Raisingkids.co.uk's paediatric dietitian, David Swain, offers some advice on whether a child's calcium requirements will suffer because of a refusal to drink milk.

Raisingkids member's query
My 10 month-old won't drink any kind of milk. He's been breastfed for 7 months then he just stopped. I've tried everything and have just resorted to giving yoghurts all the time. He eats loads of normal food and has a good varied diet, but I'm worried about his calcium intake. Is so much milk really needed for babies? He's gaining weight normally - he was 8lb 14oz and now weighs over 19lb.

David's advice
Ideally, a 10 month-old baby should be having between 500-600 mls of either breastmilk or formula milk per day. However, it's not uncommon for babies to drink much less than this.

Drinking milk is a convenient way of ensuring your child gets sufficient calcium and protein but it's by no means the only way. You could try getting your son to take milk with cereal or try adding milk to foods that he may like to eat - e.g. scrambled eggs, mashed potato, pancakes and sauces.

With regards to your son meeting his calcium requirement, it is unlikely that he will do so if he continues to have no milk. Between the age of 10-12 months a baby should be having 524 mg calcium per day. The following foods each contain approximately 200 mg of calcium:

• A quarter of a pint of milk
• A small piece of cheese (28g)
• 1 small carton of yoghurt (150mls)
• Half a large can of creamed rice pudding

Consequently if your son continues to refuse to take milk and doesn't meet his recommended daily intake of calcium through other foods, he should take a supplement. 15 mls of a calcium supplement called Calcium-Sandoz syrup provides 324 mg of calcium and is prescribable from your GP. Your baby may also be missing out on some other essential nutrients that is contained in formula milk - in particular, you should also encourage foods rich in iron as formula milk is often a major source of iron for babies (normal cows milk is not a good source of iron). Foods rich in iron include lean meat, wholemeal bread and cereals.

Finally it would also be advisable to give your son a vitamin supplement, containing vitamins A,C and D if he is not already doing so (this is recommended for all children from 6months up to at least 2 years). These drops can be obtained from your health visitor or bought at the chemist.

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