18 month old just wants milk

[AngelaF]

I'm having a really hard time getting my 18 month old to eat much of anything. He eats virtually no fruits or veggies and is so hit or miss on what he will actually eat. Pretty much, he just wants to drink milk. He took longer than "average" eating solids because of a tricky gag reflex. Then he had a string of ear infections and after we had all that cleared up, he started teething. Ugh! So, I feel like I've always had something to blame his pickiness on, you know? But now I see that he is in this not so great habit of drinking his calories and not getting the nutrition he needs.

Right now he's drinking lots of milk, maybe as much as 20 oz. a day (honestly, it's probably more than that!). He signs for milk all day long, cries at the fridge door for it and sits in his high chair not eating. I am at a loss as my older twins were easy eaters from the get go.

Thanks for any help!

[gemma2313]

OMG... my 15mo ds2 does the same thing... would like to hear your solution...

I'm going to have to start droping his bottles as I'm sure that he's just being lazy/picky and would rather drink than eat... Mine has a bottle morning, noon and night and I'm sure its too much.

The morning bottle is a prop to try and get more sleep (he is an EW and always has been...grr) and I KNOW that one is really bad but I'm not prepared to wake earlier than 6am...
The midday bottle he likes so much that he refuses to eat lunch knowing that he gets a bottle afterwards ... which then means he's probably too full to eat his dinner properly... but ready for the night time bottle... which one do you knock off first???
like you, my ds1 only had one bottle left at this age... nightime one and he kept that until just before 18mo.... he was easy compare to this as he really liked food. ds2 had reflux til 9mo and has never had a good gut - stomach - food - poo relationship.. IYKWIM!
I'm sure the qty of milk also makes him constipated from time to time so I really have to stop it...

[Lemonthyme]

Have you tried milky foods?  Comforting ones like fish pie, cauliflower cheese, rice pudding?  It might be a way of having that milkiness in food?

I know when I'm stressed I get heartburn which is what reflux is and when you have heartburn you crave 'white foods' as they coat your oesophagus and make you feel better.

[Buntybear]

Hi, is it cow's milk or formula he is drinking?

Have you tried a wide variety of foods to see what he will eat? From finger foods to fruit purees etc? Yoghurts, sandwiches etc etc?

[Shiv52]

But now I see that he is in this not so great habit of drinking his calories and not getting the nutrition he needs.

I think its great you've come to this conclusion.   Not only is it a nutrition issue but it is also really important at this age to be eating a variety of foods to exercise all the mouth/tongue muscles that are vital for speech.  All the chewing and moving the food around the mouth to swallow exercises muscles that drinking milk will not. 

I think at 18 months LOs should be getting about 16 oz/1 pint of milk but that should includes milk in cooking, cereals etc. 

Is he drinking his milk from a cup? 

I think I would start cutting the milk and you'll just have to hold strong and not offer more.  Keep a sippy with water about through the day that you can offer if he is asking for milk.  I offered milk in a sippy at mealtimes (but only a few oz) and water through the day.  It will take about a week for the hunger to transfer to solids, less if you are really consistent, more if you are not. 

gemma...I would cut that midday bottle initially and once you have that tackled in a month or so work on the morning one.