Help with Whole Milk...

great responses and I tried most of them. we added 3 chocolate ships to a cup of warm milk, just enough flavor but not too sweet, or a 1/4 serving of powdered choc milk, it was beige milk instead of white. And mine needs her milk warm, even now at 3yrs she prefers it that way. she will drink it from a tiny glass cold at dinner occasionally, but really likes it now warm in the morning or if she haves it at night. She likes all of her food warm, very frusterating when she doesn't come to the table or start eating right away.
Good luck! He will be fine, you just need to start leaving him for someone else to care for and things will work themselves out.

Hi I would say it's not the breast milk that he likes so much as the cuddling and the warmth he gets from mom. Have you tried warming the whole milk a little? As you know breast milk isn't completely cold like the milk coming from the fridge. Have you tried giving him the breast then just kinda slipping the bottle with warmed milk to him while he's maybe a little drowsy? Or if you have a friend that is breast feeding that could maybe help you out with a little pumped breast milk. If you can do this and then start diluting it with warmed whole milk you can eventually switch him over to bottle then to sippy cup.

My daughter was about a year and a half and would NOT let me stop nursing, reduce nursing, anything. I had needed to start some medicene that I couldn't take while nursing since she was six months and had put it off planning to wean her at one year old. After trying for 1/2 year to wean, I finally told my husband - "we're done! I need to go on those meds!" I left the house for periods of time, especially just before bed and he took care of her. Eventually she had to accept it... It was a rough time, but at that point just had to be done.

Hi R.,

I know I'm in the minority, but I think that getting kids to drink whole milk is overemphasized. I breastfed my oldest until she was almost 3 and my younger one is nearing 2.5 and still breastfeeding. I figure that my milk is still better for him than milk of a cow. And you should consider that if you are lactose intolerant then you could have passed that on to him and maybe it's better not to introduce cow milk into his diet. He doesn't really need replacement milk if you're gone for an evening. As he gets older he needs less and less milk--often at this age nursing is just for comfort (no small thing!)--I would consider this as part of the long process of weaning. My kids never drank whole milk. They are six and 2 and very healthy and smart!

2 suggestions:
#1. Try warming it up. Thats the ONLY way my kids will drink milk. Breast milk is warm, makes sense that they would like whole milk warm too.
#2. If you are lactose intolerant (we are testing our daughter for it now), try lactose free milk for him, then you can "try" it too and show him how yummy it is! Our doctor told us that there is no difference nutritionally between regulare or lactose free milk.

Hi R.,

First of all, good for you for continuing to nurse! Unless he happens to be a very skinny guy, at 20 months, your son doesn't *need* to nurse every few hours. It's nice that he can, when you're available. But he should be eating sufficient solid foods by now that he can go a few hours without nursing while you go enjoy some lovely time at the ballet. If you are lactose-intolerant yourself, I think it would be wise to not push him towrad animal's milk yet. Ideally, children (in general) should not be on dairy until age 2 anyway; their digestive systems are not mature enough until then to handle it (and then, consider using caution and/or using it sparingly). Just have whoever's babysitting feed him whatever solid foods he normally eats, during those hours. You'll probably feel better if you can have a test run prior to your ballet date, where you're gone for 2 hours, rather than 3 or 4, and see that food is being accepted in your absence. And even if in the 2-hour test run he decides he's not hungry and doesn't need to eat, go to the ballet anyway. 20 months is not too young to learn that mothers need a few non-baby hours sometimes.

Enjoy yourself!
D.

ADDENDUM - After reading a few of the other responses (and can I just say that I LOVE how supportive of extended breastfeeding people on this board are...), I just wanted to clarify something. A couple people cited the fact that you don't get enough milk for a feeding when you pump as evidence that he's not nursing for nutrition. While it's certainly true that a 20-month old can miss a nursing session and do fine on solid foods in the interim, it is not true that what you pump is equivalent to what your baby can nurse out of you. Boobs were designed for babies to nurse from, not for pumps to nurse from. Certainly exceptions exist, but MOST of the time, babies will nurse far more efficiently than a pump, and thus extract a whole lot more milk than a pump will.

Hi mama! I had the same problem, and you should go out! Try Goat milk, this was the only milk my little one would want,although it tastes gross to me, she loved it! my daughter hated and still hates cows milk, also try a special sippy cup, that might help too. Dont worry about not making enough milk, our body responds to the changes in growth your little one is having and changes according to his nutritional needs. Also, not being able to nurse for a few hours when you have you time is not going to hinder his growth, I am sure he is getting all the nutrition he needs from food and what not in addition to his awesome mama still nursing him! Have fun at the ballet and good luck! It will get easier!

