]

From what I can remember they should be getting around 16oz of milk per day but I'm not sure if that is just drinks or includes cheese etc. Up to about 18 months DS was having 5/6 oz to drink in the morning, a few oz on his cereal and 9oz to go to bed. The bedtime 9oz stayed for a lot longer.

Hopefully someone else will know!

Laura

[Seona1973]

In the UK 12-20oz is considered ok from 1 year.  Is there any particular reason you want him to drop his bedtime milk? (5oz is not a massive amount btw).  DD and DS still occasionally have milk and a biscuit before bed and they are 3 and 6.

[Texomamama]

Agree with PP's.  The amount your LO is drinking seems fine, and certainly not excessive.  For some reason, that 12-20 ounces statement is ringing a bell with me (I think that is for total dairy, not necessarily milk).  My daughter just turned 2 and gets 2 sippy cups with about 5-6 ounces of milk in the am and before bed. 

[~inbalance~]

Thanks   To clarify, I DON'T want him dropping bedtime milk, but was not sure if at his age he was still supposed to have so much before bed.  Any type of bottle (sippy) feeding before bed is foreign to me.  Never before have I dealt in oz.  I have no problem still offering.

[Mashi]

Yes, 12-20 is great, although it is a large window, isn't it! Anything less than 12 and they won't be getting the needed calcium and other needed elements from the dairy, and anything more than 20 and they will be too full from the milk and not hungry enough to eat other required foods/calories, etc.

DS was on 16 ounces until about a month ago - 8oz bottle in the morning and 8oz bottle before bed, and then slowly over this month he has been willing to take his milk in a sippy and not a bottle (sigh of relief, was a long process!) and has weaned himself off of two large milk "feeds" and into drinking milk as a drink through the day. I have read in a few places that after 12 mos, large volumes of milk should be discouraged and instead milk should be offered through the day and/or with meals as a drink but, as I said, it took us a while to get there!   Now I give him a sippy cup of milk with his three meals, and let him toddle around the house with it while he is playing until it's either finished or it's been about an hour or so. If he doesn't drink it in the hour then out it goes anyway!  He isn't really interested in bedtime milk this week, but I do offer a couple of ounces while he is reading his stories if he has not really had enough during the day.

The other thing to keep in mind is that there is nothing in milk that is not in yogurt or cheese.  I have a feeling that I have ready somewhere that 1oz of yogurt = 1oz of milk and 1oz of a hard cheese like cheddar = 1.5 ounces of milk but I could be wrong. DH has been pestering me to find out for a couple of weeks now so I may look for the book where I have read that (believe one of my toddler nutrition books) and will post if I can find out. So, if your LO doesn't want to drink milk, cheese and yogurt is a fine "replacement" - and on days when DS is not drinking much (he's been anti liquids the past couple of days with teething) I try NOT to give him his full dairy requirement in milk because I want him to be thirsty enough for water, and so I up his cheese and yogurt instead, and encourage him to drink water.  I don't know if there is any benefit in me doing that at all, though!

HTH!

[*Liz*]

Hey Martina 

Jacob is still on bottles at the moment, and tends to have 5oz when he wakes in the morning, and 5-8oz before bed.

And TBH I would rather he had a big drink of milk before bed than woke me in the night hungry.

I *know* I should be doing breakfast before milk in the morning but I just can't make that work. He wakes hungry and wants something NOW. But I have to leave the house by 7.30am and I just don't have enough time for a gormet meal. J is a slow eater!! So I have kept the milk for now. Breakfast is always his best solids meal of the day anyway.

A 5oz bedtime drink isn't much really - it is half a bottle as it were. I know what you mean about having no idea since you stopped BFing - I remember being totally lost for a while. My HV once told me a full BF is usually 6-8oz, and that is what I used to be able to express when I first finished feeding as well. So he is probably doing exactly the same as before really. Apart from the low supply stuff.

[~*Nicole*~]

Hi Martina!

I don't really measure....I have no real idea how much milk DD drinks. What I do know is that I quite literally follow her lead. We play upstairs, get dressed, etc. and she will at some point ask for milk. So down we go to get milk and I start breakfast. She eats well so I never switched the order there. Then throughout the day she'll ask for milk. I usually let her have one cup of milk during the day, at lunch say, but if she asks again I offer her water or juice first. Then she gets milk at dinner and I let her take it to play after she is done so I know she's had her fill before bed. I try to take it from her at least an hour prior to bed so she doesn't get so wet etc. once I change her into a night diaper. She will drink anything I offer her generally so if she pushes away water or juice and asks for milk I tend to give it to her figuring she knows what she needs, lol.

So in conclusion, it's generally 3 sippy cups a day. The cups are supposed to be 9 oz. cups but I doubt I fill them all the way....so closer to 8 oz each. She usually finishes two of them fully and the other partially but alters which one is the partial so I offer a full cup most of the time.

I'd probably lessen her intake if she showed signs of not eating well, but she generally eats good portions so I haven't bothered.

[RobertaNewiss]

Thank you so much for posting this I was gona post something similar only DD is 15mo.

She still has a bottle twice a day, 8oz in am and pm. I am procrastinating over the bottle issue. But I understand the fraught morning syndrome. She loves her milk both ends of the day and I think its important that she still has it.

I am told (sister is medically minded) there was a report published recently saying that there is a strong link between heart disease and over 2s still having full fat milk. I aim to cut it down to semi next at 24 months, but if she still wants it I'll still offer it.

Any tips in getting rid of the bottle?
xxx