Hi,
Just this past weekend my Nicholas who still was drinking milk from a bubba stopped...cold turkey...all would be great except he will not drink milk from anything else...he drinks water but I've been monitoring it since he gave up his bubba's (he would drink like 3 a day...I'd fill half w/ milk and half water so he was drinking 24 oz's plus the water he'd drink besides his bubba (I never really kept track)...he stopped on Sat...the nipple must have tasted weird (it was getting tacky) and so he freaks when he sees the bubba and wants nothing to do w/ it. He drank about 24 ozs on Saturday and like I was lucky if he drank 16 oz yesterday...I had to chase him down and hand him his water all day...I'm so upset because my brother got dehydrated when he was little and it was really bad, he got pretty sick...He's peeing still not as much of course but like 3 times each day maybe 4 and a lot in the am...I know he needed to give his bubba up he's 4 1/2 and its mostly just a soothing mechanism for him (or was) but I needed some feedback if anyone knew what was enough fluid or when I should worry.
He's also not the best eater or eater of a variety of foods, ie...no juice or fruits, he likes occasionally blueberry yogurt or berry yogurt, took his first bite of a banana the other day ( I teeny-tiny one but still a bite) and he eats mainly peanut butter, wheat bread, rice, spaghetti w/ gravy (meat tomato sauce) cheerio and a variety of other cereals and some snacks like crackers and cheese or cracker and p/b...we try chicken and veggies but only will pick at them...the milk we used for him had vit. c. in it so now we are going to try vitamins, this should be fun...sorry to go on and on...I'm just kinda nervous. Thanks in advance for any advice.
hugs,
Ali
thanks for you reply Jenni!
I was actually thinking of getting the ensure (vanilla) and seeing if he'd drink it or adding it to say pudding or yogurt, I'll check out the van. soy milk though you never know...most likely he'll not like either, since it looks like milk and he fought me to take a sip of it out of a cup...maybe he's getting sick and the milk makes him nauseous??? Its so hard to know when they aren't really verbal yet...he just tells me "all done!!!" and pushes the milk away! ugh.
Good advice about the fried rice and adding chicken or beef broth! I was concerned about both fluids and the lack of those nutruients from his diet...vit c, vit d.
Nicholas is 4 1/2 and he's really picky, if he likes it he'll gobble it up and eat heartily, if not he'll just ignore it and never try it...color and texture are big for him I think... things we are working on.
I really appreciate your reply and help and I'm going to try some of the tips you mentioned.
thanks again! : )
Ali
My son LOVES vanilla soy milk (it's soooo expensive though) and he really likes the vanilla pediasure (I have to be careful not to buy the kind with added fiber or I will be changing twice as many diapers). He is also a milk/water drinker and will drink his milk out of a bottle and water out of a cup with a straw -although lately he's been trying to drink water out of a regular glass but when he's done he sticks his hand in the water and plays with it so he has to be carefully supervised. My son won't eat chocolate either! I tried getting him to eat a candy bar with the hopes that it would stimulate his appetite (like it does mine) but he won't try anything new. I even tried to get him to eat those chocolate Viactive multi-vitamins just to get ANY kind of vitamin in the kid but he wouldn't eat them either. I know how frustrating it is to get your child to consume something. Mine has one of those overactive gag reflexes and it's impossible to get him to eat/drink anything that's not on his list of about 5 Noah-approved foods. The other day my ds voluntarily picked up a pacifer and put it in his baby sister's mouth - he gagged and coughed the whole time. It was hilarious though. I don't know why he put himself through that!
Are you worried about him not consuming much liquids or the calcium/ Vit D/ Vit C that was in the milk? I am not sure how old Nicolas is, but I think 16-24 oz is adequate consumption of liquids. You could also try to mix some chicken broth w/ his rice. If he is not s soup eater, just a little broth will add some additional liquids he will consume.
If it is the vitamins and calcium (and he won't take a vitamin pill), you can find different ways to prepare foods that he will eat. For instance, the only ways I can get veggies (except corn ) in my 3 yr old autistic dd and 1 yr old language delayed ds is by baking it in muffins/ bread, puree the veggies and mix it in foods (mainly sauces) that I know they will eat or making fried rice. The fried rice is easy because you can use carrots, corn or other veggies and chop them up. You can add meat, garlic and soy sauce. If your child won't eat anything w/ color, you can always use parshnips, center of zuccini, center of squash, firm tofu and chicken breast. We sautee it to make sure it is a little crispie.
Also, have you tried Vanilla soymilk? If you are worried about the cane sugar, you can blend Vanilla soymilk w/ unsweetened soymilk to dilute the sugar.
Hi Ali,
We also use pediasure daily, and (if Nicholas drinks shakes), they make a really good ice cream shake in choc, vanilla or strawberry. Riley is a milk/water drinker only, and he will drink bottled water. (Otherwise it needs to be in a cup with 4 ice cubes!)
~Lesley
LMBO!!!! Shakes LOL...you are something else girl! thanks for the laugh and the tip!
