Milk junkie

My 2y.o DS is a milk junkie and a fussy eater. He refuses a lot of what I offer and holds out for milk. I know I'm perpetuating the problem by giving him bottles on demand all night long...... but I am SO tired and sore. can't sit and pat him for hours.

how do I break this habit quickly and effectively without leaving him to cry or being up half the night? he won't accept a dummy or water. so far I've come to the conclusion that it doesn't matter if he has a bowl of cereal and yoghurt for dinner - he MUST go to bed full as a goog.... or the milkfest will never stop. then he wakes full and won't eat much all day. argh.

Add a newborn to the mix in a few weeks and I am ready to lose my **** completely!

It's really hard to break the habit, when dd1 was like that with a newborn on the way I resorted to thermal Sippy cups with milk that she could find in her cot and have while we sorted out her daytime foods. But she was happy with cold milk. Make sure he is getting iron as it stimulates their appetite and find foods he likes and let him graze all day and encourage more at night/dinner time doesn't really matter what food it is for now you can slowly swap it over. As a last resort add in more milk during the day so he feels full instead of wanting it at night. We finally swapped the milk at night to water when dd was 3.5.

Subbing as I have this problem with both of mine, and like ForShelby need help in breaking the cycle.
For us it is the bottle+milk combo. Both of mine will flat out refuse any sippy cup, or a water substitute at night.

DS will take a sippy cup.... but it's the milk I want to avoid. He has his cold too, that's no problem. The part I'm most bothered by is that on a bad night, he can be up 4-5 times demanding milk. And by demanding, I mean as soon as I open his door he's standing there thrusting his bottle at me and chasing me to the fridge. :rolleyes: We measured exactly how much he was having overnight on one of these bad nights... and it was close to a litre!! He shouldn't even be having that over the course of a whole day let alone overnight. It's ridiculous and beyond just a few bottles. :(

If I give him a bottle for him to find in his bed during the night, he'll polish it off quickly and want more. He's like a bottomless pit! The last couple of weeks I've given up caring if he's having a 'dinnertime food' at dinner, and just making sure he's eating more. I give him regular snacks during the day.

Here's an example of a good day, which was today.

7am (yes he woke at a normal time instead of 4.30am... :dance: that's a whole other thread!) - up for breakfast with Daddy.
breakfast toast + dry rice bubbles (fetish for crunchy foods...)
9am jump on mummy to abruptly end her sleep-in :)
10.30 snacktime while we do the groceries.
snack: cheese rice crackers and water
11.30 home from shopping, light lunch before a nap.
light lunch: apple filled fruit bar, mini toast and more water
12 noon - naptime. - gave a bottle of milk to snuggle up with.
1.20 awake from nap, cuddle and watch cartoons for a bit.
2.00 snacktime again
snack: more mini toast and water. offered banana but was refused. offered apple but was refused.
2.30 playing with toys
3.00 more snacks
snack: yoghurt and a bite of the cake I was trying to sneak..... lol
3.15 more playtime
4.30 bubble bath
4.45 quiet play, puzzles, books, blocks and cartoons.
5.30 dinner time
dinner: big bowl of cheerios cereal... again dry for crunchy enjoyment.
6.00 put on his foot brace and snuggle on the lounge
6.15 bedtime. brush teeth, tuck into bed with a bottle of milk.

So today he's only really had 2 bottles of milk since waking this morning. I've made a point of only giving a bottle at sleep time, and only AFTER a meal. I hope I've got it right and this is the solution. But I'm worried it won't work. Fingers crossed my mistake is not giving him enough snacks and just resorting to milk as I know he likes it.

Tonight will be the true test. I also wonder if his milk habit is affecting his sleep and causing him to wake so early as I posted about in another thread. (for the last 3 months or more he's been tormenting me by waking between 4 and 5.30am without fail and NOT going back to sleep even in my bed.)

Wish me luck! But please, anyone who has solved this problem and broken the habit give me more ideas. OR tell me I'm spot on and this will be the magical cure. I prefer the latter...... :)

Might I also add.... I wish he'd eat something that isn't crunchy or a biscuit/cereal type thing. But for now, I just want him to be full. As long as it's not deep fried, coated in sugar or dipped in syrup we're good.

does he eat much protein? might help more with the overnight.

have directed a mate here who has btdt and might have some tips for you

Okay i have just been through myself (thanks for the heads up HOTI), what i did was cut the amount of milk down in the bottle to start with, she didn't even notice that she was getting all water and a dribble of milk for colour. I know she was still getting the bottle but it sort of gave me the confidence to know that i was 'winning'...lol

Then (and this is the hard part) i only gave her a bottle first up in the morning and then before sleep/s. She threw HUGE tantrums about it and it was horrible to watch but i just kept her distracted (which i know is harder with a new baby) and offered food or kept giving her a bottle of plain water to drink. I worked out that it was really only a habit and a comfort thing as she was not really that thirsty once she only got given water to drink.
The thing about giving her the water in a different bottle (and we tried about 5 until we got one she liked) is that she started to think of that one as her daytime bottle and the milk one was only for set times.

