is it time to ditch the bottle for 3.5yo ds??

[creations]

There are lots of foods (non-dairy) that are calcium rich, you may not need a supplement at all.  2 figs has nearly double the amount of calcium as one glass of soy milk!
Here's a list, obviusly ignore the milk products and milk based desserts!
kurly kale, canned sardines, tahini paste, white bait/sprats all very very high in calcium.  When mine took almost no milk I looked into this list and discovered he would eat 2 whole fried sprats, head, tail, the lot, and LOVED them. Only problem now is they haven't been in the shops for over a year, but he drinks milk again now so it isn't such a worry.

[creations]

Oh sorry, forgot the link
http://www.iofbonehealth.org/calcium-rich-foods

[Aishi]

That's great! Thanks creations I hadn't realised how much good groups had calcium in! Any idea how many mg of calcium toddlers need? Are those portion sizes for adults or kids?

He didn't drink any milk from a cup today I'll just keep offering until I'm ready to take bottle away completely and go cold turkey. On the other hand he did have mozzarella cheese hidden in his pasta for tea. He was a bit dubious about it but he did eat it so that was positive! In meantime I can increase uptake of other foods containing calcium...

Thanks for all your input and advice!

[creations]

http://www.babycenter.com/0_calcium-in-your-childs-diet_10324689.bc#articlesection2

age 1-3 is 700mg
age 4-8 is 1000mg
but as with anything for kids you can work it out over a week rather than every day as some days they will take more and some less.
If the milk drops right off you might need to increase some fat somewhere else in the diet although I think at 3.5 this isn't nearly as important as it would be for an under 2yo who needs lots of fat (usually from milk)

The servings size just depends how much of each thing your LO will eat really, I mean, they have put 4 figs on the list for over 500mg of calcium and I know my DS would happily eat 4 but I prob don't want him to eat 4 figs every day.
How about just looking at your LOs regular diet and track over a week roughly how much calcium there is on an average day from pasta, bread, fruit, veg etc and see where you stand?  It might be that you just need to switch an apple to an orange, offer certain veg over others, or add some 'hidden' tahini in baking?
I tried out the tahini after seeing another BW mummy used it in pancakes or muesli or something and discovered DS can taste the smallest amount added to anything, and then refuses to eat the whole batch so it doesn't help here but then like I said he will eat sprats which I think many kids would turn their noses up at.

Oh and did you try a regular straw for drinking milk? Leave the milk in the bottle remove the teat and pop a straw in?  Later move to a different cup with the straw?

[Mama_Mia]

It is scary taking the bottle away, M got rid of the bottle just under a year old except for BT. I was so scared to even try taking it away thinking he would never settle and go to sleep. When he hit about 32 months I got him ready for bed as usual laid him down and when he asked for a bottle I simply said "I'm sorry hunny, I threw all the bottles away, do you want a cup of milk or water?"

[Mama_Mia]

It is scary taking the bottle away, M got rid of the bottle just under a year old except for BT. I was so scared to even try taking it away thinking he would never settle and go to sleep. When he hit about 32 months I got him ready for bed as usual laid him down and when he asked for a bottle I simply said "I'm sorry hunny, I threw all the bottles away, do you want a cup of milk or water?" He replied "water" so I gave him a cup of water, then when he was sleeping I hid all the bottles away where he would never see them just in case I got desperate at some point and needed one. .. We never looked back tho

[Lemonthyme]

My son (also 3.5) was using a sippy cup for milk (not other drinks) until 2 weeks ago.  Free flowing, thought about stopping, tried once when he was about 2 but he didn't want to give it up.  I knew he could, because he'd drink milk away from home in a normal cup.  I then read that even with free flowing sippy cups you're meant to stop them by 18 months.  Felt guilty (as Mummies do) and then decided to try again.  I gave him a choice of using the sippy cup with no lid or several other cups we had.  To my surprise he went for it straight away.  Initially he chose a small china cup but now has settled on the sippy cup (two handled) without a lid because he can control it better I guess.

