Strategies to get dc to drink more milk.

[Lana]

I have seen this question posted many times so I thought it would be a good idea to put all of our strategies here for moms who have the question.

How did/do you get your little one to drink their milk?

[Lana]

Honestly we still have problems getting E to drink 16 ounces of milk every day so we make sure he gets food with milk in it like soup or baby cereal.  He also has yogurt every morning for breakfast and most days he has cheese as well.

[Laura's Mum]

We had this problem; luckily Laura loved yoghurt.  Other things were:



Cheese sauce on vegetables;

Smoothies made with fruit yogurt and milk;

Milkshakes;

Fancy cups and straws.

That is all I can think of.

[Haleysmom]

We mix (still do this) milk with Danimals drinkable flavored yogurt.  When we first started doing this I bought and used those First Years disposable sippy cups.  The liquid comes out a bit easier and I think it helped her get more.  Now she will drink her "milkshake" out of anything and still loves them.

[dkim]

My DS drank his milk from a sippy and would drink and drink, but the milk would not disappear.  I figured it was just more work to suck it out.  My friend suggested trying a straw and since then, he's been drinking A LOT more...hope this helps!

[rooby-rooby-roo]

Just read today, that 40grams of cheese (full fat hard cheese) is the equivalent of 70z full fat milk!! Good to know as dd will eat that much cheese more readily than the milk anyday!

[lindsay7777]

DS started trying cow's milk at 11 months and stopped probably due to an allergy at the time (seemed to give him a lot of gas, and he chose to stop).  Since then he has been drinking diluted juice, and drinks only that since I have stopped breastfeeding him at 12 months. 

However, we have had some recent success with a little milk.  DH has started drinking milk exclusively when he gets home as his beverage of choice, and offers DS some from his plastic cup.  DS likes "sharing" Daddy's drink, so he takes some.  The only drawback is that Daddy drinks semi-skimmed (2%) rather than whole milk.  Still, I figure getting DS to drink ANY milk is better than none!  Since the success with him drinking sips of Daddy's milk, we offered him some in his own sippy, to which he accepted and will sometimes drink a whole cupful of his own, and now not only when Daddy is there, but sometimes for me in the day, too.

So for us, an example (Daddy drinking milk all the time) has worked really well.  Gosh, they DO learn so much from our behaviour...  :shock:

[ftmama]

I give Ethan Milk with a little bit of Chocolate, Hershey's syrup. Just enough to flavor it. I read once that children who drink flavored milk drink more of it. Really milk is his drink of choice, spiked with a bit of chocolate. In a 10oz sippy, it has about 1/8 tsp or less of chocolate.

Looking at the Nutrition Facts, 2tbsp has 20g of sugar and he is getting much much less than that. Also when he wants more I don't add any chocolate to the cup I just add milk. There's no fat and no cholesterol and 25g of carbs per 2tbsp. We also put Strawberry powder in sometimes too. But again, not very much.

[Rebekahb]

My 17month old has started to refuse his bedtime milk this past week so is only getting 8oz in the morning. I would not be so worried but he has been so hungry by morning and not sleeping as long so I know he needs his bedtime milk. Anybody else have this issue and how did they deal with it? I have tried putting it in a straw cup and he still wants nothing to do with it. Any ideas?

[luv2savelives]

no one mentioned warming the milk...when I weaned#1 she wouldn't drink it cold and still wont a year later. but if it is nice and warm she guzzles it...also I posted a good soy milk product that dd calls her milkshake under "I found a great product" see what you think. I mix it with regular milk, half and half

[Summer]

We give our DD vanilla soy milk (Silk is the brand - some other brands are not as good).  It has less sugar than regular milk and it has a sweet taste.  We also add vanilla yogurt to DD's cereal in the morning, she loves it and she gets extra calcium.

HTH

[LukasMom]

My dd just started on whole milk; before that she was on formula.  For a time I didn't notice how little she drinks because we were in Colorado.  It is so dry there that I was constantly putting a water bottle to her lips and pouring water in.  I also used a straw with some success.
But now we are back and I swear she doesn't drink more than 4 oz a day of milk and probably about 1 juice box (about 7 oz) so where is she getting her hydration? Does she just suck it from the air? I do try to give her drinks, but she just takes a few sips and loses interest.  You know how it is.

On the other hand, I do not worry that she's not getting enough dairy because she is a DAIRY HOG.  She eats cottage cheese and ricotta and creme fraiche (isn't that fun to say?) and yogurt and cheddar cheese and anything else you want to give her, she'll eat it.  At least I know she's getting enough calcium.  Now I can start worrying about all that dairy ruining her iron levels.  Yay!   

[LukasMom]

BTW you guys, you really should give your kids creme fraiche if you haven't already.  It's chock full of the creamiest dairy fat on earth! Yummy yummy! So good for babies! So bad for me!
And it's the best thing to dip fruit in, too!  (I suppose if they like it you could try vegetables too, if you are in a tricky mood.  Just don't blame me if they figure it out!)
Clotted cream would be good too.  Mmmm I'm already planning my next trip to the deli section.

[marilyn73]

Dd is 11.5 months old, and we just started whole milk this week.  3 days of little interest (cold). I warmed it twice yesterday, and she happily drank 2 oz each meal.
Today I tried cold again, and no trouble at all - she loved it!