Weaning - when your toddler wont drink milk

I have been breastfeeding Reuben for 14 months now! We have loved our journey but for a couple of reasons i want him fully weaned by 18 months. We have already set the ball rolling by dropping his bedtime feed. (He was already down to only feeding morning and night). The problem we have faced is that he hates milk. I mean he literally HATES it. We have tried cows milk, oat milk and unsweetened almond milk. We've tried them all warm and cold and we've tried cows milk with fruit blended in and even as a chocolate babychino. He has a sip pulls a face and spits it out.

At first i was really worried about how i was going to stop breastfeeding if he wont drink any other milk but once i started researching i realised that it wasn't so much of a problem. At Reuben's age food is the most important part of his diet, Toddlers don't actually NEED to drink milk, they can get all the nutrients they need through diet alone. You just have to make sure you are giving them certain foods.

Toddlers aged between 1-3 need around 350mg of calcium a day. This is equivalent to 300ml of milk. A 30g serving of hard cheese has roughly 240mg of calcium in it, Full fat natural yoghurt has roughly 132mg per 100g serving. Other foods containing calcium are

• green leafy vegetables – such as broccoli, cabbage and okra, but not spinach

• soya beans

• tofu

• soya drinks with added calcium

• nuts

• bread and anything made with fortified flour

• fish where you eat the bones – such as sardines and pilchards

So as you can see its quite easy to achieve the recommended 350mg serving.

Information taken from the NHS website

We dropped the bedtime feed first because once i start work in a couple of weeks i wont be around on a Saturday night to put Reuben to bed. Instead of milk he now has a banana and water after his bath before we brush his teeth. The reason we opted for banana is because 1. he loves them and 2. bananas are rich in magnesium which relaxes muscles and they also contain serotonin and melatonin, which encourage sleep.

Reuben dropped the feed really well with no fuss and it hasn't affected his sleep in any way. I Will look to drop his morning feed in a couple of months time by getting him straight up for breakfast.

So if like me your toddle wont drink any other milk and you're worried and wondering what to do next, don't be. Just be sure they are getting plenty of dairy in their diet and let them lead the way.