Milk during meal, is it a problem?

[chrichri03]

Hi!
My 9 mo baby refuse to eat if I don't give her milk before almost each mouthful.  In the last few days, in my opinion, she's eaten far lesser than usual. She eats 3 times a day, + a bottle in the afternoon. That makes approximately 25-30 oz of milk
Her size and weight are considerably over the average (23 pounds) so I don't think she lacks anything right now.
As I have seen that usually, parents are giving the milk before or after the meal, I wondered if it is a problem if she drinks at the same time that she eats?
I've tried giving her milk an hour before the meal, but she still won't eat without her milk + she eats even less.
If this is a problem, how to change that?
Thank you!

[KellyC]

Hi there

The only thing that springs to mind is something about having milk with a protein meal preventing the iron from being absorbed properly (and that Vitamin C, so maybe a drink of orange juice, aids absorption of iron).  I'm not 100% sure of the facts, but something along those lines.  I would also be worried about it becoming a permanent issue which prevents her from eating enough solids when they start to take over from her milk feeds as her main source of nutrition and that it might be a hard habit to break - especially if she's having the milk in a bottle and she always expects that with a meal.  I'm trying to remember back but I don't think I'd be offering milk an hour before a solid meal at her age either as she's going to be too full to eat.  What's her daily eating routine?

Kelly x

[speechie]

At that age, I gave Nick his milk after each bite, bite, sip, bite sip, that way he didn't fill up on only milk and not get the solids. I've had to do this since he was 10 mos as he was a milk guzzler and would down 8 oz in a minute then not want lunch. It works well for us- and now after he's eaten 1/2 his lunch, I'll hand him his drink and he does very well...

[chrichri03]

Thank you!
her daily eating routine looks like this, sometimes more, sometimes less:
7:30am: 6oz milk+3-4 tbsp cereals + 1oz fruit
11:30: 6 oz milk + 2-3 oz veggies + 1 oz polenta + <1oz meat + some very small bites of fruits fingerfood
4:00: 5-6 oz milk (she would take more but I stop her)
6:30: 6oz milk + 2-3 oz veggies + 1oz meat
7:30: 4oz milk

Most of the time she sleeps the entire night = happy parents
It looks like she drinks a bit too much milk, isnt'it? I tried replacing it by water, but she doesn't like it. What would you do? Continue proposing water untill she accepts it?

[speechie]

Sounds like she's doing great!
I've got a milk guzzler too! I started him off with very diluted juice and slowly added even more water till it was just plain water and now he drinks it well!

[franchick]

Personally, I wouldn't worry about it too much. I remember we used to top up dinner at bathtime by offering porridge in the bath (which she loved!! lol). I was worried that I would end up having to do this forever, but she grew out of it. We also did bite, bite, sip, but we managed to do it with water rather than milk.

If it was me, I would be more interested in whether she is enjoying the food that she is having than the balance between milk and solids. At 9 months, food is still about tasting and experiencing rather than getting all her nutrients from it. As she and you become even more experienced with solids, I am sure you will spot opportunities to try water with meals or slightly fewer sips of milk per meal etc etc. I know lots of older kids that have a cup of milk with their meals - as long as the overall diet is healthy and balanced, I don't think the protein / iron absorbsion thing should be too much of an issue / an issue at all.

Oh, and if it was me, I definitely would have a cup of water available at every meal or a cup of very dilute fruit juice - just keep offering it and she may or may not take it but will probably take it and enjoy it eventually (might take months.... ho hum!). I would still have milk available at the meal, too, but maybe in a sippy cup rather than bottle if at all possible.

HTH a bit.

[chrichri03]

Yes this helps a lot!
I tried offering her the milk in a sippy cup in the last few days, but she doesn't want to know anything about it, so I end up giving her the bottle. This morning I started congratulating her everytime she put the cup in her mouth even though she did'nt sip at all, and she just tried a bit more than usual. Maybe she'll end up having a first sip out of it in a few meals!
Should I try diluted juice or water in the bottle until she can drink in the cup? or is it better not to have her confused with the bottle (what's inside this time??)?
Would it also be possible to dilute progressively the milk only for one meal (lunch) until it is plain water? What do you think?

[KellyC]

Hi there

I suppose I just always structured feeds to make doubly sure the boys weren't having too much of either milk or solids - but it sounds as though that isn't the case and both you and she are happy so I guess it's not a problem right now!

Mine used to have milk on waking, followed immediately by breakfast.  Both had dropped their mid morning milk feed by 9 months and were having lunch at 12, then their afternoon milk feed after their nap at 2.30/3, dinner at 5 then final milk feed at around 6.30 or whenever bedtime was - so their milk and solid feeds were spread fairly evenly throughout the day and weren't on top of each other.  I offered water with meals when they started solids.

Kelly x

[franchick]

I agree that the structuring of feeds that Kelly managed to do is definitely the 'ideal' scenario (predictable, good for digestion etc) - partly this depends on how well your LOs react and how structured you are yourself (LOL) - so well done Kelly! I always 'planned' to have things this way, but somehow it never quite worked out like that (although we did successfully have water at meal times). Nowadays, our daughter pretty much has her own drinking and feeding structure that is probably more structured than mine or DH's - haha! (she is nearly 4 yrs old, though!)

Chrichri3 - if it were me, I would keep doing what you are doing with the sippy cup and milk - for some kids it is a very difficult transition to the sippy cup - I never pushed it that much, but there were times I wish I had persevered a lot more as it does make it easier to finally get rid of bottles in the long run (and can make it easier when you are out and about). As for the water or juice, I would put that in a sippy cup rather than in the bottle - if she doesn't drink any for now, so be it, but if she gets the idea that this is where we 'normally' (eventually) drink from, then that is totally fine for now (imo). You might also want to try a completely open cup - obviously you would need to hold it or help her hold it for now (and gets kind of messy) - strangely enough our LO loved to drink from an open cup from a very young age (4 months) but didn't 'get' the sippy cup until she was about 2 yrs old - strange, huh?!

If you keep making tiny transitional changes as you are doing, then in a few months time you will definitely see a big difference. Good luck!