My youngest wouldn't touch whole milk, not even now at 18 yrs of age. If you are nursing, express milk for him to have in your absence. My son told me that he would drink blue milk at school which was non-fat milk, it looked blue or had a blue cap on the bottle. So at our house, we have 2 percent or skim milk. So, give the 2 percent a try, if it won't do, go down to the skim milk. We made up for it by adding cocoa/chocolate to flavor whole milk ocassionally. Milk is an acquired taste after being breast fed. Not all milks are created equal. :-) Thank goodness!!!

at 20 months, and with you not making enough milk to pump, it is doubtful that your son is getting any serous nutritional support for any single feeding. Why not try offering him a yogurt smoothie (the store ones are high in sugar, but you could make one with normal yogurt and a fruit of his choice), juice (my daughter loves 'Mango Tango'), or even let him stick with water?

Truth of the matter is, what is soothing him is nursing, not the milk that he is getting from nursing. But he'll also survive a night away from you - i promise! Maybe if you need to feel more comfortable, let someone else hold him and offer him a drink once in a while instead of nursing him. The holding may be sufficient. (Although, as a warning, if you are around he'll probably want to nurse. Whereas if you are gone he'll probably adapt ok.)

It sounds like he doesn't really need the cow's milk at all. I would suggest letting him drink water for the times that you want to get away, or let him drink expressed breatst milk.

He will get plenty of nutrition from you at the times that he does nurse.

My son is 20 months old and he doesn't drink much milk at all. I've heard that alot of cows milk before 2 years is h*** o* their little tummy's, plus if your son gets alot of cheese, yogurt etc...in his solid food diet, he is getting more than enough dairy and calcium, I think that giving him just water and maybe a little treat (ie crackers or something) while you are out will be enough, you have already assured that he is a healthy boy by nursing to this point (which I think is awesome), I promise that he will not be hungry or lack in nutrition while you are gone. He may miss mommy snuggle time, but give him lots of kisses when you get home from enjoying the ballett and that will fade too. :)

HI! I had a similar issue with my DD. I started to introduce milk around 12 months. I was still breastfeeding at that point. She didn't want anything to do with milk. She just didn't like it. I tried all sorts of milk, soy milk, mixed it with flavored kefir, flavored milk with a tiny bit of chocolate syrup.... none it made a difference to her. She didn't like it. So, I just relaxed about it and kept offering it periodically some weeks more than others. And sometimes I'd give it a rest for a couple weeks and then bring it back around. She is now 21 months and will finally drink it. But she still doesn't drink very much of it - but some. It took at least 6 months for her to really start drinking it. I can't help you with your immediate need to get out a bit more..but can tell you to just keep offering it and he may eventually take it.

Congrats on your commitment to continue breastfeeding! My daughter is 21.5 months and breastfeeding as well. I've found that as long as I breastfeed her shortly before I leave and make sure she has a good meal (or two) ready when she's hungry, she's okay to go without milk (breast or cow) for a couple hours while I need to be gone. For example tonight, I breastfeed her at 5:45 while her solid dinner (pear, chicken nuggets, french fries) was cooking. My mom was coming to watch her so after she'd breastfed, I asked if she was hungry and she said yes so in the high chair she went and her dinner was already cooked and ready. My mom was able to feed that to her as I was leaving at 6:10 and she munched on her dinner again while I was gone. When I got home just after 9, she was still busily playing with grandma and barely noticed that I'd come back. I changed her, put her in pajamas and laid down with her at about 9:30 to breastfeed and she was eager, but no more so than if she'd breastfed during the time I was gone. She will drink cow milk some of the time, but for kids that are still breastfeeding frequently, it's less important that they get cow milk anyway. If he's fine with water, then that's a great option!! You might also consider diluted juice if you're worried about fluid intake. Maybe suggest a couple of less common activities for his babysitter to do while you're at the ballet such as going to a new park, going for a walk, coloring (if you don't every day), or anything else that's novel and entertaining. If he's busy and entertained with someone else, he might not have the need to breastfeed as much as if he's doing the same thing he normally does with you every day. Maybe also start teaching him the comfort of cuddling so he has something besides food to comfort/soothe him. My daughter has two songs that if she hears on the radio/cd, she immediately comes over and asks to cuddle. She'll do that for the duration of the song and then go off to play more. It's just another option of how to take a break from playing. :)

He too may be lactose intolerant. Have you tried soy milk? I had to use it for one of my children and it was safe. Later on goat milk worked and so I got a couple of milkers. I lived in a medium sized college town where it was allowed to keep them in the back yard.
Now you can buy goat milk at health food stores.

At a year, I started switching my daughter and she wasn't a big fan of plain whole milk. So, I had seen the recommendation to mix it with pediasure. So, we started warming her milk and adding some pediasure and she loved it. She was underweight so she needed the extra calories anyway. Eventually we gradually tapered the pediasure so that she was just drinking the milk. She did great for a while. Now she is 22 months and only drinks about a cup a day, so I am just making sure she eats cheese and yogurt to get her calcium and fat from other sources. If you are only going to be gone for four or five hours, I wouldn't really stress that much in general. He is just going to miss mommy, not necessarily your milk.

carnation instant breakfast! my kids think they are getting such a big treat, and it's full of nutrition. :)

Honey, go out and enjoy the ballet!! Your son can survive without your breasts for a few hours (especially if he's eating table food). He is enjoying the nursing, not the milk. If you aren't making enough to pump, he's not nursing for the drink/nutrition.

