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#1
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Toddler wants only milk
Hi everyone,
I have a nearly-16-month old who now has a 12-week old baby brother. Lately she has been insisting on getting a bottle of milk every time she sees her little brother having his. Today she had a bottle in the morning, one in the afternoon, and one for dinner. She threw such tantrums for it, and I've been so frazzled with looking after the two little ones that I had to give in. I'm kicking myself for it now. She did have a proper lunch with me but wouldn't eat anything later. Should I try to phase out the milk, and the bottle, or can I still let her have this for a few more months? We occasionally use a sippy-cup but she's not a big fan. Thanks for your thoughts and experience! |
#2
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Toddler wants only milk
On May 31, 11:21 pm, Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward
wrote: Hi everyone, I have a nearly-16-month old who now has a 12-week old baby brother. Lately she has been insisting on getting a bottle of milk every time she sees her little brother having his. Today she had a bottle in the morning, one in the afternoon, and one for dinner. She threw such tantrums for it, and I've been so frazzled with looking after the two little ones that I had to give in. I'm kicking myself for it now. She did have a proper lunch with me but wouldn't eat anything later. Should I try to phase out the milk, and the bottle, or can I still let her have this for a few more months? We occasionally use a sippy-cup but she's not a big fan. Thanks for your thoughts and experience! I just realized she did actually have proper breakfast as well today so it's not like two out of three meals are milk, but it's still bad. |
#3
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Toddler wants only milk
Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward wrote:
Hi everyone, I have a nearly-16-month old who now has a 12-week old baby brother. Lately she has been insisting on getting a bottle of milk every time she sees her little brother having his. Today she had a bottle in the morning, one in the afternoon, and one for dinner. She threw such tantrums for it, and I've been so frazzled with looking after the two little ones that I had to give in. I'm kicking myself for it now. She did have a proper lunch with me but wouldn't eat anything later. Should I try to phase out the milk, and the bottle, or can I still let her have this for a few more months? It's always a tricky judgment call. Some kids will just go through a little phase and then they feel all better, so you might as well avoid the grief and just indulge them. Other kids will spiral from bad to worse, even adding more objectionable behaviors, and you'll kick yourself later if you let the process get started. Sometimes a good idea is to identify *why* she's doing this one thing (almost certainly to get your attention) and figure out a more acceptable way to give her what she needs without indulging an inappropriate expression of her needs, if that makes sense. Best wishes, Ericka |
#4
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Toddler wants only milk
One thing that I had to do with my low in weight for height toddler at about
this age was start giving milk only after the meal, because if I gave it to her earlier, she'd fill up on it and eat nothing else. I also stopped giving milk except with meals and snacks, and gave water during the day when she asked for a drink. It may be worth trying here, as well. |
#5
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Toddler wants only milk
On May 31, 8:21 pm, Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward
wrote: Hi everyone, I have a nearly-16-month old who now has a 12-week old baby brother. Lately she has been insisting on getting a bottle of milk every time she sees her little brother having his. Today she had a bottle in the morning, one in the afternoon, and one for dinner. She threw such tantrums for it, and I've been so frazzled with looking after the two little ones that I had to give in. I'm kicking myself for it now. She did have a proper lunch with me but wouldn't eat anything later. Should I try to phase out the milk, and the bottle, or can I still let her have this for a few more months? I wouldn't let this go on for too long. There are a fair number of kids that age who will happily fill up on drinks at the expense of eating on a long-term basis. And too much milk, in particular, can set toddlers up for (sometimes quite severe) iron-deficiency anemia. It would be a good thing to get rid of the bottles, but it's probably not the time to go too hard-core on stopping it. I wouldn't let her drink too much milk though -- the goal is 12-16 oz/day. If it helps you can water it down with water to strech it out and give her more bottles if it makes your life that much easier. Kate, ignorant foot soldier of the medical cartel and the Bug, almost 4 years old |
#6
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Toddler wants only milk
On Jun 1, 5:09 pm, Akuvikate wrote:
