We have had a real struggle with getting our 18-month-old Peanut to drink milk out of a cup. He will drink water all day out of a sippy cup, and he will drink milk out of a bottle, but he just refuses to drink milk out of his sippy cups. We have tried them all – regular sippy cups, bottle-shaped sippy cups, 360 cups, cups with straws, you name it. He will have none of it! As we tried to take his bottle away, he got less and less milk. Now he has been without his bottle for a week, and has not drank any milk in that time. We talked to his doctor about the importance of dairy in his diet, and she does not seem worried as long as he is eating well. If you’re in the same boat, here are a few tips for getting dairy into your toddler’s diet when he or she won’t eat milk.

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How to Get Your Toddler to Eat Dairy

Cheese

This one is pretty easy. Peanut will eat slices or chunks off a block of cheese just fine most of the time. Other times he makes it clear to me that he is sick of the cheese and doesn’t want to eat any more of it. The one thing to be careful of with cheese is that it is a “stopper.” Therefore, make sure that your toddler isn’t eating too much in one day and that he or she is drinking plenty of water. Quesadillas are a favorite form of cheese in our house.

Milkshakes/Smoothies

Making a milkshake or smoothie out of healthy ingredients gets your little one to drink some milk. They get some extra fruit or vegetables. I will make a shake for myself with almond milk, bananas, spinach and maybe some chocolate. Then I mix that with about a quarter milk and a little extra ice for Peanut. He will happily drink this from a cup with a straw.

 

Yogurt

Yogurt is a great kid-friendly dairy option. The biggest downside is that many brands are full of added sugar! This HappyTot whole milk yogurt is free of added sugars, any sweeteners, and dye. Best of all they come in pouch form. I don’t always have the time to feed Peanut a whole serving of yogurt, and he can’t be trusted to do it himself without making a mess. The pouches make it easy to hand him one to slurp as he sits on the kitchen floor, “lounges” on the couch, or runs around like a crazy person.

I found them in the refrigerated section at Target, and they are available at many large national retailers. You can get a $1.00 off coupon by clicking here.

Keep Offering Milk

Since milk is an important source of nutrients, you want to keep offering. According to Peanut’s doctor and babysitter (who went through this with her own son), one day Peanut will decide to like milk again. We continue to offer him milk with his meals. He will hold onto the cup while he eats his cereal in the morning and tolerate it sitting next to his plate at dinner. He seems to like the presence…but won’t drink it for now. We just keep offering.

 

Check out the HappyFamily website to learn more about their products and get a $1.00 off coupon!