1 yr old and only 16 oz milk a day?!?

PenguinGirl06

We just had our one year appt today. ?Still BF (every 4-5 hours or so), but hoping to wean in the next few months. ?I asked how much cow's milk he should get and she said 16 oz. ?Isn't that only 2 bottles?? (he hasn't taken a bottle in ages, so I don't really know what they're supposed to get in a day) ?That doesn't seem like a lot...

What did your pedi advise you and how much does/did your 1 year old drink?

micaela27

it's definitely hard to adjust to a toddler mindset when you're used to giving milk milk milk all day long to an infant....  but your pedi is absolutely right (and bravo to her for sticking to the true limit!  so many are too lax with the milk rules and kids get overfed milk a lot as a result of improper doctors' advice during the second year of life).

ben only needs about 500mg of calcium daily and that is satisfied with about 16-18oz of milk per day.  the fact that you're still BFing him means he's getting even more calcium than he needs.  this doesn't mean you need to stop feeding him cow's milk altogether, but if (for example) you said he hated milk and refused to drink it, that wouldn't concern me at all since he's still being fed from your body so much and is therefore getting a good amount of calcium from that BM too.

the tricky part about overfeeding milk is that calcium actually binds with and hinders the absorption of iron in the digestive system.  oftentimes you'll see kids who are fed WAY too much milk having low iron levels (anemia) as a result of this imbalance of nutrients.  it's nothing to stress about if he has a bit extra here and there but if he was getting 6 cups of milk a day i'd definitely speak up with some level of concern

bottomline, 16oz is good...  and if he only did 8 or 12 or whatever, that's fine too as long as he's still getting BF a few times a day and/or eating yogurt and other milk-heavy products.

shoot me an email if you have any more questions - i'm glad to help.

lldags

sounds right, my pedi said 12-20 ounces a day so we were still doing 3 bottles a day (6 oz each) at first...equaling about 18 oz total....Now he is only on a sippy cup so i try and eyeball it and offer it to him with each meal and also at other times if i notice he is not drinking it.  So if at breakfast he doens't drink a  lot, i offer him some later in the morning.  I hope I'm staying in the right amounts but it is hard when I am just eyeballing it right now!

Good luck! 

PenguinGirl06

Thank you. ?I haven't given him any milk yet. ?Should I give it to him cold the first time I give it to him or warm it up? ?Sorry if I sound stupid...just wondering what the best way to introduce it is and I forgot to ask at his appt today...

micaela27

nutritionally, it won't matter either way.  realistically speaking, though, you're just setting yourself up for a lifetime of warming up milk for him if you start now!  i'd go cold   don't be surprised if he doesn't take to it at first.  it's a new food and a new temperature (and possibly a new method if you haven't used the sippy too much with him yet) so he may need some time to adjust.  just keep offering it in small quantities until he gets the hang of it!

love10

I wish I had Miceala's knowledge!

micaela27

you're always welcome to ask any nutrition related questions   i don't post much anymore but i do still check daily and love to help out when i can.

love10

I also wish I could spell!!

I may take you up on your offer - Sam has food allergies and things pop up every once in awhile. 

 

MyNameHere

We do 16 oz a day in four, 4oz sippy cups.  I BF until a year as well and we were shocked how easily she took to cold milk out of a sippy. DD goes to day care so we just followed their schedule which is 4oz at 10am and 4oz at 2pm.  We switched her over during the day at 11 months since I was tired of pumping and day care provides the milk/cups. At 12 months we added 4 oz with breakfast and 4 oz with dinner and I was done BF. It was MUCH easier than I thought it would be. We use the 16 oz as a rough guide sometimes she wants more and we give it to her and other times she doesn't drink it all and we don't worry about it.

PenguinGirl06

MyNameHere:

We do 16 oz a day in four, 4oz sippy cups.? I BF until a year as well and we were shocked how easily she took to cold milk out of a sippy. DD goes to day care so we just followed their schedule which is 4oz at 10am and 4oz at 2pm.? We switched her over during the day at 11 months since I was tired of pumping and day care provides the milk/cups. At 12 months we added 4 oz with breakfast and 4 oz with dinner and I was done BF. It was MUCH easier than I thought it would be. We use the 16 oz as a?rough guide sometimes she wants more and we give it to her and other times she doesn't drink it all and we don't worry about it.

Thank you very much! ?Advice from another BF mom is awesome. ?Now, if I only could get him to actually drink from the sippy (only tried water and very,very watered down juice so far) rather than play with it and chuck it across the room. ?I'm going to try giving him some after the holidays are over, wish me luck!?

Mrs. Nicolian

I just wanted to wish you good luck in your transition. You have gotten some excellent advice. That's also about how much my son drinks in a day.

lldags

Weighing in late on this again but I wanted to say hang in there if he only plays at first.  The first time I gave Ryan straight milk he took one sip and said "Ahh daaaaa" (his version of All Done) and handed it back to me - like no way mom am I drinking this! We just kept at it and kept offering and now he is very good with it.  Sometimes he hangs onto it for awhile and it takes him an hour to drink the cup but he does it.  Keep at it! I also agree that you should not warm it b/c then you will always have to and it is not so easy to provide warm milk when out and about but cold milk you can find anywhere!