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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>2 year old wants "bottle"
Unregistered 06:19 AM 04-22-2015
I have a 2 year old who asks for a "bottle" all day long. It is really a sippy cup of milk, not a bottle. I do milk at meals and water in between. I typically allow dcks to have as much milk as they want with their meal as I've never had an issue with it before. I serve it in dixie cups to avoid wasting and refill as they request it. However, dcb will not eat more than 2 or 3 bites of food at any meal and asks for "bottle" repeatedly throughout the meal. Dcm says he mostly drinks milk at home and she doesn't mind that, but we're talking like 12-16 oz of milk at each meal. I'm wondering if I should set a limit for him or just let it go. It concerns me for his health, but it also is a lot of money to spend on milk each week. I was thinking of giving him 5 minutes with his food before offering his milk, but I don't really think it will make a difference. Should I just serve 8oz of milk and say all gone or just give him the milk and let it go since dcm is ok with it? I don't make battles out of mealtime. I just serve and let them eat what they want of it, but this kid doesn't eat anything.
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Indoorvoice 06:25 AM 04-22-2015
Yes I would limit the milk. I would give it in a sippy and when it's gone, it's gone. They should really only be getting 16-24 oz a day, not per meal! Geesh! Plus that's a lot extra for you!
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Blackcat31 06:32 AM 04-22-2015
Originally Posted by Unregistered:
I have a 2 year old who asks for a "bottle" all day long. It is really a sippy cup of milk, not a bottle. I do milk at meals and water in between. I typically allow dcks to have as much milk as they want with their meal as I've never had an issue with it before. I serve it in dixie cups to avoid wasting and refill as they request it. However, dcb will not eat more than 2 or 3 bites of food at any meal and asks for "bottle" repeatedly throughout the meal. Dcm says he mostly drinks milk at home and she doesn't mind that, but we're talking like 12-16 oz of milk at each meal. I'm wondering if I should set a limit for him or just let it go. It concerns me for his health, but it also is a lot of money to spend on milk each week. I was thinking of giving him 5 minutes with his food before offering his milk, but I don't really think it will make a difference. Should I just serve 8oz of milk and say all gone or just give him the milk and let it go since dcm is ok with it? I don't make battles out of mealtime. I just serve and let them eat what they want of it, but this kid doesn't eat anything.
If you don't care that he has a sippy full of milk all day then why not ask mom to supply some so her child can continue on with the "bad" habit she has allowed him to have.

If you are not okay with him having that much milk, then treat it like you would any other food issue and refuse to engage. At meal time, I serve. The kids eat. Or don't. I don't give more milk after the appropriate serving size....water is the ONLY option. They can take it or leave it but that's the only choices I offer.
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finsup 06:42 AM 04-22-2015
I have a DCB who will fill up on milk and then leave his lunch if you let him. That doesn't work here, if food is prepared for you, you need to make the effort to eat at least some. Otherwise it comes out for snack I'm really not good with wasting food! So for this little guy, he gets his lunch first. When 1/2-3/4 is gone, then I give him his regular cup of milk. I just told him the first few days he will get his milk when he eats his lunch. Then just ignored the requests. Eats his lunch now, drinks his milk after and has no issues with it now
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Thriftylady 08:57 AM 04-22-2015
Sounds to me like he doesn't want food, because he knows he will get milk and his diet is mostly milk. But I wouldn't want to pay for it. So I would allow mom to provide him milk, or I would give him a serving and then he gets water. I would personally do the latter, because I wouldn't want other kids following his lead.
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Gemma 09:40 AM 04-22-2015
I serve 4-6oz of milk with meal, then if they're still thirsty, they get water!
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Baby Beluga 09:55 AM 04-22-2015
All but one of my children get loads of milk at home. Here I serve water at the beginning of a meal, then the last 10 minutes they get milk. If I were to serve milk at the beginning, they would just fill up on milk.
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BumbleBee 10:03 AM 04-22-2015
I serve milk with meals and they each have a water cup on a specific shelf that they can go get a drink from at any time. At meals they get their serving of milk and then water. Occasionally if they want more milk I will allow it IF they are eating well. If they just want to fill up on milk that's a no go.

What I, personally, would do is give him his serving of milk with his meal and when it's gone I would give him water. If he eats, he eats. If not, he doesn't. But I wouldn't allow him to fill up with just milk. He won't die if he's hungry. My kids eat every 3ish hours so it's not like there's a looooong gap between meals. Though admittedly if the kids are super active I will give them a few crackers between breakfast and lunch otherwise 1/2 hr before lunch becomes the witching hour.

I don't know what your regulations are but here we cannot allow a child to walk around with a cup or bottle. It took a little while with some kids to 'get it' that their water cups need to stay on the shelf (take a drink then put it back) but my youngest right now is 16 months and even he knows it goes on the shelf after taking a drink. It helps that the kids will police others who don't put their cups back.
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AmyKidsCo 12:24 PM 04-22-2015
Originally Posted by Blackcat31:
At meal time, I serve. The kids eat. Or don't. I don't give more milk after the appropriate serving size....water is the ONLY option. They can take it or leave it but that's the only choices I offer.
Me too. Water for seconds, and water bottles in between meals. That much milk isn't good for children because when they fill up on milk they aren't getting the nutrients they need from other foods.
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permanentvacation 12:25 PM 04-22-2015
He's filling up on the milk instead of the food. I would give him his meal with no drink at all. After he eats his meal, then I'd give him his cup. He needs to learn to eat his food rather than fill up on liquid.
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Unregistered 07:19 PM 04-22-2015
I can't believe it worked! He asked for bottle. I said no bottle, we have to eat food first. He ate the food. I'm still shaking my head. Lets hope tomorrow goes so well!
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Thriftylady 09:34 AM 04-23-2015
Originally Posted by Unregistered:
I can't believe it worked! He asked for bottle. I said no bottle, we have to eat food first. He ate the food. I'm still shaking my head. Lets hope tomorrow goes so well!
Yay!!!
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Tags:2 year old, digress, transitioning - to bottle
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