If he eats cheese or yogurt, a few servings of that will be sufficient.

Call hs pediatrician, ask for what she/he recommends at this point. I know when our daughter hit 24 months our pediatrican told us to switch from whole to 1% or skim milk as long as she was eating yogurt and cheese too.

I weaned both my kids at 15 months. They didn't really like the taste of whole milk until completely weaned. After that, they did really well drinking it.

We're just weaning now at 2.5 years, and she would still nurse 10 times a day if I let her--but I've worked us down gradually to once a day, at bedtime, with no ill effects. You could start eliminating feedings here and there, just so you're not quite as tied down, and he'll just eat more table food to make up for it. (I wasn't convinced of this right away until she started forgetting to insist on midday feedings--then I knew it was true, she was nursing for fun and not as much for nutrition anymore.)

Don't underestimate the power of talking to him about this. With my DD I said stuff like (repeatedly, not just once), "Okay, now we're just going to nurse at bedtime and wakeup. Remember we talked about you're getting to be such a big girl, and not a little baby anymore? So we don't nurse as much. So yes at bedtime, yes in the morning, but if you ask me at lunch I'm going to say 'I'm sorry, honey, it's not time to nurse.'" She could repeat the gist of this back to me, and though she would fuss a little sometimes, once prepared this way in advance she didn't really argue. Then when it was time to nurse, I'd reinforce it--this is the time we DO nurse, not those other times, because you're getting to be such a big girl blah blah blah.

Best wishes and have fun getting out!

I work 1 day a week and since my son was 9 months old he refused to take a bottle. He has never been fussy while I'm away (well over the nursing thing, he of course gets fussy for other reasons), he just waits for me to come home and then nurses. He is 18 months and still nursing about as much as your little one and I still do the same thing. I don't think you have anything to worry about. Even at 9 months my Dr said it was fine because it was so infrequent. Go out and have a great time at the ballet. He will be just fine. :)

If he's 20 months then he could go without a feeding without any problem. You should try going somewhere and let the sitter feed him water and normal foods while you're gone ... what I've noticed with my breastfed kids is that when I wasn't there they wouldn't even think about nursing. He probably likes the comfort more than he is thirsty. It's good for him to learn to get comfort from other things too. I used to leave my kids with my hubby and they wouldn't even notice they missed a feeding (until I walked in the room, of course:) Hope this helps ..

Perhaps he is lactose intolerant too? Can you pump breast milk for a night out? Try rice milk. Just some ideas.

Try using "flavored" milk. Try whole, 2%, etc..... Instead of using chocolate or carnation instant breakfast (which is just extra sugar you don't necessarily want to add to the milk EVERY time) Torani Syrups that coffee places use make awesome flavors in regular and............ SUGAR FREE. :) Make it a fun thing for him, let him choose the flavor and get him a really cool "big boy cup". This worked wonders at our house. Especially the sugar free strawberry and raspberry. They usually come in huge bottles that last awhile but I know you can get mini and mediums sized. More flavors more fun. Winco or Wal-Mart have them and are less expensive.
Good Luck!!!

P.S. Here is a website that they are listed for $2.50 for mini size.

http://www.bevtechonline.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product...

Chocolate milk...
My baby will not touch cow's milk with a ten foot pole, so I put just about 1/2 teaspoon of chocolate powder in her milk and it has to be lukewarm. She only drinks about 8 oz a day, but she is still nursing mornings and evening as well.
Initially I had a little bit of guilt because of the sugar, but we use so little of the chocolate powder, I don't really think it's an issue - plus she doesn't get it right before bed, so we brush her teeth afterwards.

Does he take a bottle well in the first place? Maybe him just getting used to that is part of it. It may be a little bit of a process, but don't make the time frame an issue (getting him "ready" by the 18th). I agree with Debbie L. Since he's 20 mo. & eating other foods, he should be ok nutritionally, particularly for just one day. I asked my ped about that once--switching to cow's milk, how much should he drink, etc. He said basically what counts is that he's eating a variety of foods & will self-regulate his liquid intake (just to offer the bottle/sippy often).

R. - Don't worry! My daughter is 14 months. She's not interested in cow milk. She nurses when she wakes up in the morning, when I put her down for her nap after lunch, and at bedtime. If I do anything to change our routine she gets very upset. However, if my husband or my friend are watching her during nap time or bedtime they have no problem putting her down. She strongly associates me with nursing, but the nursing is apparently not associated with bedtime when others are in charge. I would venture that the same is true for your little one, so go ahead and do what you want to do!

By the way, cow milk is a habit for Americans, not a necessity for our nutrition, so don't stress too much about your baby not being interested. Sun, cheese, yogurt, eggs, etc. will fill in the nutrients.

Have you tried Similac Advance? I did that before whole milk and my son seemed to like it. I breast fed for a year and he would have bottles of pumped milk when I was gone. So, the Similac in the bottle didn't seem to phase him. Shortly after, I switched to milk, but would always warm it. He will not drink it cold. Good luck!