Milk problems - how much should he be drinking?

Hi,

Wondering if anyone has any good advice - our son is nearly three & a half, and he seems to have gone off milk. We are a bit worried as to his calcium intake as it's very difficult to get anything milky-looking into him - up until recently he used to have a cup of warm milk before bed but he now refuses that.. He'll eat cheese, but doesn't really eat yoghurt - only the occasional bit of fromage frai, and seems to have a thing about any kind of white things, even eggs are a no-no. He doesn't like cold things, and absolutely HATES ice-cream! (Have you ever met a child who doesn't like ice-cream?). So even things like salad cream, coleslaw, potato salad etc are out.

Forgot to mention, we are all vegetarian (until he is old enough to decide otherwise), so protein is a possible issue. We are due to see the health visitor next month, although we are going to see her sooner, but she can be reluctant to give the sort of detailed advice we need.

I'm sure it's probably just a phase (also if he had his way all he would eat was chips and crisps!), but for the meantime can anyone suggest any ways of getting milk and eggs into him? Or does it really not matter too much at his age? Hopefully we can adapt ny ideas along with the health visitors advice - anything at this stage would be most appreciated!

Cheers,

Tim

Hi Tim.

My now five year old had a white food aversion for a long time,but fortunately all my kids drink milk.He just decided at 5 "I'm 5 now I like..." and started trying new things,so refusing it now doesn't mean forever.

Do you and his Mum drink milk,eat ice cream around him,so he can see it's nice and everyone else is having some..I'd avoid the you have to drink that/you need to drink that approach and see if the less attention paid to the issue,it suddenly becomes forgotten.With my eldest daughter she refused fruit,but I kept just giving a little but saying nothing,and at  some point it disappeared.

As for amounts,300ml,about two glasses of milk is enough for ages 1-3,according to the Food Standards gency.You can also get it from breakfast cereals,bread,pulses,soya,tofu,beans,some fish.Dark green veg,some dried fruit.I know it's not ideal but what about milkshakes or even Nesquik(not ideal I know but if it works ).Encourage the fromage frais,what about custard,I've coloured that before or added cocoa powder just so it's not white.I also use a small tin of evaporated milk when I make jelly.

My kids rarely eat eggs as eggs but we put them in pancakes,waffles,cakes,quiches,eggy bread,lots of ways to hide them.

I'm not a big fan of artificial vitamins,I think it's better if you can get what you need from your diet,but if you are  worried your son may be not getting what he needs that may be helpful also.

Hoping it's just a phase