Bedtime for baby who doesn't like milk

[lucmom]

Hi,
I've been trying to get my lo to switch to cow's milk for about three weeks (he's 12 1/2 months old).  Sometimes he'll take a few oz during his 2 daytime feeds, but as I wean him from his night feed, I'm wondering what others who have babies who don't like milk do for their bedtime routines.  It seems odd to offer him a sippy of water then put him to bed, but I'm not sure what else to do. 

And, what should a 12 month's old eating schedule look like besides the 3 meals a day?  We've been doing bottles after his two naps, but when he doesn't take the milk, I don't know if I should offer a snack or just wait until the next meal.

thanks!

[cjwagner77]

My dd is 23 months old.  Since she was about 12 months we have used the following guidelines.  Generally, breakfast with a smoothie, mid-morning snack with milk, lunch with water, afternoon snack with milk, dinner with water.  We recently switched her to milk with meals and water with her snacks and she has done just fine.  I can't remember exactly when, but I think it was around or before her first birthday that she just stopped having milk with bedtime.  I would offer it and she wouldn't drink it, so I just quit giving it to her.  DD didn't have a problem switching to milk.  We went slowly with one cup every 1.5-2 weeks.  (I think at 12 months, she was doing about 3-4 cups a day.)  A friend found that her daughter wouldn't drink milk from a sippy cup, but loves it from a straw cup.  You could try that as well.

Crystal

[alyssa1]

What was she on before milk?  Could be the taste difference. I know when we did the switch we did it over 3 weeks and gradually increased the amount of milk in the bottle.
Our son is 17months and he has 4 bottles of milk a day (lots!!) but these are with/just after his meals and then water/juice inbetween his meals with his snacks.  Sometimes he won't take his before bed bottle and we don't worry about it, he sitll sleeps fine but we also offer him a small snack before bed too.  I know my sister's 17month old girl only has 2 bottles of milk a day - 1 in the morning and one at dinner, the rest is water and juice.  I think it all depends - if you feel she is getting enough dairy from other products, I wouldn't worry too much.

[lucmom]

Thanks for the advice!  He's taken a couple of bottles with milk lately, and I tried milk with a little chocolate flavoring as an experiment, and he drank it just fine, so I'm pretty sure it's not the texture, but that sometimes he just doesn't want milk!  I'm going to try it with fruit in smoothies, and at snacks as suggested and we'll see how it goes.  Thanks again.

[thitz]

My dd didn't want milk before bed from about 6months old till just recently.  We gave her two little pots of yogurt instead.  That way they still get dairy and lots of calories so they'll last thru the night.

Also, there's one lady here that gives a bowl of weetabix soaked in milk before bed.  Apparently it soaks up a ton of milk!

[Mom2X&F&V]

I was going to ask the same question today. Dd does not like milk. I´ve tried, vanilla, strawberry, chocolate, cereal, and still she wouldn´t drink any. So the question is: How does your schedule looks like. Her last feeding is at 5 and then it was milk, but now? Should I feed her at 6 and put her in bed at 7? Are there enough calories until 7 am next morning? I never thought of a baby not liking milk, ever....  It has been hard accepting it.  So can you please shar meals without milk? She loves cheese and yougurt and frois cheese though....  Thanks for any advice......
I am a bit desperate here.....

[lucmom]

Hi Mom2Ximena,
Well, what we ended up doing was ensuring that our LO got enough yogurt, chesse, etc. during the day to be sure that his dairy needs were met.  I put milk in his cereal and oatmeal as well to try to introduce it.  He ended up really liking soy milk in one specific type of sippy cup (a little one that we would let him carry around as he was getting used to it).  I had to be really persistent about offering it and one day he just took it.

We're just about to wean the nighttime feed, and what I'm planning to do is dinner at 5:30-6:00 (he's transitioning to one nap so we're on the early side for bedtime right now), and then bedtime routine and bath, then milk and a cracker, brush teeth, and bed.  I think that they don't really need that last snack for the calories until morning as long as you've been offering food all day.  (We do breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, and then the routine I just described). 

It's clear that your Dd is getting her dairy, so just keep trying with the milk.  My doctor and a doula I talked to both said don't worry if they don't like the milk.  They change so quickly; hopefully she'll surprise you soon.