Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Does your kid refuse to drink milk?

Often, I find it strange hearing mothers complain their kids hate milk and refuse to sip even a bit. I hear versions of, "Oh, I have tried it in cornflakes, with a tinge of Milo/Bournvita/ Chocolate to give it a different flavor and ultimately forceful feeding but nothing works." This sounded rather strange to me for I've never had any difficulty in getting LG to drink milk.

Almost with everything else that I've had no trouble with LG be it his sleep patterns or feeding habits, the moment I acknowledged it in public I had jinxed the process. No sooner would I admit in public to another mother that LG would start acting crazy what was so natural to him until then. It was the same with his milk drinking habit too and I had myself to kick. LG's friend's mom asked me how I gt him to drink milk and I casually remarked, "Oh, that's not a problem at all. I give him his bottle and he finishes it." Within a day or two I was having nightmares as he violently pushed his bottle and would rather stay hungry than have any of it. This was also a time when I was making good progress in weaning him off the bottle to the sippy cup. I tried various flavors, porridge but to no avail. Finally, one day last week I got back the evening bottle with two teaspoons full of Bournvita and he seemed to enjoy it. I started with a lesser quantity and gradually increased it to his previous level over a week which worked great. I know too much milk/liquids at this stage can fill up their stomachs easily leaving little room for solids. I try to ensure that he gets his daily dosage of 450-500 ml though distributed in three seatings - early morning, after breakfast and evening. Until a few weeks back (18 months old), he drank a glass of milk around 11:0 p.m. but he refuses it completely now - I attribute it to a full stomach.

Days when intake of milk reduces, these are other foods which are equally rich in calcium to be supplemented with:

1. A cup of yogurt with a little sugar after lunch.
2. French Beans / broccoli.

LG is allergic to paneer and cheese of any kind, so that's off his diet now.

Photo credit:
Wikipedia

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