DD doesn't like Milk - Help!?

[Phoenix~Mama]

(I wasn't quite sure where to put this, so I apologize if I picked the wrong forum.)

DD turned one at the begining of the month. She is eating meals, etc but still will go through about 8-12 oz of breastmilk while I'm at work. Since I came back from the holiday break I've only been able to pump about 8 oz/day, with still pumping 4 times a day!

I still have some milk in the freezer for when DD goes through the fresh and refuses to drink cow/goat milk.

But it's getting very low... and honestly, I am soooo tired of pumping. I pumped 5 times a day until 6 months to keep up then was able to drop to 4 times a day and am still there. I was very much hoping to be able to give DD some cow/goat milk with lunch or something to allow me to cut down more pumping sessions.

But DD hates it! We have tried both whole cow milk and goats milk... we have tried warming it up, we have tried the whole milk yogurt drinks... she just wants breast milk. She will drink maybe an ounce with warmed up cow/goat milk... but usually spits a lot out as soon as she tastes that it is different.

We have been offering it to her everyday all month with not much success.

I don't know what to do... I'm not pumping enough to cover what she still needs while I'm at work... DD is on the smaller side and we can't afford for her to just skip a bottle because she is refusing cow/goat milk.

Any ideas?

[NamastePlatypus]

why do you feel that you have to give her milk to subsititute your BM?

Have you tried hemp or almond in a cup, not a bottle?

[crunchy_mommy]

Are you still nursing frequently when you're home? If so, I don't think you need to give her supplementary milk while you're away, as long as she's eating lots of solids. I'd just give her what you're able to pump and start expanding her tastes when it comes to solids. If you really want her drinking more, you could also try coconut milk or hemp or something... Or try making a fruity smoothie with the milk...

[lynsage]

Human children do not need the milk of animals to survive. My DD LOVES cows' milk because her grandparents used to give it to her all the time, so I buy organic milk for her, but she doesn't need it.

Cows' milk and your milk are not the same thing and don't need to be subsituted for each other, so if she doesn't like or want animals' milk I wouldn't push it on her. What do you feel she is getting from animals' milk that she needs in her diet? I would look up other sources for those nutrients and give her those instead.

[Phoenix~Mama]

Well... I'm not pumping enough milk to keep up with the milk she wants to drink... so I figured I should give her some kind of milk to drink when I don't have enough EBM on hand.

I checked into coconut milk but the calorie and fat count on it is way way lower than whole milk or goat milk and DD is already on the smaller side so she needs that extra fat intake.

I'm just afraid of her not getting enough calorie/fat intake if she doesn't have interest in eating more solids during the day, or to drink something other than EBM when it is all gone.

After pumping for over a year I don't think there is any magic tricks to get myself to produce more milk right now... so my only other choice would animal milk of some kind...

EDIT: Forgot to add... yes we have tried giving in various different kinds of sippy cups, etc as well...

[JMJ]

I wouldn't worry about the calorie content of a particular food as long as she's getting enough breast milk and calories from other foods: oils, avocados, etc. I would just think of another milky drink as supplemental food, not as mock-breast milk.

[Tofu the Geek]

It wasn't clear, is she breastfeeding when you are home? If she is breastfeeding, then agreed that she doesn't need any other animal's milk during the day. What I did when I went back to work when DD was one, was come home at lunch to breastfeed her for the first 4 months. So she breastfed before I left for work, when I came at lunch, then after work, the evening, all night.... Are you able to rearrange your schedule at all to pop in at lunch and breastfeed her? or is there someone who could bring her to you at lunch time?

If that's not possible, any chance you could move your pumping times to the evening when DD is breastfeeding? I've read that it's likely you'll get more milk if pumping while little one is feeding? After DD ate at lunch time I used to hand express what I could into a sippy (after she was done) and leave anything I got for her. Sometimes she had a couple ounces, other times I got nothing.

[Phoenix~Mama]

DD does nurse while I'm at home.

