June 2008 Weddings
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
f/u: whole milk- I still need help!
Whole milk never went well. He would take a drink and let it dribble out his mouth then throw his cup down. We kept trying but eventually quit offering.
I bought almond milk and it's not much better. He will take *a* drink of it then shake his head and refuse anymore.
He's down to one nursing session a day, and only on one side, so I know he's not getting much.
He still eats yogurt every day, but now he's refusing cheese which used to be a favorite.
Any other ideas?
Re: f/u: whole milk- I still need help!
I asked my pedi about this since O refuses to drink milk, and he said not to worry about it and give her orange juice. He said she doesn't need as much milk as I think she does, and that OJ would be fine for the calcium.
Now the problem is that she doesn't really drink OJ either, so I'll have to ask about it at her next appointment.
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We had a long conversation with our pedi about this at her 1-year well-baby. I can't remember if I already posted this, and if I did, I apologize for being repetitive.
But our pedi said that if she doesn't want it--fine. Seriously, fine.
I know this part doesn't apply to you, but in case it does to someone else--she also said that if she's refusing the bottle completely... GOOD! She said it's time to give up the bottle around 12 months, and if Nora was pushing it away already, we're 10 steps ahead from the get-go.
As for the milk itself, she told us to keep offering it in a sippy, but to act very casual about it. If she drinks it, great. If she doesn't, OK. She said that the more stressed we appeared to be about it, the greater problems we would have because Nora would pick up on it. At this point, we weren't even really able to get Nora to take WATER in the sippy, so I was concerned about her not getting enough liquids. I told the pedi we were down to two nursing sessions, and she actually encouraged me to go ahead and drop the last two (if I was ready to do so). And, we went ahead and dropped the morning one. Still going with the bedtime one (for now).
In the end, she essentially said that Nora would not starve. She would not dehydrate herself to prove a point. She would take what she needs, which is substantially less than it used to be. So, we've left it at that.
FWIW, Nora has been getting better and better with drinking out of the sippy. At first, we had some luck getting her to take water with meals. Then, I started introducing cow's milk again--I actually mixed it with water! Sounds stupid/gross, but it's worked. I started with about half cow's milk/half water, and now I've bumped it up to 3/4 cow's milk and 1/4 water. And you know what? She drinks it. And this is coming from the kid who totally refused to even put the sippy cup in her mouth a few weeks ago.
Oh, and pedis will differ on this, but just to offer another perspective--our pedi said that she does NOT recommend offering juice. Like, at all. Nora has never had any, and I was not in any hurry to give it to her, so I was happy to hear this. She said that it's loaded with sugar and calories that are really not beneficial, and any of the vitamins and nutrients garnered from juice can be had from other sources. She said that introducing juice just makes it harder on us, because once they have that--why would they want to go back to drinking water? Again, just one perspective and I know not everyone would agree with that. But our pedi is REALLY big on combating childhood obesity and starting healthy eating habits very young (it's an area in which she is sort of a specialist, works with school programs, etc.), so I do trust her judgment in that area (plus, it just makes sense to me).
Good luck. Don't stress. I know you said you're worried because of his weight gain (or lack thereof), but I think this all just comes with the territory of having a toddler (like Jill said).
And sorry so long!
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I need to try to watering down trick with the milk because honestly, when I'm eating cereal in the mornings, she wants my cereal and will drink the milk that comes with it coming from the spoon..but I use 1% milk..so I really think the thickness of the whole milk is what throws her off.
And my pedi said no juice until she is 1. We started sippys with water when she was 6 months and she got the hang of it pretty quickly, but when she was about 10 months and only wanted table food..we had serious constipation issues. I called the pedi and one of the nurses told me to give her apple juice..and after I said the doctor said not to until she is 1...she said I either had the option to give her some apple juice to get her going, or use a suppository. I chose the juice haha. Since then, we give her one sippy of apple juice in the mornings just to keep her regular cause the kid was freaking miserable not being able to poop everyday. It has not deterred her from her water at all..she loves her water that she drinks throughout the rest of the day. But like Heather said..it really is different for every kid. Our friends have a 2 year old who they also gave juice to when she was younger to keep her regular, and now she won't go anywhere near a sippy of water.
Peanit--Give the mixing thing a try. You never know. I was a little hesitant to do it at first, I guess because they always say NEVER to dilute formula or breastmilk with water, blah blah. But that's different. I figured that if I could get her to take a LITTLE milk, it would be better than her not taking ANY, so I went ahead and did it. Lo and behold, it has seemed to work. Like Olivia, Nora would take milk in cereal--especially if it was mine! And whole milk is very thick (so gross).
And yeah, my brother and SIL had to give my nephew apple juice starting at six months for constipation issues, too. I know that there are legitimate reasons for giving juice like that. Prune juice, too. But in the case where you are just trying to get a kid to take liquids, I think my pedi was just saying that it's better to just keep offering milk/water as opposed to trying to entice with juice, you know? Slippery slope, because then you might NEVER get them to take milk or water (like your friend).
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I'll give that a try (mixing) and if it still doesn't work, just stop stressing over it.
He LOVES water and drinks probably 20 ounces a day. Loves it. He used to drink about 2 ounces of pear juice a day for constipation, but since he hasn't had issues with that for awhile we cut that out too. But, that's fine by me... if he drinks water I'll give him all he wants! 
Thanks ladies. I think sometimes you just need to hear "it's OKAY!"
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