Should I cut milk to improve interest in solids?

[1March1973]

My DD is 12 months and recently she has completely gone off solid foods. She has 16-20 oz of milk a day - does anyone thnk that this is too much and affecting her appetite? I am suspicious as this was never a problem until about 3-4 weeks ago. She will only eat bananas now and only if she is ravenous (ie half a banana could be her breakfast)! I read that solid milk is just for fun up to 12 months so I wasn't too worried and just kept up her milk intake - but now what? This week, it has also been a struggle to feed her milk, unless she is sleepy. When I try to feed her anything from a spoon or finger food for that matter, she clams her jaws, turns her head and even when we just call her name, she will start crying as she knows we want her to eat.

Is it OK to cut her milk right down to try and get her more interested in solid food? Or should I just keep on giving her just milk (hoping that this food refusal is just a phase)? Yesterday she did not eat any solid food at all and just had 24 oz of milk - 8oz in the morning, 4oz at morning nap, and 4 oz at afternoon nap, 8oz before bedtime. I did try to cut out some milk during the day but she got so overhungry and cranky (due to her refusal of solids) that I caved in and gave her the milk! Should I have stuck to my guns?

She was a reflux baby but her symptoms have not been so severe in recent months.

[tylersmommy]

Appetite in general does decrease quite a bit after babies turn 1. They aren't growing as fast and just don't need as many calories. One thing that might help is to treat milk more like a drink than a liquid meal. Offering large amounts at one time is probably affecting her appetite at mealtimes. If you haven't already, try a sippy at mealtimes and snacktimes.

Also, when you say milk, are you meaning cow's milk or formula? If she's still on formula, that has a LOT of calories and is really filling. If you mean cow's milk, I'd limit her to 16-24 oz per day but no less than that. Toddlers need the fat in whole cow's milk for brain development so I wouldn't cut back too much.

It's pretty normal for appetite to vary a LOT and for toddlers to only want certain foods for days or even weeks at a time. Unless she's losing weight, try not to force the issue too much and she'll probably come back around.

[1March1973]

Thanks for the advice! DD only drinks formula at the moment - I didn't realise it could be THAT filling. She doesn't drink much water either so perhaps she is also using milk to quench her thirst and as a side effect, it was causing her appetite to decrease? I don't know, I'm just guessing! I tried an open cup with a little cows milk with her meal (which she wouldn't eat) last night and she seemed to like that to begin with but probably didn't drink more than an ounce or two. So yesterday, she had a grand total of 22oz of milk, a tiny amount of noodles and cow's milk and nothing else. Everything we offered her was just smeared across her tray or squashed in her hands...oh dear...I despair

[tylersmommy]

You might think about gradually moving her from formula to cow's milk. It's def possible that she's been using formula to stay hydrated, esp if the weather's getting warmer where you live or she's been more active. It's pretty common not to drink too much cow's milk at first but you can always supplement with other forms of dairy (cheese, yogurt, etc) until she gets the hang of it. Babies' bodies innately know what they need nutrition-wise...my guess is that the formula is giving her all the nutrients she needs (and filling her up) so her body knows it doesn't need more. Does that make sense?

[1March1973]

Yes, it does - thanks! I noticed yesterday that she is getting into finger foods - and really hands-on, quite literally. She plays with her noodles like its a piece of string then decides to shove some of it into her mouth (whether she actually eats any of it is another matter). OK, so I am feeling a little more chilled out today so thanks for that reassurance.