She was and still is sometimes a terrible sleeper but i was finding because she was only drinking milk she was either a) waking up frequently because she was hungry or b) waking up because she had a wet nappy.

I don't know if any of this info helps at all but i know i was at the end of my teather with the constant demands for milk, no sleep, constipation from drinking so much milk that i knew i had to try and do the tough love approach. That worked for me and yes i had to leave the room occassionally to cry because i felt so bad when she was upset and it would have been easier to just give her the milk but i knew that her behaviour was starting to effect the whole family unit. Good luck, stay strong...my little one eats like a horse now :D

[QUOTE=f

Might I also add.... I wish he'd eat something that isn't crunchy or a biscuit/cereal type thing. But for now, I just want him to be full. As long as it's not deep fried, coated in sugar or dipped in syrup we're good.[/QUOTE]

My daughter only ate toast with vegemite and noodles/pasta and anyone that told me to get her to eat something else i would say "Feel free to try"....then when they failed i would say "See not so easy is it"...made me feel better anyway :) I TOTALLY get the just give them anything to eat as long as they eat something!!!

I haven't got a problem with the overnight waking Forshelby, but not so long ago was having a very difficult time getting Alexis to eat anything different, like cut up fruits and healthier snacks, she would always go for a snack of dry this or that, and yes cereal !!!!!!
The way I got her to eat healthier options??? Made myself a delicious bowl of cut up fruit and custard or some salad, sat in front of her and ate it, without offering her any ;D
She soon came over interested in what I was eating and wanted some, because it was 'my bowl' not hers! Ends up eating most of the bowl, but she doesn't realise it hehe!!

Good luck Forshelby, hope you had a good night. I had the same problem with my DD who was drinking anywhere up to 1.5L of milk a day and was beginning to refuse foods all together, she would have a full 260ml milk bottle first thing in the morning and then at night and then was asking me for more all while ignoring whatever food I put in front of her. Eventually I had enough and took the cold turkey approach and one morning just told her that there was no more "milka", as she called it, and gave her some milk in a cup. She cried for about 5 minutes but I made sure that all the bottles were out of sight and stuck to my guns and she gave up pretty quickly. I had tried getting rid of the milk bottle about 3 months prior and she cried, sobbing her heart out in the corner of the room for a good 40 minute so i gave in and gave it back, but this time round her protest was alot shorter. The downside was she stopped drinking milk all together, although she will drink it with milo or a milkshake and has it on her cereal but the bright side was she instantly started eating food again, and lots of it, and the night time waking stopped as she was nice a full from all the food.

First thing I thought was protein. Does he have low iron levels? DD1 can be fairly fussy sometimes with her eating. She is anaemic and once we discovered that, giving her more protein throughout the day, but especially before sleeps and at night, helped her heaps. Fish, hard boiled eggs, pork chops, and her new favourite, lamb cutlets are almost daily occurrences.

Ok, progress!! I sat down with a bowl of oats and 'hogged' it. 3 seconds later DS is on my lap and trying to steal it. I ask him if he'd like some.... "YEAH!" He ate half my breakfast :o

Later on in the day I busted out an apple. Sat down casually crunching away..... throwing in the odd 'mmmm yummy' but mostly ignoring DS. I didn't offer him any. Again, up onto my lap, hands out for his share lol. First he just wanted to touch it. I let him hold it and he gave it back. I broke off a tiny bit of flesh and held if out. Instead of throwing it on the floor, he put it in his mouth! At first he looked like he might spit it out... but I said 'Yummy!!' and took a big bite at the same time. Big grins and big mouthfuls followed. He stole the entire thing and ran off with if. :o

I didn't change much. ... just offered less milk. He still wont touch meat except the occasional chicken nugget ( which I cut up and crum the breast myself). But I'm happy with his progress so far. he's trying new things and having less meltdowns. ive also given up on trying to keep him occupied while I do the housework. Instead...... I've been getting him to help. By help, I mean run around witb tge broom between his lefs like a hobby horse... or roll in the clean laundry... or push the vacuum around.

He loves to help. everything takes twice as long but he's so much more content. And if he starts his screaming, I senx him to his room. AND GE GOES! I didn't expect that to work but I thought I'd try it out.

Maybe he was feeling frustrated being treated like a baby. once I stopped and put myself in his shoes it clicked. lets see if it lasts. :)

Just a thought I had when I noticed he had a bottle at nap time....is it possible he is using the bottle of milk as a sleep cue and wanting one to resettle each time he stirs at night? I'm not sure how to fix it if it is, but just an idea....

Nice to see that there's some progress, Forshelby. I hope things continue to improve for you both!

That sounds like great progress! Nothing like hogging food for yourself to make him want it :D