How much milk/dairy does your toddler get?

watercolor5 · February 2014

Sophia recently decided she'll no longer drink milk before bedtime or her nap. Now I'm worried that she's not getting enough dairy since she only drinks milk at meals, and less of it than she used to before sleeping. (She does get other forms of dairy like cheese, yogurt, etc...)

I know we've answered this question a million times, but the answer keeps changing as our toddlers get older. How much milk is your S12 LO getting per day? How much dairy in other forms? Thanks!

redneckmomma25 · February 2014

I've always limited milk, however, I really don't have to. I can barely get her to finish one full sippy of milk. She'll maybe have some yogurt or cheese during the day. Mostly drinks water.

cmarie520 · February 2014

DS drinks milk 3x per day, about 8oz each. He gets milk first thing in the morning, after his nap and before bed. Our pedi suggested not doing milk at meals, because he will fill up on it and not eat enough food. He won't eat much cheese but if he is refusing most protein I know I can get him to eat some greek yogurt.

linzeek44 · February 2014

E nurses in the morning, drinks 6 ounces at school, nurses at 5pm and at 7 pm.
He typically has dairy in at least one of his meals at school and one meal at home.

OceanLover26 · February 2014

Dex has milk before his nap and bedtime. I give water all other times of day, with exception of some orange juice with breakfast sometimes. He will eat yogurt but he isn't a fan of cheese. I guess he gets 2-3 servings of dairy a day. This week I bought myself some almond milk and he had that in replacement of his regular milk a few times. It was a big hit.

bosha711 · February 2014

She's just recently taken to milk. She drinks about 10 oz per day. She eats cheese 1-2 times a day. She has yogurt maybe 2 times a week.

She also nurses 1-2 times a day.

DS was stubborn about milk at first too, but eventually he was drinking like 25 oz a day & I had to start limiting him.

miss50 · February 2014

20 - 24 oz a day. Not much water. I've been trying to keep water around, but she always goes to the milk cup. If I offer water at meal time, she won't touch it at all. Milk with all meals.

mrsbhk22 · February 2014

16-20oz of milk a day. She also drinks 6-10oz of water a day. She usually eats a cheese stick for bed and yogurt at breakfast. She only drinks water and milk (has had AJ <5 times).

My boys both disliked milk. They didn't really drink it regularly until about 4 yrs old. DS2 still isn't a big fan, but now he does ok. DS1 had dairy issues so he drinks almond milk instead (like DH).

LyndseylovesHugh · February 2014

Audrey loves dairy, she has a sippy cup of milk with each meal and before bed and she eats cheese and sometimes yogurt. I always have a sippy of water out during the day and she will drink some, we don't give her juice or any other liquid. Her pedi just told us to to offer a well-balanced meal and not worry about measuring out how much milk she is consuming.

ktnicole · February 2014

L gets almond milk with breakfast and water throughout the day. I don't think kids need to drink a ton of milk if they are eating well. She has yogurt 1x day as well.

AlinnJo · February 2014

LO nurses before nap and bed time and once (ugh) at night. She has not had any other form of milk. She gets dairy at lunch and dinner time and sometimes for a snack. She drinks water all day too.

ellebee2 · February 2014

S drinks about 16 oz of wcm a day. She also has about a cup of plain yogurt with breakfast most days and about an oz of cheese per day.

MeatballEsq · February 2014

He probably only drinks about 6-8 oz a day. I try to supplement with other dairy, like yogurt, cheese, etc.

CdnFarmGirl08 · February 2014

N gets 8oz before bed and sometimes about 4oz during the night when he wakes. I send a 8oz sippy cup to the sitter's and somedays he will drink it all and somedays he won't touch it.
He drinks water the rest of the time.
He gets cheese maybe every other day and has yogurt for snack everyday before bed.

