What other liquid to introduce?

[cassritas]

Hi All.  I am nursing my second kid, she is 14 months old.  My son, now 6, was introduced to cows milk at 12 months and self-weaned at 18 months.  (He preferred the big juicy bottles to my drying up boobs.)  My daughter is intermittently very constipated and now is beginning to reject a lot of foods to I am worrying she isn't getting enough fat in her diet.  She nurses about 5 times a day.  Some days I am away from her for part of the day and she has some watered down pear juice in a bottle.  When I am out in the evening she gets pumped breast milk, but I have a hard time keeping up the stash.

I would love to really stop pumping, but keep nursing.  I am not eager to give her whole cow's milk, even the organic kind because of the cancer risk.  I tried goat's milk which might not be much better and she broke out in hives, she doesn't like soy, and that has its own hormonal problems.  

So I am looking to get more hydration and more fat in her diet, without pumping and nursing all day.  She isn't crazy about water, just a few sips here and there.  (As the doctor said, babies only drink water when they are thirsty.)  Any thoughts?

-Cassandra

[skycheattraffic]

My DD loves water so that's our drink of choice but I've heard other moms have good luck with almond milk and rice milk. I don't know much about them but they could be worth looking into.

[nstewart]

My DS also prefers water over anything else (other than mama's milk, obviously!) but we do give him almond milk.  You could also try coconut milk beverages.

[JudiAU]

Water or a nutritious milk of some type. I would choose organic cow's milk from a good dairy http://www.cornucopia.org/dairy_brand_ratings/ (all milk is not equal) and if you don't want to use cow's milk consider hemp, coconut, organic soy, or almond

[mamafromgrays]

im breastfeeding my 18 months son 3 times, in the morning, evening and afternoon. He is also driking water during the day. I dont giving him anything else to drink. and i dont see problem with it. 

[tanyato]

i would go with a good quality coconut milk. coconut actually has some of the same fats as breast milk (lineolic acid i believe) so bonus! 

[girlspn]

My dd loves water and drinks it whenever she gets a chance. We've tried to give her cow's milk (raw) and coconut milk, but she won't drink these. I've just given up on that. She loves milk tea (an aunt was giving this to her without my knowing it) or anything sweetened, but I try to avoid that stuff as much as possible. I think coconut milk or coconut water would be good. 

[hollydolls]

My daughter has never liked cow's milk, either. We make her popsicles out of whole milk and berries using popsicle molds. Breastmilk would work, too.