how to make LO want to drink milk?

Pleione

I am at my wits' end about what to do about LO and her milk drinking issues. She is still drinking milk out of a bottle, and never mind that, I am still holding it for her! The holding it for her is completely our fault of course - it was because we hated seeing her not getting any milk out as she couldn't tip the bottle up, so we stopped letting her try. The background to all this is that we've been constantly worried about her weight, and more than that, whether she's getting adequate nutrition. The kid hates food and drink and would happily live on air if she could. Her weight is probably around the 25th percentile, but that is only because of all the tricks we have come up with to make her drink/ eat.

She does drink out of a straw cup (which is how she gets her water), but if you put milk in it, only 4 oz get drunk at the end of the day, rather than the 18oz she has with the bottle. So the issue isn't even how to get her to drink out of a cup - she does fine, doesn't miss the bottle one bit - but rather it's how to get her to want to drink her milk, period! (She won't drink it by herself even if it is in the bottle - will take a couple of sips and stop). I would just let her get the 4oz from the cup and be done with it if she was eating enough, but she is a terrible, terrible eater (eats regular food, just very little at a time). So at the moment, I am choosing getting 18oz of milk into her instead of encouraging independent feeding. Is there a better way?

tiredmomsclub

When going through the transition from bottle to straw cups with Zayne he much preferred the bottle to the straw cups. He liked that he could get more milk out faster from the bottle.

So I ended up just taking away the bottles all together and he eventually realized that he wasn't going to get the bottles anymore, and he had better just drink out of his straw cup.

Hope you figure out something that works for you soon. The transitions can be so frustrating!

Pleione

hijoi said:

She's playing you like a violin. Cut out the bottle and the water. She'll drink it from a cup in two days.

Yes, it sure does seem that way I know, but she really is absolutely disinterested in food/ milk. Just doesn't give a toss, which is why I suspect she can't even be bothered to hold her own bottle. To be clear, she won't drink milk out of a bottle either unless it's held for her - so its not a bottle versus cup issue as she can drink out of a cup perfectly well and doesn't miss the bottle. We've cut out the bottle a few times - she just ends up dehydrated, doesn't fuss for the bottle or miss her milk one bit - happily drinks from a cup, but so very little. Just refuses to drink more than 4 oz either method - unless I am holding the bottle for her and she's totally distracted (eg watching her fave show, etc). Pedi tells us she'll eat/ drink when she's hungry. Well this one won't!

Pleione

stephaniefine said:

Can you try some smoothies ? Maybe milk mixed with fruit or yogurt so it is sweeter. And slowly increase the amount of milk and decrease the fruit.

Pedi suggested this too. Still disinterested.

Pleione

hijoi said:

Well, I guess you're fucked.

Don't I know it

DeniseRN

It sounds like a war of the wills. Cold turkey it. She won't starve in a few days

DeniseRN

Andddddd cows milk isn't completely necessary. It's just an easy source of fat and protein and calcium. If she will eat yogurt or cheese and eat meat, tofu or beans, don't stress. Humans don't haaaaave to have cows milk.

Pleione

DeniseRN said:

It sounds like a war of the wills. Cold turkey it. She won't starve in a few days

You might be right about a war of the wills. And she always wins because we just can't sit aside and see her go without liquids for more than 24 hours without caving in (she doesn't exactly drink a lot of water either). Okay, so maybe we just have to steel ourselves to last more than a couple of days. This is going to be terribly hard though, seeing her eat/ drink hardly anything and worrying about constipation issues when I know I could get the liquid into her through the usual means.