Problems with Milk

Looking for helps and suggestions:-


My girl is 6 months now, and she has problems with drinking milk for more than 2 months now. She just doesn't like milk! If she is awake, she refuse to have milk. She is ok with banana, cooked rise, and other soft food. But she really hates milk. I have to feed her (milk) when she is alseep. Some day, she can have 20 oz, but some day only takes less than 10oz. I change several brand, but she is still the same. Her weight is under standard now, and I am very worry about her.

Milk may make her sick which is why she won't drink it. My son had a lactose intolerance and now he is 13 he still will not drink milk. Have you tried soy milk formula or milk that does not contain cow products such as goats milk formula? This may be an alternative. She is 6 months so you can feed her solids more, maybe yoghurt to get the fats and calcium requirements.


Cows milk is designed for cows and some people can't cope with the high lactose in it - adults and children.

hi,

my son is just under 5 months and we have had so many feeding problems with him. firstly - you should check that he may not have something called silent reflux, which basically is when the milk & stomach acid come back up the oesophagus and causes heartburn, making the baby very very uncomfortable. this would not make him keen to drink milk....

after we had dealt with that problem we also discovered that my boy didn't like milk. we tried cow & gate (uk), aptamil (uk), aptamil (nz), enfamil AR (thickened milk for babies with colic), prosobee (soy), enfamil A+, and finally we found one he liked which was Olac (lactose free).

one interesting thing was that when we tried to feed him new milk from the normal milk bottles he would still refuse to drink (because he associated the horrible milk with the big bottles). he would not even taste the milk but cry as soon as he saw the bottle. So we had to start him trying the new milk in small bottles..try it, it might help. I'm just glad he likes one brand - I know what you're going through - it's horrible and heartbreaking. Keep trying is the only thing I can say.

Our son was in a similar situation where he doesn't like drinking milk. He's not allergic to it but like all children there are some things they never liked. What we did was to put it with the cereal- since he liked Weetabix so much he would just "eat" rather than "drink" milk on is own. So try mixing it with baby food he likes

Thank you everyone...

I am really appreciated for all your suggestions. I have tried several brands, but still can't find the 'right' one. I will keep trying.

Well my 94 year old grandmother has an interesting perspective. She says when she was a girl, people didn't drink too much milk. She says the big push toward milk and dairy products coincided with big government money going into subsidizing dairy farms, school lunch milk programs etc. (And gee, just look at the big money that goes into the "Got Milk" ads.) Of course northern european diets include a lot of dairy products but plenty of world cultures don't rely on cow's milk. There are other sources of protein, vitamins, and calcium. If your baby doesn't like it, and you are willing to research nutrition a bit, you will find you can get along fine without it. I don't mean to sound like a fanatic here, but one of my daughters is allergic to milk and we find all kinds of ways to get around it. On special occasions I even use non-dairy creamer to make creamy tasting casseroles for her. If you are willing to pay for a consult, a nutritionist might be able to help reassure you -- they have a lot more training in nutrition than doctors.

Oh, I just noticed that her weight is under standard. This changes the picture a bit because you do need to make sure she is thriving. One of my friends had a "failure to thrive" baby and he basically needed to be held and loved on all the time to get him interested in living. If she shows signs of malnutrition or lack of energy, then that could be problematic and she may need the milk for nutrition. But on the other hand if she has some problem with digesting milk or allergy to it and the milk is causing her a problem, it would be better to address that now before she loses any more weight. (Do you notice any tummy upset, diaper rash, skin rash, vomiting (reflux) or excess nasal discharge or mucous that might be associated with the milk? If so you could mention this to your doctor and perhaps try an "elimination diet" under his supervision. Switch to a soy based formula or something that is more highly processed to break the protein down even more, and beyond this there are also other specialized formulas made for highly allergic babies.) Just make sure there is a problem before you panic. There is a range of normal, so for every normal child who is 95% percentile in weight there a normal child who is 5% percentile -- some people are just made smaller than others. One of my daughters was small and one was big, and one was right in the middle, but they are all normal. So do get reassurance but don't panic until you have firm confirmation that there's a problem with weight. Also, feed her as much of the other foods she loves as she will eat. She could just be sending you a message! If she loves bananas, there's nothing wrong with giving her as much banana as she wants! Offer lots of small, nutritious meals. At six months of age, you can introduce cereals (wet with either milk or juice), mash some baked sweet potato with some milk, I think there are a couple of meats you can start to mash up with something to wet them a bit. Once she is sitting up she will enjoy tiny bits of finger foods such as tiny bits of diced fruit. Just stay away from empty calories like sugar laden foods.

Thank you Meiguoren,

My girl's first born weight was 3.6, and now she is 6.8kg as for the 6th month.

I used to consult with her doctor, and he suggested to withdraw all other food, and wait for her to be hungry, and drink milk. The result was, she still refused milk after 12 hours, and she even notshow the sign for hungry!

Other than try to give her milk during day naps, I give her, 1/2 egg + 1oz of milk powder for breakfast, and banana with milk power around 10am, and 2 spoon cereal with milk power for lunch, and cooked rice with fish for dinner. I am not sure if this is too much for her to swallow. But as she only take day naps for 1/2 hours a time, 3 times a day. It is very difficult to feed her when she is asleep as well. If she is awake, she will prefer to suck her fingers instead of milk, and if she is too asleep, she will not take milk. For night is better as she sleep from 7pm to 4-5am, she can have 6-12oz (3-4 times) at night.

Other than milk, other developments are ok, and she likes to play speak and sing all day.

Will she be better (for milk) when she grow up??