using milk instead of water for infant formula...?

My 15 month old daughter (weaned at 12 months) has suddenly become really picky with her food. She won't eat anything really except for drinking her (formula) milk, and sometimes a bit of water. A girlfriend suggested I try making the formula with full-cream milk instead of water, to increase the fat in her diet (ie. 200ml milk, 4 scoops powder; and we have already introduced cows milk into her diet). I am skeptical about this, it seems excessive and unnecessary. My daughter is not about to fade away, and I am sure this is just a phase, but I would still like to get some other opinions on this double-whammy milk concoction. Would this be worth thinking about if she continues to be picky like this? Thankyou in advance for all you thoughful help.

Answers:
It's very normal for toddlers to go through picky stages. The best thing you can do is keep offering a variety of healthy foods and try not to make a big deal out of it. I would certainly not alter the way that you prepare her formula.

I'm a little confused about why you weaned her at 12 months (from breastmilk?) to start offering formula instead of going straight to regular milk. I'm sure you had a good reason, and I'm not questioning you -- it's just unusual for someone to do that.

It is possible that if she's getting a lot of formula, she may not be hungry enough for solids, so you may want to start offering solids before giving her the formula. Also, if you are giving her plain cow's milk to drink sometimes, make sure it's whole milk (for the fat content needed for healthy brain growth).

I am a firm believer that children will eat when they are hungry, and as long as they are offered a variety of healthy foods, they will eat what their bodies need. You may need to cut back on offering breads, crackers, juice, or other foods that have less nutritional value in favor of offering more fruits/veggies/protein, but my guess is that she'll eat when she's hungry.

My almost 2-year-old has phases where she'll eat tons of dairy for a day or two, but then, she'll finish off half a can of peas another day. If I look at her diet for the whole week, it's probably pretty balanced, but each day can vary quite a bit.

Hope that helps!

What you should do is call your pediatrician and see what he/she recommends. Don't just do something like that without talking to your child's doctor first.

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using milk instead of water for infant formula...?

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