worried about dd not taking enough cows milk

[anyamom]

hi,
not sure if this is the correct board to post this in..
have been giving dd cows milk in cereal for a while now. i have been nursing her morning/ night. i would like to drop both feeds over the next one month or so.

recently i dropped the morning feed and introduced cows milk in the morning i/o bf. while she has been ok taking cows milk as part of cereal, she barely drinks it as a stand alone thing.

she has been drinking water out of sippy for a few months now, so it is not like she is getting used to cows milk and sippy both at the same time, kwim?

should i give her milk sippy on the high chair? or can she have it while she is about here and there?


would love to hear about other moms experiences... how long did it take for your lo to completely take to cows milk? should i continue to bf her as well as give her cows milk? she has unfortunately never had a bottle. i realise now that it might have been easier to transition to cows milk if she was used to bottle.


x
sudhi

[Erin (redstarfalling)]

Hi Sudhi - it's not absolutely necessary to give cow's milk at all, if your child is getting the necessary nutrients in other forms (enough liquids, protein, calcium, vit D...).  If she's having a balanced diet, and getting enough fluids, then I wouldn't stress too much about her dislike of cow's milk. 

I give my girls milk in sippy cups or regular cups with meals, but I'll also give them a sippy to carry around for a while at snack time, or if they've not had much to drink that day.  Same with plain water or some diluted juice.

I'd suggest to just keep offering and see how it goes. I know my kids started drinking better once they were holding the sippy by themselves....you can try different styles too. HTH!

[RachelC]

Is she getting dairy in other forms (cheese and yogurt?)  My dd2 refused cow's milk for quite some time.  Probably around her 2nd birthday she began taking more of a liking to it (I bought her a straw cup, only for milk, so it was *new* and *different* and not the same old sippy).  She eats so much cheese and yogurt that I (nor the doctor) am not concerned.

[anyamom]

hi erin,
thank you for your answer, i appreciate it very much.

it is just that i have stopped bf her in the mornings, so i feel that her milk intake has come down. of late she has started being very very VERY fussy about her food as well, so i would have felt assured if she had taken well to cows milk.  

i havent given her milk along with meals.. that is one thing i can try.

rachel-- dd loved yoghurt till last week. now it is a struggle to get her to have that . she has just decided to stop eating dairy. but the only thing she has is cheese slices. how do i add a cheese slice to the total oz of milk intake for the day?

am i correct in hoping that as time goes by she will develop the taste for cows milk??

thanks...

[Erin (redstarfalling)]

She probably will develop a taste for it - most kids seem to!

I personally never counted oz, but tried to look at the overall picture.  Is she having some form of dairy or calcium a few times a day, sort of thing?  There's also things like broccoli with cheese sauce (my dd2 LOVED it when she was around a year old - still does!), creamed sauce, smoothies - I know some kids who hate milk, but love fruit smoothies...

[anyamom]

theres a broccoli-cheese-potato casserole by heinz baby foods.
anya loves that (now that i have stated this, am sure she will not look at it anymore, but still !!   ) ...it never struck me that theres cheese in that as well.

do you think i should add something to the milk? you know, like an ovaltine kind of thing maybe something is available for toddlers?
i currently balk at putting even sugar in her milk, as i take milk without sugar. i put a spoon of cereal to it, so that it has some taste.

this is so frustrating! sorry for rolling back and forth, i am so unsettled due to her sudden not-eating-not-drinking-milk phase. she has been a healthy baby (knock on wood) till now. i hope by giving up bf i am not opening her to health issues... sorry if i sound silly. 

[Erin (redstarfalling)]

I think putting sugar in things to make them more appealing is a slippery slope for kids...

But definitely give the smoothie idea a try - my friend uses milk, yogurt, and I think some pureed fruit. Does she like banana?  You could throw one in.

And don't worry about sounding silly - you don't.  You've given her a great start by bfing this long.  If you both want to, you can also continue offering breastfeeds whenever it's convenient.  No bit is wasted, after all!