& thanks Lesley, I wish he would drink shakes, ahh the dreaded water/milk drinker, all these great fruit flavored sugary drinks you can hide meds and vitamins in but not for our kids! my guy tastes them in a heartbeat then goes on a drinking strike! ugh!
I wish Nicholas would eat chocolate...can you believe I said that! LOL I would use the choc sauce thing for sure(then run off to confession of course lol), he's a vanilla guy, hasn't developed his mom's love of chocolate! vanilla is hard to hide stuff in, but I'm going to try to sneak it in his custard, okay he will ONLY eat the vanilla custard (gerbers) its actually the best tasting one too LOL..the other's taste like imitation vanilla, I should get a good recipe and make my own! anyone have one?
Well thanks so much for helping ladies! I spoke w/ dh and he makes me more nervous I swear! He keeps saying what are we going to do! he needs the milk! yikes! I'm going to keep on trying!
hugs!
Ali
When Adam stopped drinking out of a bottle it scared me too. He didn't seem to drink nearly as much and he went through a lot less diapers. I would just give him the water and keep trying to re-introduce the milk. It may just be a stage he is going through right now. If not then it's not the end of the world to not drink milk either. I don't and never have drank milk. Maybe you can find a good vitamin to give him that he will like?
Karrie
Ali,
When my Nick finally was weened off his bottle I had the same problem he would not touch milk anymore.......only juice or soda he was terrible with soda we could not have it in the house for a long time even if we hid it he would find it and down all of it!!!!! Will your Nick eat cereal with milk? This is the only way my Nick gets any milk into his system. But one plus he LOVES ice cream and milk shakes so I am deffinetly gonna try to mix some pediasure into them!!!! I know my NT kids didn't drink much milk after there bottles were gone either I think they actually consume more when they have a bottle than they are supposed to so when they no longer have the bottle it seems like they are not drinking enough, I know with my first child I had her off the bottle at 19 months and I was so worried she was gonna dehydrate and have kiddney failure!!!! Oh being a first time mom was rough!!! Good luck
Nita
Ali
My son quit drinking milk for a while after we took the bottle away. We tried the vanilla soy milk and he hated it but loved the soy smoothies. We also found that the costco brand of slimfast drinks had more nutrional value than the pediasure did. Jason thinks they are chocolate milk so we just sub one a couple times a week when you doesn't really eat well. Both of my kids spent time in the hospital from dehydration due to several illness factors and the rule they specified is that as long as the have 1 wet diaper about every 6-8 hours they are not dehydrated. Don't know if that will help
Does he like juice cycles? It may be too cold but sucking on a juice pop helped my daughter when she was too dehydrated and needed to get liquids down.
Also, my daughter dosen't care for white milk and loves chocolate milk. Adding a little choc. syrup made all the diference for her. Now, that is all she wants and drives me nuts saying "Brown milk!".
Plus. For some reason her cup w/the whirly straw makes drinking more fun for her. She likes to watch her drink swirl around the cup in the straw. They are just so hard to clean (:
Hope these tips help>
mary
thanks again guys, some awesome tips!!!
I have one more question...LOL...can you tell I'm a first time mom LOL...I raised two step kids but they came to me at 6 & 7 and now are 18+19 (nt)and both of them loved to eat and drink and had no food issues, so it is hard to compare the experience...
Okay so Nicholas isn't wearing diapers anymore (this has been quite a summer, he potty trained himself and gave up his bubba himself! I'm really so proud of him, he's becoming such a big boy!
anyway, he has been peeing like 3-4 times a day, does that sounds like its enough, (if I don't drink 8 glasses of water, then I only pee a few times too lol)...its not as much as he use to pee, but at least I know he's okay...right?
thank again everyone! I bought the pediasure in vanilla, just one to see if I can trick him by putting it in yogurt or his pudding...he already ate 3 spoons of yogurt before I came home w/ it and told me ALL DONE!!! when I tried to give him more...so my plan was foiled last night...wish me luck today LOL...bwah ha ha
hugs all!
Ali
Hi Ali,
welcome to the board!
With the Pediasure, if your son refuses to drink it , add some strawberry "Quick" powder to it. It worked for my little angel who refuses to eat chocolate and Vanilla Pediasure for that matter (or anything else that resembles a vegetable, a fruit, etc..).
Take care,
Jo.
When we took the bottle away cold turkey DS was 12 months old. For a week he didn't drink that much and I did notice his diapers weren't as wet. But he cought on- the bottle wasn't coming back.- and he started drinking more. Good luck! Enjoy not having to wash bottles and don't sweat it. It sounds like he eat's a better varrity than most kids and as long as he drink's water he doesn't really need that much milk. Zach actually get's no dairy here! He get's vitimans Calcium w/ vit. D for absorbtion. Super Nu Thera. Asadopholus (sp sorry can't think tonight LOL). And what ever I can get him to eat and drink. As for suppliment drinks I can get some soy milk down him called Soy Slim Chocolate with splenda, (no added sugar!) Also Adkin's drinks have more protein than the Boost, Ensure, and Slimfast. My dad's dr. recommended them for him vs. the others for a suppliment drink. We didn't even think about those vs. the boost and ensure. Then we started reading labels, and they do have a lot more protein and vitimans in them than the others.