On May 31, 8:21 pm, Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward wrote: Hi everyone, I have a nearly-16-month old who now has a 12-week old baby brother. Lately she has been insisting on getting a bottle of milk every time she sees her little brother having his. Today she had a bottle in the morning, one in the afternoon, and one for dinner. She threw such tantrums for it, and I've been so frazzled with looking after the two little ones that I had to give in. I'm kicking myself for it now. She did have a proper lunch with me but wouldn't eat anything later. Should I try to phase out the milk, and the bottle, or can I still let her have this for a few more months? I wouldn't let this go on for too long. There are a fair number of kids that age who will happily fill up on drinks at the expense of eating on a long-term basis. And too much milk, in particular, can set toddlers up for (sometimes quite severe) iron-deficiency anemia. It would be a good thing to get rid of the bottles, but it's probably not the time to go too hard-core on stopping it. I wouldn't let her drink too much milk though -- the goal is 12-16 oz/day. If it helps you can water it down with water to strech it out and give her more bottles if it makes your life that much easier. Kate, ignorant foot soldier of the medical cartel and the Bug, almost 4 years old Watering down the milk seems like a good idea - but wouldn't that still fill her up, so that she wouldn't want to eat real food afterwards? We've been giving her a 9-oz bottle first thing in the morning and same thing last thing at night. In addition, she has lately been asking for a third bottle of 9 oz at the expense of the evening meal. |
#7
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Toddler wants only milk
Watering down the milk seems like a good idea - but wouldn't that
still fill her up, so that she wouldn't want to eat real food afterwards? We've been giving her a 9-oz bottle first thing in the morning and same thing last thing at night. In addition, she has lately been asking for a third bottle of 9 oz at the expense of the evening meal. I think that's really only a problem for babies where every drop that goes into their tiny tummies must be full of calories, plus their kidney's can't cope with it. Toddlers on the other hand do need to drink water, if some of that is hidden in their milk, they will likely cut down drinks at other times. It's likely to be a bit confusing for them at first, they won't feel quite the same way when they finish a bottle, they may not be hungry, but they will be hungry sooner, so make sure solid food is available, you could even try offering some kind of snack along with the milk to teach the concept of snack and drink. Cheers Anne |
#8
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Toddler wants only milk
"Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward" wrote in message oups.com... We've been giving her a 9-oz bottle first thing in the morning and same thing last thing at night. In addition, she has lately been asking for a third bottle of 9 oz at the expense of the evening meal. What's wrong with just saying no??? |
#9
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Toddler wants only milk
On May 31, 9:21 pm, Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward
wrote: Hi everyone, I have a nearly-16-month old who now has a 12-week old baby brother. Lately she has been insisting on getting a bottle of milk every time she sees her little brother having his. Today she had a bottle in the morning, one in the afternoon, and one for dinner. She threw such tantrums for it, and I've been so frazzled with looking after the two little ones that I had to give in. I'm kicking myself for it now. She did have a proper lunch with me but wouldn't eat anything later. Should I try to phase out the milk, and the bottle, or can I still let her have this for a few more months? We occasionally use a sippy-cup but she's not a big fan. Thanks for your thoughts and experience! It seems that she wants the bottle because of the baby, right? Not just because she LOVES MILK. With my 15 month old, we've just switched him to water bottles only (a stepping stone, because of dental hygiene and nutrition), before taking the bottle away completely, so you could try that. I think going cold turkey and telling her no more bottles after the major change of a new sibling could be traumatic, but I would probably do it anyway and try to give her some special love and attention in other ways. She may be hungry (for food) but she will NOT STARVE, she'll eat when she gets hungry, trust me. It may take 2 or 3 days of tantrums from a hungry and grouchy toddler, but in the end, you will both be the better for it. There will of course be tantrums, but don't pay attention to her unless she's being good. TANTRUMS ONLY CONTINUE IF THEY'RE EFFECTIVE FOR THE CHILD. Try saying, "stay in your room (or time out or whatever) until you calm down, then you can come and cuddle with mom (or dad)." I mean, I don't know her, but these are the things that I've found to be effective with my little ones. Good luck and let us know how it goes!! |
#10
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Toddler wants only milk
"Emma" wrote in message oups.com... There will of course be tantrums, but don't pay attention to her unless she's being good. TANTRUMS ONLY CONTINUE IF THEY'RE EFFECTIVE FOR THE CHILD. Agreed, and the OP is digging a deeper hole by giving in to the child's insisting and tantrums by giving the milky bottles. I'd rather have a few days of screaming than months of bottle-giving. |
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