i have a 13 mth old daughter that absolutely refuses to drink cows milk. previously my other 2 children have made the transition from formula to cows milk at 12 mths with no trouble at all. i have tried the toddler formula, she refuses that as well. on the odd occasion that she has drunk cows milk, cos we were out and there was nothing else to drink, she wound up at the end of the day with diorhhea and became very mucousy.
she hates ice cream and wont have much yoghurt and cheese either.
she was a reflux baby, so i dont know if this might have anything to do with it?
currently i still have her on formula just so she gets some form of nutrients.
does anyone have any suggestions or been through this themselves?

May I suggest you speak to the maternal health & child nurse or your GP as you might want to investigate if she is lactose intolerant. I hope she gets better, Good Luck

thanks for answering me. i rang the health nurse and she said that mucous production and diarhoea are normal when introducing new foods.
she said to give her formula mixed with cows milk (which i have already done) and only give her that. so basically force her to drink it. failing this she said its not overly important as long as shes eating food, and to maybe give her yoghurt and cheese as a substitute.

im not overly convinced about the forcing her to drink it though, we are allowed to have likes and dislikes, and ive never had a child have diarhoea and heavy mucous production in reaction to a new food being introduced.
yoghurt and cheese she likes but only iin small amounts, i just worry cos i thought she should be drinking milk.

what do you think about the health nurses suggestions?

be very cautious. My daughter blew up in hives a few minutes after having her first bottle of cows milk formula. I mentioned it to the health nurse and my GP and neither seemed to be too concerned. She then stopped growing and starting losing weight. Three months later blood tests confirmed milk, peanut egg and soy allergies and she was diagnosed with fail to thrive (not growing). I can't help but wonder if I could have avoided two hospital admissions if I had pushed the issue further with the health nurse of GP.
In saying that, Maya is probably worst case scenario, and the health nurse may well be right. I would seek a second opinion before giving hre cows milk.
On the bright side, it is not likely to be an allergy as she has obviously tolerated cows milk formul. Same goes for lactose intolerance - lactose is present in infant formula so she would hav ereacted sooner.
Good luck

If she is not lactose intolerant, the other thing you can try is to dilute the cows milk 50/50 with cooled boiled water and she how she deals with that. Then gradually reduce the amount of water as her digestive system adjusts to cows milk.

forgot to mention, if your baby is still reacting after trying this, I would definitely insist it be investigated. You can never be too careful with our babies, after all they can't tell us if something is hurting or making them feel sick.
I hope it all works out, let me know how you go smile

hi guys,
ive tried diluting milk with water, as this is what i did with my first 2 children when they made the transition. ive tried this on several separate occassions and this was greeted with either a refusal to drink, or in desperation cos there was nothing else to drink she drank it and this was followed with diarhoea and mucous.

ive also tried mixing cows milk with formula but she just wont drink it, trust her to be difficult!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the ladies at day care that look after her say that they notice she vomits every time she has proper custard too, and they suggested i try her on soy milk instead, what do u think?

She might not drink the soy milk, coz it is a totally different taste again, but if you can get her to take it then it's worth a go. I still think it's strange that she tolerated cows milk based formula but not actual cows milk. I would discuss this further with your health nurse or doctor.
But soy milk certainly won't do her any harm so give it a go. Let me know how you get on.

i tried soy milk the other day, and she took one mouthful and literally threw the bottle back at me!!!! but then again my other two children didnt want to drink it either so it must have been gross!!!!!!
anyway i asked my nan for advice on this issue tonight and she suggested i try evaporated milk because apparently my dad could not drink cows milk as a child either and so she had him on evaporated milk, so thats my next step.

hi all,
as of thursday last week, my little darling has now decided that she doesnt need formula anymore either!
she refuses every bottle, ive tried swapping things around and putting them in a cup-no luck!
so no formula OR cows milk now! ARGHHHH!
i guess im just going to have to accept the fact that she doesnt like it and try to get her to have it other ways. like in cooking and small amounts of cheese and yoghurt daily.
i must admit im not a big fan of dairy, maybe shes the same.
i thought it might of been an allergy (and maybe it is a very mild one) but i think now its a like/dislike thing and i shouldnt push the issue, cos its not THAT important. she will get calcium in other ways.

me again everyone,

ive had a huge week with my daughter in the last week and some big revelations too.
on thursday last week, i had to take my daughter to the emergency department cos she was really sick and i couldnt get into a gp. anyway it turned out she had a bad ear infection, and was admitted to hospital until her temp came down, and she started having wet nappies again.
after i got her home, i came on this site and was reading a post called ear infections. there was one common factor between ear infections and dairy allergies with every person that had put a post on it. their children were unwell without being able to put a proper finger on what was going on (like me) or get anyone to listen to their concerns without being fobbed off.
i started to think back to when my daughter was new born and i know that it was said earlier that she tolerated a cows base formula, so was unlikely to have an allergy- but now that i think about it, she vomited after every single bottle, large amounts of formula, and i was told it was reflux! so i thought nothing of it.
she has had a runny nose since she was a week old too.
a child health nurse told me today (a different one to before) that i should take my cues from my daughter and if shes refusing cows milk, shes trying to tell me something.
so im going to see if she will take soy, and if not i will try goats milk.
thanks guys for helping, i appreciate it
kristi

Hi Kristi,
I was just reading your posts. My 13month old son has had lactose intolerant (we, luckily had a great paediatrician that diagnosed early) There are soy formula's out there, try one at a time when you find the right one you will notice the difference in your daughter (If you have a paediatrician see if they have samples so you don't have to buy large tins of formula that your daughter might not like. If you're in SA I can give you the name of a good one that bulk bills). Don't start her on soy milk. A child health nurse told me soy milk is not suitable for kids under 2yrs. It doesn't have all the right nutrients they need. When she is 2 you may want to try cows milk first as some kids grow out of their lactose intolerance. Take my son, who now drinks one bottle a day of cows milk.
I hope this helps
Ailsa