My six year old recently decided he does not like milk...

[Zonny]

He will only drink it now with bribery. I bought some Quik syrup, thought a bit of flavour would fix things, but he wants to mix in 1/4 chocolate to 3/4 milk, and we're not going there. DH and I are terrible examples - we only use it in coffee, I put it on cereal sometimes, but never just a plain old glass of milk, can't stand the stuff! He does eat yogurt and cheese (so do we), and milk on his cereal, but those sources don't add up to much.

What to do? What about soy/almond milk, any opinions about those, the taste, etc., maybe a kid would like it better? I've never tried the stuff myself. He's a big strong kid, I want him to have big strong teeth and bones that will support his 4'8, 80 pound frame! And yes, I know that we're the only creatures out there that drink milk beyond babyhood and some believe it's not necessary. I think that SOMETHING high in calcium is.

[KrazE]

My 14 yr old used to be like this when he was younger; I had him on the chews that look (and pretty much taste) like chocolate per our family doc recommendation.

[Chantel]

Soy milk tastes okay, I don't mind the vanilla stuff. I only have a bit at a time though, can't stand a whole cup of it. Creamy liquids (with the sole exception of the chocolate milk that comes out of a jug from the store, I prefer 3.25% myself) are no bueno with me.

Maybe talk to your pharmacist about some calcium tablets for kids that you can grind up and mix into the chocolate milk, and let him add a lot of chocolate but only have one glass every couple days. I find the nesquik is only tolerable if you use a ton of it. I really really do prefer the chocolate milk from the store, it tastes better even if I 'water' it down with white milk. Compare the sugar content if you're looking at that, I don't really know what's better.

Either way, if he's only getting one glass of chocolate milk, I'd try the supplement in it.

[snuffaluffagus]

A 6 year old needs approximately 800mg of calcium per day. You can get enough into his diet if you add fortified orange juice, cheese, yogurt, canned salmon with bones, oatmeal (cook it in milk instead of water for even more calcium), blackstrap molasses, spinach, collard greens, kelp, broccoli, swiss chard, kale, celery (you can hide all the veggies in spaghetti sauce or a thick soup/stew), almonds, etc. etc. Don't forget to add foods high in vitamin D as well to help with absorption of calcium.

Here's a fantastic site that will give you a nutritional analysis of most any foods. Once you enter a food at the top right corner, you'll be given a list to choose from. Charts of complete nutritional analysis for that food becomes available to you.

http://nutritiondata.self.com/

[LovelyLaeticia]

My 2 year old does not like milk, she stopped liking it around 14 months. I never forced the issue. I just made sure she got calcium from other stuff, and I give her a multivitamin as per the doctor (she has a very very self restricted diet.)

Recently she has decided she likes chocolate milk. I let her have 1-2 cups per day. She is not a fan of sweet things (cakes, cookies, etc.) so it's pretty much the only not naturally occurring sugar she gets, so I let her have it She needs to gain weight anyways.

[matty's mom]

We are cow milk free in our house. DS couldn't have it until just before 3 yrs old. He has been raised on soy and almond milk, goat cheddar cheese etc, leafy greens. He is big and strong- 42", 62 lbs @ 3yrs 4 mos old. Because DH is badly allergic to cow dairy, we use fortified orange juice (doctor's recommendation) But the biggest win for me has to be the greek yogurt. DS gets a serving every day and he loves it- on pancakes, waffles, with berries for snack etc. It has more protein and calcium than other dairies (per serving/size) and satisfies his large appetite for his size. He doesn't like the plain so I buy astro yogurt- honey. It has enough sweetness without all the sugar that is in the other flavours and the fat free. Because of the honey taste- it goes with just about everything!

[RSAS]

My older son doesn't drink milk. He doesn't like it. He gets his calcium from cheese and yogurt. I personally would prefer other sources of calcium as opposed to adding chocolate syrup to milk. They don't need the sugar or caffeine from it. Chocolate milk should be an occasional treat. He will put milk on cereal and that is about it. There are tons and tons of other sources of calcium. Honest, I wouldn't worry too too much about that. Vitamin D on the other hand...That is vitamin that we main get from milk. It is added to all our milk. I don't think its in cheese? Not sure. You can get it from salmon, sardines and egg yolks. Those are the main ones I can think of right now. Vitamin D is essential to absorption of calcium.

[glowworm2k]

I don't think milk as a beverage is necessary. As some of the other posters have pointed out, there are tons of non-dairy sources of calcium that work just as well as milk, as well as a range of supplements. I grew up without ever drinking a glass of milk (I always hated the taste and was fed before milk-drinking age on a soy formula due to allergies), and got calcium from canned salmon (w/bones), leafy greens, fortified soy milk, and so much other stuff that is awesome for kids to eat.

Our thinking of milk as a necessity is largely the result of years of marketing pressure from the dairy marketing boards. I do remember being told in school that it "wasn't right" that I didn't drink milk, and was even told this once by our local "Dairy Princess" (something that the Ontario Milk Marketing Board used to do... kinda like the "Miss America" of Ontario milk). The minute I said, "I'm allergic", though, people would back off, and by the time I was a few years older, nobody seemed to care about me drinking milk at all.

[Zonny]

Thanks all!

While I haven't consumed milk regularly since I was about nine and still grew into a 5'11 woman, I don't think I'm particularly healthy for avoiding it. I do think that calcium from food is far more beneficial than from supplements, but that's just my opinion. My DS does eat plenty of cheese, and I'm trying to push more yogurt, offering it as a choice - you can have this glass of milk or you can eat this yogurt, that kind of choice. Vegetable sources aren't as readily absorbed, and I'm not willing to eat fish with bones, I doubt my son would either. As for sardines, most six year olds wouldn't go there! We both enjoy broccoli and spinach, but veggie choices for calcium aren't as easily absorbed. I think I will try the calcium fortified OJ though; we rarely have juice, for him it's a treat, he'd drink it with no issue.

[RSAS]

my 3 and 5 year old eat sardines! I mash them up and mix with a little yogurt and serve like a tuna sandwich. The kids eat it....the husband on the other hand...not so much.

[lucy16076]

It's ok....really. Just change his diet to include calcium from other foods but keep milk on the table. He may change his mind again.

[Zonny]

It's ok....really. Just change his diet to include calcium from other foods but keep milk on the table. He may change his mind again.

Oh I'm sure he will. I only have one child, but from him I've learned that the only thing you can count on is that things will change!

The other day we overslept and were running late for swimming lessons, ended up eating breakfast at the Canada Games Centre where there is a Subway. They have parfaits that are yogurt, fruit and a little packet of granola. He LOVED the granola. I went to Costco right after the swimming, and coincidentally they had Harvest Crunch on sale. I offered a big bowl of yogurt with a small dish of the granola (think a couple of tablespoons), he gobbled that down. That's become a standard breakfast food now (DH has been told he cannot eat a bowl of straight granola, as DS would think he could do the same!). He normally likes a bit of yogurt, but the granola addition makes him eat a lot more of it.