All she wants is milk!

All my dd wants, all the time, is a bottle of milk! She's 22 months old now, and has been on solids since 6 months and cow's milk since 1 year. She's an EXTREMELY picky eater - all she will eat for breaky is either porridge or weetbix, and some toast with vegemite, and dinner is either chicken nuggets/steak/sausages and zucchini and mashed potato and pumpkin. She has morning and afternoon tea as well, and usually eats lunch (or so her daycare centre says), but she has this obsession with milk. She still has 4 bottles a day (about 120mls each), but when she is feeling sick or in a bad mood (seems like every second day!) she will cry and whinge and throw tantrums until she makes herself sick just to get some milk.

I don't know if I'm worrying over nothing, or if I should be doing something more about it, but then I don't know what to do. I'm really stuck with this one, any ideas?

Hi Rosy,
My DD - also Chloe! is also 22 months and what you have written in your post is exactly what happens in our house!!!!! Even the making herself sick bit!
Unfortunately I haven't found the solution yet.
But you are not alone. Distraction sometimes works, but today she managed to help herself to the milk carton in the fridge, so I guess a safety lock for the fridge door is needed now. DD did have a bit of a cold during the week, which led to more milk requests, but b/c she usually only has milk or water, I tried to offer her juice as an alternative to milk to keep her fluids up and that seemed to work for a bit.

I'll look forward to seeing some responses too

This is really common. One thing that would help is to change from a bottle to a sippy cup. There is a higer risk of dental decay from drinking from a bottle, so it is recommended that you wean them from bottles not long after 12 months. You will also find that if the bottle is a comfort thing, the cup might not be so much, so the milk intake will decrease.

Which is the other thing. I had the same problem with my first DS (although he was younger). He was drinking a lot of milk and not eating. We cut the milk right back to no more than 3 cups a day, and after a couple of weeks, he started eating a lot more food. He is still not a huge eater, especially not compared to his younger brother, but he certainly eats much better than he did.

I'm not saying this is easy, especially weaning from the bottle. And I can't give you any advice on that as my boys would never take a bottle so we never had to wean them off them. So you will have to decide whether or not you can do it. But I think it will help with the issues you are having. GL.

Hi Manta Ray,
Thanks for the advice. Unfortunately Chloe has problems with the muscles in her mouth and face, and cannot drink from a sippy cup or straw or anything else. She can sort of drink from a real cup, but doesn't drink much as she gets frustrated and it is hard work for her. I would LOVE to take her off the bottle but until she gets better with her cup-drinking she'll have to stay on it for now. She seems to be getting her appetite back today (touch wood) so maybe she was teething or unwell. But I will definitely try cutting back the milk to 3 bottles instead of 4 per day and see how she goes.