Weaning 2 year old in March

[iluminare]

I am planning to wean my 25 month in March (will be 29 month then) and I was wondering what the best milk to give to my dc at that point? We are drinking soy milk now.


thanks!

love my little man :

[Viola]

I know some people do soy milk, some do rice milk, some do cow milk. You don't necessarily need to give any milk, for that matter. Have you spoken to your doctor about it? Mine asks if my dd is on whole milk and I say she doesn't drink that much, then he says that is fine as long as she is getting calcium and protein from other sources.

[eclipse]

My dd weaned herself while I was pregnant (at around 25-26 months), and we didn't give her anything to replace it. She eats a balanced diet and gets calcium, etc from other sources. If I really thought she still needed milk, I'd be pushing EBM on her, since I seem to be producing enough milk for ravenous triplets .

Oh, and my son had a milk sensitivity, so he never drank milk either. When my milk dried up during my pregnancy with dd, I let him try soy and rice milk, but he didn't really like either, so I didn't push it. Both kids eat cheese, yogurt, etc - and even if we were a dairy free family, there are plenty of sources of the vitamins etc that you find in milk.

[Siana]

Biologically we require no liquids besides water after the age of weaning.

I am not a fan of any milks (besides mine ) though we do still use commercial soy milk on my DD's cereal. We sometimes make soy-milk banana milkshakes, but that's a treat. It concerns me that soy milk is not a whole food (i.e. does not contain the goodness from the whole bean). Making your own milks (whether it be soy, rice, almond etc.) is a much better alternative because you can use the pulp in other recipes. But again, humans can very well do without any "milks".

[Ruthla]

May I ask why you're planning on weaning in March? There may be alternatives to completely weaning that you haven't considered.

As for the "other milk" issue, by 29 months children can usually handle cow, goat, or soy milk without any major problems, unless there are allergies. There is a controversy about soy milk- it may not be safe in large quantities.

[Mamapits]

I have been making my own raw nut milks for the whole family for the past few months. It is quick and easy, I make a giant pitcher and it lasts a few days.

I use it to put on cereal- hot and cold- and for smoothies and sometimes just to drink.

I was completely off all dairy myself for a while. I do let DS have cheese and other dairy, but not in large quantities. He is 2 yrs old and still nursing though. I don't believe kids need cows milk to grow. There are so many other ways to get calcium and all of the other vitamins.

[ShadowMom]

My DS was primarily formula fed (he'll be 2 on Saturday) because I've had breast reduction surgery.

We weaned him from the formula (he self-weaned from the bottle) at around 18 months-ish.

I don't feed him any sort of milk on a regular basis at all. I think that whole idea that cow's milk is an essential part of a diet is kind of ridiculous... I mean, that milk is meant for baby cows, why would it be necessary for humans to drink it?

So, I just try to make sure I offer plenty of healthy foods to my DS - I'm blessed with a bit of a freak DS, who eats lots of vegetables and is pretty openminded about trying foods. Although, even when he only eats chocolate chips for most of the day, I try not to be too concerned. Toddlers have strange eating habits.

[Jennbee]

I myself would stay away from soy milk because of the controversial information out there. And yes, I have read about it.

[velcromom]

We use almond milk as a beverage since ds likes something in his cup at mealtimes (he's three, so no pumping for me, and the one time I tried that he told me the EBM was "yucky" lol) and he gets gross rashes from dairy. He drank almond milk quite regularly from two to three but lately is leaning away from it and will more often drink water.

If it's possible (I don't know your situation, so this is just from my own experience ) you may find you would benefit from continuing on at just one or two nursings a day since it is such a valuable mothering tool. I've been so grateful to have it some days when life is stressful for ds - nursing is the one thing that will calm and sooth him on bad or sick days.