These days, small kids have started disliking milk at a very early age.
So, are you too looking for alternatives to milk for your child?
The good part is that there are plenty of alternatives available to suffice the nutrition of your child.
You may suffice the needs of your child with healthy diet and other nutritive supplements very much.
Growing kids need a lot of vitamins, calcium, protein and other minerals for proper growth.
This nutrition comes with milk.
Small toddlers who refuse milk intake should be encouraged a lot of dairy products like curd, cheese, paneer etc.
“Nature has been kind in providing substitutes to everything you ask for.”
This is a growing concern for the parents these days but nevertheless the remedies are readily available.
Dealing with reduced milk intake in kids is no big deal.
A healthy wholesome approach of eating is what is needed if your child is refusing to drink milk.
In this post, you will get a complete guide on feeding the right food to your child in such cases.
Milk Substitute for your child (2-5 yrs)
There are several kids who hate drinking milk. What can you do in such circumstances?
Up to the time of weaning, you’ll hopefully be breast feeding your baby; and as long as you breast feed, you don’t need to supplement his diet with cow’s milk. However once he is weaned, you will have to ensure that he gets a good source of calcium.
Breast feed your baby exclusively for six months, then wean him. If you’re feeding tinned milk, seek advice from your doctor or nutritionist to ensure your baby isn’t missing out on any nutrients. During weaning don’t just feed sweet, bland cereals. Rather introduce your baby to plenty of colourful vegetables.
Calcium from milk helps to built strong bones; in case your child cannot ingest milk for some reason, what alternate sources of calcium are there?
Other foods that are equally rich in calcium are:
1. Green leafy vegetables 
like spinach, fenugreek, and broccoli.
2. Whole grains 
especially ragi.
3. Pulses 
like moong, moth beans chana.
4. Sprouting 
increases calcium content.
5. Soya and its products 
like soya beans, soyamilk, tofu and soya granules.
6. Nuts and oil seeds 
like almonds, walnut, garden cress seeds( sabza) and sesame seeds( til).
A lot of kids develop a preference towards drinks with strong taste over the plain milk after they turn two.
In such cases, flavoring milk with some supplements not just gives extra nutrition to your child but also develop their liking towards milk.
Here are some tips to help you feed milk to your toddler easily:
Improve the taste:
The taste of the milk could be improved using flavoring supplements like Horlicks and Bournvita.
These supplements come in different flavors and make the milk a lot yummier and healthier as well.
Add milk to food:
You could make awesome sweets and desserts.
Homemade ice cream with milk and less sugar is a great option.
This is again an excellent way of feeding milk to your child.
Milk makes the food richer and provides the adequate nutrition to your toddler as well.
Cornflakes / Cereal is another brilliant choice of food.
Introduce small amounts:
The other way of developing liking towards milk is to offer very small amounts of milk to your young one.
A few ounces in the beginning will help your child to develop taste for milk.
Later, you could increase the amount of milk feed once your child has got the hang of it.
Increase calcium rich food in your diet:
Curds, cheese, green leafy vegetables, cereals and tofu are a rich source of calcium.
Try introducing these foods regularly and your child will never be deprived of adequate nutrition.
Be a Role model:
Often kids lose interest in some food because they don’t find anyone else in the family feeding on the same.
Try and be a role model for your child.
Instead of starting your day with tea or coffee, try drinking flavored milk as the first thing in the morning.
This will not just improve your health but will subtly convey your child that milk is an important food for health.
Be positive and encouraging:
You could use some cartoon characters who are considered very strong and powerful like Spiderman, Superman etc., to improve your child’s eating habits.
Show cartoon videos to your child with these characters in it and you could then use them as reference for making your child drink milk.
Some milk flavoring supplements also have superman picture on it to help the child relate to the importance of milk with the strength it provides.
Times have changed and there is no longer the insistence that children have to drink milk only after weaning. Although it is a good source of calcium, protein and fat, it is not the only source.
Early men lived perfectly healthy and they did not depend solely on milk.
They ate what they cultivated- grains vegetables and fruit. They kept animals for meat and milk.
Many children have digestive problems due to the milk protein called casein. A good many people develop allergies to it, so it’s not a good idea for your child to become dependent on milk. But you must make sure that the diet is rich in other sources of calcium.
If you decide you do want to give your child milk, reduce its allergic potential by rotating cow’s milk, curd, whey or soya milk.
Curd is often better tolerated than milk as the bacteria in it predigests a lot of the problematic milk sugars and proteins.
Live yoghurt (curd), where the bacteria remains intact can be particularly helpful in promoting a healthy digestive system and the calcium in curd is easier to absorb than that in milk.
A slice of cheese also has almost the same amount of calcium that 1 glass of milk contains.
If your baby is given antibiotics, follow them with age- appropriate probiotics to replenish the gut flora. Again, consult your doctor.
Most of the young parents like you are going through this.
There is no need to worry in this matter; all you need to do is to address it well.
Flavored milk actually works most of the time. Else, there are a lot of substitutes of calcium fortified foods which would well suit your child’s requirements.
A little encouragement and a positive role model image of yours will also be very helpful in dealing with this. Hope this post provided you with what you were looking for.
More interesting for you:
Vitamin chart for your child
4-12 months what to feed your baby
How to introduce your baby to solid food