BeebopandBuddy · February 2014

My kids are milk-monsters so I really have to push water. They would drink milk all day constantly. They get 3-4 8 oz. cups a day.

melody921 · February 2014

DD gets 2.5-3 cups a day. She eats cheese, yogurt, etc., but not every day.

watercolor5 · February 2014

cmarie520 said:

DS drinks milk 3x per day, about 8oz each. He gets milk first thing in the morning, after his nap and before bed. Our pedi suggested not doing milk at meals, because he will fill up on it and not eat enough food. He won't eat much cheese but if he is refusing most protein I know I can get him to eat some greek yogurt.

My daughter seems to be the opposite... she'll prefer the food every time, and if she's only getting milk at meals, she tends to only drink 4-6oz in a day. She eats really well, so I'm not so worried about the well-balanced aspect, I just worry that she's not getting enough fat, and know dairy is an easy/healthy way to up the fat in her diet.

She prefers water to milk for the most part, and I think she prefers 1 or 2% to whole. I've had some luck with drinkable yogurt because she likes the independence of drinking it with a straw, but she's really hit or miss with regular yogurt. Thank goodness for cheese

plus12012 · February 2014

M&M definitely prefers water to milk. She gets about 18 - 20 oz. of milk a day all at meals . She loves cheese and yogurt so she gets extra dairy from that. Our pediatrician seems to think that is sufficient.

bosha711 · February 2014

cmarie520 said:

DS drinks milk 3x per day, about 8oz each. He gets milk first thing in the morning, after his nap and before bed. Our pedi suggested not doing milk at meals, because he will fill up on it and not eat enough food. He won't eat much cheese but if he is refusing most protein I know I can get him to eat some greek yogurt.

This is what we did with DS since he wasn't a big eater - he'd have milk with his morning & afternoon snack & then before bed. He'd have water with his meals.

With DS, she loves to eat, but isn't drinking a lot of milk right now, so filling up on milk luckily isn't a concern.

Nita2603 · February 2014

We just got rid if bottles and neither of the kids has had a drop of milk since. Apparently, milk can only be had from a bottle.
I hope they get over that. If they don't, we'll have to eat a lot more yogurt and drink smoothies. Lots of them.

Holly_1007 · February 2014

@cheeseandrice why 2% and not whole? Not judging just curious.

Holly_1007 · February 2014

Huh. That's cool! Part of the reason I haven't switched to cows milk was because I dread buying 2 different milk options for the 2 boys.

Holly_1007 · February 2014

The boys each have yogurt and a cheese stick at some point during the day. Keagan has milk with 2 meals a day and Colby is still nursing 4x per day.

BPer · February 2014

Hannah drinks maybe 20oz a day. She gets milk when she first wakes up, mostly because she wakes up famished, and I don't have time to make something before she freaks out. She also drinks it before bed.

She also has 1 pediasure per day due to weight gain issues, and she loves yogurt and cheese as well.

linzeek44 · February 2014

Does anyone get nervous about iron absorption? From the research I've read, over 16 ounces can interfere with iron absorption and I guess I'm probably just irrationally harping on that.

watercolor5 · February 2014

linzeek44 said:

Does anyone get nervous about iron absorption? From the research I've read, over 16 ounces can interfere with iron absorption and I guess I'm probably just irrationally harping on that.

I don't worry about it because DD loves to eat meat, and her iron levels were good the last time they checked. In her case since she's in a lower weight percentile, I'd probably just add trivisol plus iron before I'd limit her milk intake, but she's drinking way less than 16oz a day right now anyway...

misspunky · February 2014

DD doesn't really drink much milk anymore. She picks ice water over milk 100% of the time. She does, however, get 2-3 string cheese a day per her request, and she gets her yololo (greek activia yogurt) at breakfast.

Pokedot · February 2014

My child is a dairy addict. He loves milk and gets it at each meal. A full straw cup worth. Sometimes more. In between meals he'll get water unless he asks for more milk. He eats cheese much better now and yogurt is a favorite too. I'm not worried about his dairy intake at all.

Stasi · February 2014

Kate drinks maybe a sippy and a half a day (so what is that, like 12 oz, maybe a littel more) of milk. She also gets some cheese and yogurt everyday.

My doctor said we are officially out of the stage of needing to worry about milk intake as long as she's getting healthy meals and snacks and not losing tons of weight we are fine.

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