[EllenS]

I bf and give sippy of cow's milk and top-up the evening bf with a bottle of cow's milk (now that she is old enough to not need formula).

I find she drinks it much better when it is a little warm, rather than straight from the fridge. I run the hottest tap water into a mug or tumbler and sit the bottle in it for a few minutes before giving it, takes the chill off and she drinks more.

[anyamom]

will try all these options... and have decided to worry if things dont show any improvement in 7days.

does that sound sensible? or should that be 10days?

 

[trisharushbrook]

My girls were on formula so we are used to bottles but I just changed to cows milk this week.  I have a great eater and a terrible eater.  My picky eater will sometimes only eat the pureed jar stuff for 4mth olds...   My other great eater will eat anything and everything put in front of her.    I give them 3 blts a day and all are before sleep (1 btl before am nap, 1 btl before pm nap and 1 before bed).   
As expected my great eater devoured it and hasn't had an issue but my picky eater refused it.  On Day 2, I waited until she was really sleepy and then gave it to her and she took it - I think just because she was so tired.  Next feed she refused again.  And then yesterday we tried it again without her getting too too sleepy and she took one feed but refused the next.   I'm so used to this process with her now and know that eventually she will take it...

I also heat up the cows milk to lukewarm (dare I say it in the microwave....) but I definitely think it helps.  I do want to get to the point of just taking it out of the fridge and giving it to them but for now I want to make it as appealing as possible.

I would steer clear of the sugar if at all possible.   

you know your baby best so if you start to really worry then supplement with BF again. .   If my picky eater refuses the cows milk I just give her formula.  She's been like this since birth - takes her a while to get used to anything new so she'll get there eventually. 

Your LO is not teething by any chance.... I know any time that has happened with mine, they will go off certain foods for a bit....

[anyamom]

hi trisharushbrook,
i have been making the milk as at room temperature (a little less than lukewarm, actually), so it is more like the bf temp. but i guess i need to be more patient. till now dd has been taking to new things without any problem. so i guess i was expecting her to take to cows milk the same way    i will also drop the temptation to add sugar.... good i checked with you ladies!

ps : i love the pics of your lo's 

so should i worry again if no improvement to this situation in 7days or should i wait for 10days before starting to worry again?

[trisharushbrook]

Thank you..... personally I think you will know when to worry.  Keep at it for a few days - if she seems ok then keep going and keep trying.  If she really gets upset over and over again and it is impacting other things then maybe you need to do something different. You know her better than anyone so I think you will know.
Personally I think a few days where they are maybe not getting all the nutrition they need is no big deal -that's what happens in a transition, you have good days and bad days.
Keeping my fingers crossed for you!

[anyamom]

hello there!
was going thru my last posts... and just thought an update was in order

dd is taking 4oz milk with cereal in the morning, one slice of cheese during lunch , and 9oz cows milk before sleeping. so we are doing about 12~13oz milk daily. i have re-started the morning bf as dd seemed to want it, and dropped the night bf, so we are also doing one bf session per day. am not sure if i am making much milk now, but as long as dd is happy, i am too

now the next step is to increase the morning milk to 8~9 oz, so that she gets about 20oz cows milk daily...

thanks so so SO MUCH to all you ladies, for being there to listen and offer sane advice when i was worried. hugs to you all 

-sudhi

[trisharushbrook]

Wow thats fantastic news !! Good for you - and you are right, as long as she is happy, you can be happy!

As another suggestion, have you tried yoghurt?  It's also a great dairy alternative.  I give mine natural yoghurt mixed with apple sauce and they love it and yoghurt is so concentrated that if they don't take as much milke during the day, I"m still happy as they've had the yoghurt & cheese etc etc !

Great update !

[anyamom]

yes i need to re-start yoghurt... we had that regularly, but then dd refused to have it , so it got totally sidelined somewhere along the way... thanks for reminding me !!