My 21 month old refuses to drink her milk now. How can I reverse this?

Question

We recently got back from being in Europe for three weeks (2 in London and 1 in Belgium). She drank the milk in London sporadically and said it was yucky at times. But when we arrived in Belgium the milk there apparently has has turned her off so badly (she was gagging on it and literally almost threw up her cereal due to the taste) that will NOT drink any milk now that we're home. She will not even drink the organic milk I always brought for her prior to our holiday. She drank minimum three cups a day, now she doesn't drink any. It has me worried since she has really not had any milk for about three weeks now. I even brought her new sippy cups, straws, etc. and nothing works. Any suggestions on how I can get her to drink her milk again?? (And yes I know I can and have substituted with cheese and yogurt but I don't feel that is enough calcium for her).

Answer 1

Try putting a bit of nestle quik strawberry or chocolate flavouring powder or syrup. It has vitamins etc as well. If you want to stay away from the sugar I would suggest soy milk, or orange juice or canned fish or some other source of calcium. I think she was just turned off -give her time :-)

Answer 2

You can use the Nestle Quik or Ovaltine, even Carnation Instant Breakfast in the milk to make it flavored so she drinks it. Another thing to try if you don't want her to get filled up on chocolate or strawberry flavored milk is use a couple drops of food coloring to disguise the color. The food coloring makes the milk interesting and also helps teach her colors. Chances are she doesn't even want to drink the milk because the color of white milk reminds her of the yucky tasting milk she had on holiday. So by changing the color of it, she might drink it again. Also it might be fun for her to make new colors with it. Hope this helps some. Eventually she will go back to drinking milk, in the meantime just keep doing what you are doing and substituting other high calcium foods, also talk to her pediatrician about vitamins she can take as well. Good luck!

Answer 3

If you're substituting other high-calcium foods, like yogurt, cheese, calcium-enriched orange juice, etc., it will be enough. Talk to her doctor to make sure you're giving her the right amount of it to make up for the refusal to drink milk.

I would suggest offering her chocolate or strawberry-flavored milk to start out with. It'll add some extra calories, but it may be enough to get it in her. After a short time, gradually start weaning her back onto regular milk, mixing in less of the syrup until she's on pure milk again. When you offer it or fix it, don't call it milk, and don't let her see you mix it.

Call your child's pediatrician's office, and ask the doctor or a nurse. They'll be able to offer suggestions about how to get her to drink the milk and/or how to substitute it to be sure she gets the calcium she needs.

Answer 4

Some people disagree with this, but all babies in nature stop drinking milk after a certain age. It will not adversely affect her if she doesn't drink it at all. Just be sure that she gets her calcium from other sources, like you said. Milk doesn't have a ton of calcium, anyway. Good sources are cheese, yogurt but also broccoli, spinach, eggs and other whole foods. Don't worry about it!~

Answer 5

I would try adding some chocolate until she gets used to it and can try it without. Chocolate milk is better than no milk. Try putting just a little bit on her cereal. Enough to moisten the cereal but not enough for the cereal to be floating in it where she'll realize there's a bowl full of milk in front of her. Make her a homemade milkshake. Add a little ice cream or frozen yogurt to some milk and blend. You might want to call it slushy ice cream or something if you think she'll balk at the word "milk"shake. I think once she tastes it, she'll realize it's good but it's hard to convince a child that young to try something after she had a bad experience.

Answer 6

I wouldn't push her into drinking it, but if you feel that she should have milk, just tell her that not all milks are the same. Show her that every milk is different, and let her warm up to the concept. Try to make it fun for her. Show her fun ways in how to try new things. Have her try one taste, and if she still wont drink it, then wait a while, and try something else. Sooner or later she'll come around.

Answer 7

The human body is designed to be immediately and forever repulsed, to the point of vomiting, by anything that seemed suspect even once. She may never get over this. My 25 year-old still gags on beans because he got sick on chili when he was 4.

If you're sure that the dairy products you're using don't provide enough calcium, try salmon, broccoli, eggs, and fortified-cereal products. If all else fails, go to chewable vitamins with minerals.

Don't waste your time trying to reason with her. Life is too short to argue with a toddler.

Answer 8

She may be associating the color with the milk, if you dont want to add the sugar by using flavorings try adding just a drop of food coloring to the white milk and letting her stir to make magic, she will be more likly to drink it then. Also, there is yobaby yogurt at the store (with different flavors) that is made with whole milk you could try.

Answer 9

Try doing 1/2 milk and 1/2 water and then gradually decreasing the water.

Answer 10

My son won't drink milk...so I give him yogurt drinks and top them up with milk. I also give him a children's vitamin to make sure that he gets the calcium that he needs