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Should I get my 15 month old to like milk?

by Kimberlee
(Mountain Home, ID)

My little bird self weaned at 13.5 months. She does not like cow's milk at all. So she doesn't drink milk... ever. Is it important that I get her to like it? I give her dark greens like spinach and she likes them and can get some of the nutrients from those. She does not eat them everyday though. Do you have any recommendations?

Answer:

Hi Kimberlee,

As good as I think milk can be, I think children have a lot of innate wisdom. If she doesn't want to drink milk, then don't force her. You can keep offering.

My own child, Asher, did not care for milk at all as a toddler. I pressed the issue to have him drink milk and he had a lot of symptoms of intolerance (mostly behavioral) that went away completely when I dropped dairy from his diet.

After one year I re-introduced dairy products beginning with butter, but this time they were all farm-fresh products. Our children now only drink raw milk from a local farmer (they have also had local, grassfed milk that is vat-pasteurized.) We have not purchased standard supermarket milk since I took my son off dairy, and I also avoid the highly processed "organic" milk brands.

Anyways, I think he reacted to those dairy products and his avoidance of them at first was his body's own wisdom. I don't generally let my children be "picky" eaters (I think one or two dislikes is reasonable, but then they should at least try everything else). But I do think that there are times when a child's body is wiser than nutrition recommendations.

I would advise you do not push milk. You can offer from time to time. I would choose milk that comes from local, grass-fed cows to offer her. You can also try goat's milk. Local cheeses are good too. Yogurt is another good choices, as can be cottage cheese. It is easier to find good-quality yogurt in stores than it is to find good-quality milk.

For calcium otherwise, I would keep up with the calcium-rich veggies. I'd also encourage you to make your own bone-broth at home. It's very easy to make with a chicken and you can make her homemade soups or even give her salted and buttered broth if she will drink it. It's very rich in calcium.

Here's a good article with several recipes:

Broth is Beautiful

Also, canned salmon (with the bones) is a very good source of calcium and most little ones love salmon patties fried in a little butter, coconut oil, or bacon drippings!