Amount of Milk Per Day

rsideemd · October 2013

At LO's one year checkup, her pediatrician said she should be drinking 12-16 oz. of milk per day. Things were going fine for the first few days, but the past four days she has only been drinking maybe 10 oz. I called the nurse at her doctor's office and they said as long as she's eating fine the 10oz. a day should be OK. I just personally don't think that's right. She used to drink 24 oz. a day before the appointment. I know this is going to sound odd, but she is refusing to drink her milk in the afternoon or right before her bedtime. She takes it fine first thing in the morning and when she has her first nap of the day (around 10-11). I've been trying to figure out what has happened in the past four days that has changed. The only thing I can think of is that we're not with her and my MIL is watching her. She tends to overfeed her and I'm wondering if that's why she's not wanting her milk later on. She names off all of these foods that LO has had during the day and it just seems like a lot to me. Does that sound odd? Could that be the reason she doesn't want it? Or am I worrying over nothing?

I'm thinking about calling her pediatrician's office again tomorrow, because she was out of the office by the time I called today. Oh, and it's difficult to get to go fall asleep now. When she would take her milk, she would go to bed fine and barely make any sound. Since Monday, she cries for 10-15 minutes before she falls asleep. I just don't know what to do to make her drink.

mamatotwins0812 · October 2013

The idea behind getting that allotment of milk is to get the fat and calcium. It's basically just an easy way to get those nutrients, similiar to drinking a glass of OJ to get vitamin c. If she is eating enough, chances are she's getting those nutrients anyway and the milk is just a bonus. So in short, I wouldn't worry much about how much she's drinking as long as she's gaining weight and has wet diapers. It does make sense that if she's eating more, she wouldn't want the milk. It is very filling for little tummies.

henrytviii · October 2013

I worried about this a lot initially as well . Ultimately I haven't been able to get my LO to drink much milk since we stopped breastfeeding and the bottle between 12 and 13 months, He drinks 4-6oz of milk a day maximum, and at least half of the time has less than 2oz. Pedi would prefer he had more as its an easy source of key nutrients but isn't worried. DS is very healthy. We do have to be careful about his diet and we try to do a full fat yogurt most days. I wouldn't worry about it at all if she is eating well. As pp said, just make sure she's getting enough vitamin D, fat and calcium but they can come from other sources than milk.

Fours days of refusal also doesn't mean that she'll refuse it forever. Someone told me to look at what toddler's eat in week long segments. I know you are a little before this stage but in a few months you might find there are days when she eats almost nothing at all followed by a few days where she never stops eating.

Ashes_3 · October 2013

My son does 10-12 oz of soy milk a day. His pedi said that is fine with his food. We used to give him yogart about every day, but milk allergies stopped that. As long as they are getting milk, yogart and cheese they are doing okay for their calcium.

aeh72 · October 2013

DS (18 months) gets, on average, 15 oz a day. At daycare, he gets his milk with snacks not with meals so, generally speaking, by the time he's ready for snack, he's usually hungry so he wants the milk. We try to do the same thing on the weekends but sometimes he ends up getting his milk with lunch and when we do that there are occasions when he either ends up drinking less milk or eating less food because he gets full faster. So maybe look into when your MIL is trying to give her milk and to not necessarily do it with her bigger meals.

All that said, I wouldn't be overly worried about 10 oz/day during a 4 day period. Give it a bit more time and if you need to, as other posters suggested, you can always supplement with things like yogurt and cheese.

smileybabyboy · October 2013

DS will sit and drink his milk rather than eat his food at meals. Today at his appt, his pedi said he should have no more than 24 oz and suggested giving him his meal then his milk after so he doesn't drink so much. So with your situation, I think if LO is eating enough, the amount of milk is not very important. I think it's probably more important to push the solids and water rather than the milk. Pedi also said since DS is getting a bottle of milk before bed, to maybe switch it out with water instead.

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