I cannot change my work schedule. I only have a half hour for lunch... not enough time to go home, and DD is at the daycare by that time and her sitter cannot bring her to me.

I leave for work by 6 am, and DD is sleeping then. I do not wake her before I leave, as I'd then have an incredibly cranky baby on my hands from being woken before she wanted to be awake and then I'd have to leave to go to work leaving my DH with her... that really isn't fair to him.

I pump first thing when I get to work and that is when I get the bulk of my output of about 4-6 oz.

I nurse DD as soon as we get home and she will nurse on and off in the 2.5 hours before dinner... more like a "hey Mom, what's up" nursie, after the longer first time nurse when we get home.

She eats dinner and will have some sort of liquid with her dinner in one of her cups.

Then I nurse her to sleep.

Weekends I nurse in the morning and for naps, bedtime, and whenever she wants to throughout the day.

[Tofu the Geek]

Do you co-sleep? If so, when you get up for work, I'd see about snuggling up to her enough just to get her attention, then sticking a boob in! She's likely to have a feed and suckle herself back to sleep. If you don't co-sleep, not sure if you could pull her out of her bed in a daze (but not awake) pop her on, then when she's asleep again, put her back down?

It just seems if you could get that extra feeding in, you might be set.

[Teenytoona]

What about mixing the other milk in half and half with your milk? Or starting off with one ounce cow milk to 3 oz your milk, or something along those lines?

[Amatullah0]

what if you give her the milk in a normal(not sippy) cup?

but, ITA with everyone else, she doesn't NEED animal milk as a BM substitute. calcium, fat, etc. can all be gotten from somewhere else if you're looking for a BM substitute, why not consider toddler formula? i probably wouldn't use it, but if DS really wasn't eating, and i really couldn't keep up with nursing/pumping, i probably would do toddler formula.

[Tofu the Geek]

Originally Posted by Teenytoona

What about mixing the other milk in half and half with your milk? Or starting off with one ounce cow milk to 3 oz your milk, or something along those lines?

In this particular case, it's not something I would recommend. She's short on breastmilk as it is and if the little one won't drink the breastmilk once mixed with cow's milk, then the breastmilk is wasted and she'll really be short for the day.

[MommaSuzi]

When my DD turned one I tried to introduce cow's milk. She hated it. So I tried goat's milk, she disliked it (not quite as vehemently as cow, but still wouldn't drink much). I tried almond, hemp, then coconut... I was stressed because I wasn't able to pump as much as she would drink of breastmilk while I was at work. She started just eating more during the day, and nursed in the evening/night. Eventually I just relaxed.
At almost 4, she still doesn't drink milk (ever, of any kind), and it's not a big deal. She's got her own growth curve and she's following it.

[Super~Single~Mama]

I know this was responded to once already - but I would try mixing a *small* serving of half BM and half cow milk. Like, 1oz of each. See what happens. If it works, great. If not, oh well - only 1oz BM wasted.

[CheriK]

Originally Posted by Tofu the Geek

Do you co-sleep? If so, when you get up for work, I'd see about snuggling up to her enough just to get her attention, then sticking a boob in! She's likely to have a feed and suckle herself back to sleep. If you don't co-sleep, not sure if you could pull her out of her bed in a daze (but not awake) pop her on, then when she's asleep again, put her back down?

I'd definitely give this a try. Worked for all of mine. If you nurse her immediately before you get out of bed at whatever yucky early hour, you'll probably still get close to your normal output at work. Most women's supply is highest in the early morning.

If you absolutely can't do this, what about getting up 20 minutes early and squeezing in an extra pumping session at home before getting ready for work? About the same effect as nursing the baby (although baby is warmer and cuter and more effective than the pump).

It does sound, though, like you're really ready to be done pumping. What about working towards replacing those bottles of milk with other food and only nursing at home? It sounds like she's only regularly nursing a couple of times a day, so if you stop pumping, she will need another source of fat, protein, calcium. And, as others have said, it doesn't have to be any sort of milk. There are healthy fats and proteins in lots of other foods.