So basically you might find it is way easier than you imagine but I'd probably switch straight to an open cup if you can.  Maybe use a straw to start with?

[Aishi]

I have tried giving him a choice.of cups even bought a.special one with him but he still wont drink it

 incidentally does anyone know how many oz of milk they need at 3+ if theyre having no other dairy?

[Lemonthyme]

To be honest I have no idea.  On a typical day though my son will have milk on his cereal and a cup of milk and milk will feature at some point elsewhere, e.g. yogurt and honey for pudding.  So he's probably having 2/3 - 1 pint of milk a day in total which is enough I think but my son is a big eater.

[Aishi]

Hmm i think im just going to have to bite the bullet and ditch the bottle... soon

[Aishi]

Helloo

Weve been bottle free since december but he still wont drink milk out of a cup or have it on cereal I have had success with the milk product trial and seems he isnt allergic anymore. Yay! Ive been trying to increase calcium through diet so getting breads, cereals with added calcium etc but not had much more success. He wont eat spinach, sardines, sprats etc. I have managed to get him to eat a cheese string per day but i still feel its not enough...?

So my question is can he have ice cream a few times per week or is that too much? (He isnt bothered about junk food usually- chocolate now and then). He likes fig biscuits...is that ok daily? and he loves having a sip of my tea so i was wondering if it would be ok to give him weak decaf tea made in milk? or is that a big no no? hes almost 4...

[creations]

I've given DS tea several times, he got into it over the winter as a warm drink, I use redbush which is naturally caffeine free and make it with a little hot water then top up with milk.  It was just a phase here but he was much much younger than yours. I remember a thread here some times back and quite a few LOs were drinking tea You could also add some milk powder to increase the calcium too.
Will he have those moist dried figs? I recently found some fig jam although that has sugar in but we just tried it for a change, what about either fig jam or pureed dried figs on toast etc or you can stir through custard or yoghurt if it makes those things more palatable for him??
Sultanas have lots of calcium too I think.
What about frozen yogurt?
Have you tried different cheeses? mozzarella is stringy/chewy a bit like cheese strings and really high in calcium, the blocks of it are even more like cheese string.
Have you tried milk shake or smoothy?
I recently found coconut milk powder which I can just stir through a cup of milk makes it taste very sweet and yummy even though there's no sugar.
Does he like apricots? kidney beans? Almonds?

Sorry can't answer on ice cream, my first thought is I wouldn't give it several times per week but I'm not in your position so who knows, I'd prob change my mind if I couldn't get anything else into him. What about whizzing sultanas or figs through yoghurt or milk pudding and freezing?? Don't know, just thinking there might be some reasonably easy recipe to make a healthier but tasty alternative?

[Aishi]

Hmm some.good ideas there, thanks! he wont eat figs altho he loves fruit! or yoghurts, custards etc, or jam so pureed fruit doesnt work. Sorry its not easy is it? lol i made frozen yoghurt a few times but he wont eat that either which is why i was thinking ice cream...

He will have almonds and raisins so i imagine he would be ok with sultanans too. Ill try those and look out for some cocunut milk powder and see if that will tempt him to try milk...thing is he is ok about drinking milk but just wants it in a bottle

[okinawamama]

What about a smoothie? Throwing tons of fruit with milk, yogurt and even spinach would be a great way to hide some high calcium foods.

[barbaraz78]

About the tea, I sometimes give F camomile, here some people give it also to infants (it used to be normal some years ago giving it to babies between feeds).
For icecream, here it is not considered junk. In fact, if you buy the hand made, there is milk, fruit, cream and sugar. I often do icecream at home, with just milk, sugar and fruit. So, really, it depends on what icecream you give it. I would prefer the hand made in icecream shops. I often give ice cream as snack when we are the beach during the summer.