Sahail AshrafWeaning
November 10th 2006 01:39
There seems to be so much differing opinion and advice out there on weaning from the bottle or breast onto the cup and cow's milk. Some experts say to wean at 12 months, others anywhere up to two years of age or more.
I raise the topic because I am going through issues with weaning my 18 month old and there seems to be so much grey area with it.
I guess my issue is slightly different to most because my baby never took to the breast, or the bottle either, for that matter. We had endless battles trying to get her to take milk but it would often end in a screaming, hungry baby. Eventually, we managed to overcome all that and she ended up taking the bottle but now I am dreading weaning.
I have managed to drop one of her bottles so she's down to two but she flat out refuses to take any milk, whether it be formula, or cow's milk, from a cup. She'll happily drink water - But milk? No way is this little girl having a drop of it. I don't mind one bottle going because I'm careful to supplement the amount with plenty of cheese and yoghurt etc. But I do worry she won't be getting enough calcium once the bottles are eventually all dropped and she refuses the cup.
There's plenty of information out there on weaning but there's never any mention of babies or toddlers not liking milk. It's always assumed that they love their milk. I wonder why this is? When I found my daughter hated milk as a baby I ended up finding out about many other women who were in the same position. Some were having even more trouble than me, with one woman having to take her baby in to be fed through an IV tube because she'd lost too much weight.
So, I'll just have to brave it alone and get rid of those bottles. I'll just have to make sure there's plenty of cheese and yoghurt on hand!
I raise the topic because I am going through issues with weaning my 18 month old and there seems to be so much grey area with it.
I guess my issue is slightly different to most because my baby never took to the breast, or the bottle either, for that matter. We had endless battles trying to get her to take milk but it would often end in a screaming, hungry baby. Eventually, we managed to overcome all that and she ended up taking the bottle but now I am dreading weaning.
I have managed to drop one of her bottles so she's down to two but she flat out refuses to take any milk, whether it be formula, or cow's milk, from a cup. She'll happily drink water - But milk? No way is this little girl having a drop of it. I don't mind one bottle going because I'm careful to supplement the amount with plenty of cheese and yoghurt etc. But I do worry she won't be getting enough calcium once the bottles are eventually all dropped and she refuses the cup.
There's plenty of information out there on weaning but there's never any mention of babies or toddlers not liking milk. It's always assumed that they love their milk. I wonder why this is? When I found my daughter hated milk as a baby I ended up finding out about many other women who were in the same position. Some were having even more trouble than me, with one woman having to take her baby in to be fed through an IV tube because she'd lost too much weight.
So, I'll just have to brave it alone and get rid of those bottles. I'll just have to make sure there's plenty of cheese and yoghurt on hand!
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Comment by Adele
Lost Fanatic
Day Break TV
Have you seen this list of calcium sources? It's meant for vegetarians, hence the large variety of beans, but it also has the calcium content of peanut butter and eggs, if your kid will eat those. If you're lucky enough to have a kid that eats green vegetables, then you don't need milk anyway.
Comment by Andrea
V8 Supercar Pitstop
My daughter was the same. She loved breast milk and didn't want to swap that for cow's milk, so she wouldn't touch it. My sister-in-law suggested I try flavoured milk. It's not the ideal alternative due to the added sugar but if you put, say, half-and-half cow's milk and flavoured into a cup and try that, it could work.
Each day, or two, just start putting a little less flavoured and a little more plain milk into the cup until, eventually, your daughter will be drinking mainly plain milk.
It worked for my daughter, although she's never been a big fan of milk she did start drinking it.
Hope you get it all sorted out soon. Good luck.
A.H.
Comment by Candice
Thanks heaps for that link. I hadn't seen that list before. There are quite a few things my daughter will eat off it! I was hoping I could find some other calcium sources so I didn't have to stress so much if she won't have the milk. This will be a great help!
Comment by Candice
I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one whose child doesn't go for the cow's milk. At the moment I'm giving my daughter one quarter toddler formula to three quarters cow's milk and she'll take it that way. But it's really expensive (especially as she doesn't go through the whole tin in a month when it expires).
I think I'll look into the flavoured milk idea, which I could maybe use in the cup to get her to take that over the bottle. Thanks for the idea! The toddler formula apparently has quite a bit of sugar anyway (which I only just discovered).