If milk seems the easiest source of nutrients, what about smoothies? You can hide whole milk yogurt or full-fat milk or soy protein powder in a fruit smoothie, almond butter/peanut butter smoothie, orange julius type drink . . . There are lots of creative ways to get whatever nutrients you think she needs into a drink this way. And most kids think they're yummy.

I only worked part-time, but pumped for my twins until they were two, and am still pumping for my 14-month old. I keep thinking about stopping, as I don't particularly enjoy it either, and we have a lot of milk in the freezer, but DH insists she needs a bottle to fall asleep. Well, Grandma can get her to sleep without a bottle. So can Daddy when he's not trying to. Honestly, I think it's more important for the caregiver than the child at some point.

[mambera]

Originally Posted by thyra

I know this was responded to once already - but I would try mixing a *small* serving of half BM and half cow milk. Like, 1oz of each. See what happens. If it works, great. If not, oh well - only 1oz BM wasted.

Yeah, I agree; if the servings are small the wastage won't be too great.

I would actually start with just a little bit of animal milk - eg 0.5 oz cow milk with 1.5 oz breast milk, or something along those lines. If she drinks that you could keep it that way for a week and then maybe increase to 50/50. If that goes well, after another week you could decrease the bm to 25% and then off.

I wouldn't continue to mix them over the long term bc of the concern for breast milk wastage, but if you really want her to have the cow's milk then it may be worth a small amount of breast milk wastage over the month or so that it takes to get her used to the animal milk.

Btw my understanding is that toddlers do need some kind of milk, human or animal, until they are 2.

[CheriK]

Originally Posted by mambera

Btw my understanding is that toddlers do need some kind of milk, human or animal, until they are 2.

The dairy industry has done a great job of convincing people of that, haven't they? Actually, no one ever needs to consume milk from another animal, and in many cultures and through much of human history it would be considered very odd indeed. Ideally, children will continue to nurse for years, and get the fat/protein/calcium they need through mom's milk, but if they don't, they can still get high-quality fats and proteins through other foods. In the US at least, dairy is considered the "normal" way to get these nutrients, and it is cheap and plentiful, plus subsidized by the government. Not that there's anything wrong with cow's milk per se, if your child likes it!

[crunchy_mommy]

Originally Posted by CheriK

The dairy industry has done a great job of convincing people of that, haven't they? Actually, no one ever needs to consume milk from another animal, and in many cultures and through much of human history it would be considered very odd indeed. Ideally, children will continue to nurse for years, and get the fat/protein/calcium they need through mom's milk, but if they don't, they can still get high-quality fats and proteins through other foods. In the US at least, dairy is considered the "normal" way to get these nutrients, and it is cheap and plentiful, plus subsidized by the government. Not that there's anything wrong with cow's milk per se, if your child likes it!

I do agree with you BUT I also think if babies are purposely weaned early (and I mean totally weaned, no longer getting ANY breastmilk, unlike in the OP's case) then they should have some sort of replacement until age 2 or so. I think if the baby is still getting a few feedings of breastmilk they'll be fine, but if they are forced to wean completely then they need something to substitute mama's milk. In most of those cultures where consuming animal milk would be "odd", I doubt they as a society are weaning their children by age 1 like most people in the US do!

OP -- it's been a couple weeks since you posted this, any update? What did you decide to do?

[kalamos23]

Have you tried Rice Dream Rice milk? Since she is nursing it's not that big of a deal that she gets a replacement - I've found that DD will drink rice milk when she won't drink cow milk (and I'm not going to be giving her cow milk any time soon due to her previous history of dairy allergy). Rice Dream tastes the best to me (in fact, I now drink rice milk as well instead of milk on my cereal!) and it does come in vanilla, I think the consistency and taste is more similar to breast milk as it tends to be a bit sweeter and thinner than cow milk which tastes "thick" on my tongue.

[kalamos23]

Oh, I should add, I haven't tasted the vanilla - we just get the enriched plain stuff.