Help for a friend...

[We Three]

 So my friend is nanny to a beautiful 12 mo old baby that she has been caring for since birth.  His parents are weaning him from BM, and right now his Mom is away for a week and there is no more BM.  The baby has refused all fluids.  Prior to this, they offered him BM with a tablespoon of almond milk added, and he refuses it. They ultimately are going to switch him over to the almond milk, so they planned on transitioning him slowly, but he refuses it no matter how small the amount mixed in.
 It is sooooo hot here now, and other than offering him fruits and things with high water content, what else can she do for him to make this easier?  My feeling is that he might just not like almond milk....?

[deb]

If the heat there is anything like the heat here, I'd be putting liquid in a syringe and giving it to the child like medicine. Better a little at a time than none at all.

Might he take something like diluted fruit juice or diluted coconut water?

[aisling]

How are they offering it to him?  Ds was BF'd until 19 months. Breast Milk came from a breast or cows milk came from a bottle.  He loved his water from his sippy straw cup.  Milky tea was in his fave mug.  I tried to give him milk in the sippy cup and no way!

Just wondering if this could be the case. Will he not drink water from a sippy or open cup? 

[michaeljacknnugg]

Why almond milk?

[*Ali*]

Does he normally drink water and eat a decent amount of solid food?  If so I'd just stick with that and offer solids alongside a cup of water. They don't want to replace all breastfeeds with almond milk as it isn't nearly as nutritious. If weaning BFs after 12mo they need to replace it with a variety of solids to provide all the nutrients he needs not just an alternative milk in the same quantities .

Have they tried a straw? Either a baby cup with a built in straw or a normal open cup with a straw in it. The sucking motion is similar to breastfeeding apparently.

Will he eat soup?

[We Three]

 Oh gosh I don't know the answers to any of those questions.  I do know he is MSPI and he eats everything in sight, because my friend makes all his food from scratch.  She was making him sweet potato fries in the oven when I called her earlier. 

 I'm going to ask her how they are giving it to him.....

 Not sure why they chose almond milk out of all the others.  It has alot of sugar.   

[nwmm]

Fingers crossed the baby will give in and have some liquids.

A syringe is a clever idea.

I'm surprised about the almond milk and sugar. I'll buy unsweetened, for myself, and there is hardly any sugar. I love milk and realized years ago it must be bc of the sugar.

[We Three]

  So I learned that they have tried almost everything and he still refuses.  I suggested that they just leave cups of water around the house and stop pressuring and cajoling. I suggested that she leave like 4 or 5 sippy cups around (the straw kind and the suck kind)  in the areas he frequents and just leave him be and see if that works. I have a gut feeling that if they stop offering, he will do it on his own.  I sensed him simply feeling pressure.   

 Funny enough, I saw him the other day and he was very interested in my water bottle. I offered him a sip and he was game! Except most of it spilled down his front...lol.   I poured some water into the cap and he sucked down like 7 capfuls. My friend was like  .

 Kids are so funny.      Sometimes the "stranger effect" is successful.      I'm sure if they tried the same thing later he'd refuse. 

[*Ali*]

He'll get there soon then by the sound of it.