Taming the Milk Monster

Like many kids her age, Ella loves her milk! For the past two years I have struggled to keep her milk consumption in check. I limit her intake to 24 oz or 3 sippy cups per day, at least on most days. I rarely offered other dairy food items (cheese, yogurt, etc) so that we weren't way over the serving limit. I tried really hard to only offer milk at meals, but pregnancy got in the way of that plan. I knew that she was asking for milk when she was hungry and I would offer food instead, but she usually refused and ended up filling up on milk. In the end, I failed pretty much every single day.

Last week I started giving Ella milk in a "big girl" cup and only at the table. She can have it when she wants it, but only under those stipulations. An amazing thing has occurred: her milk consumption has almost cut in half and her consumption of food has at least doubled. I can't believe it! She has caught on to my little trick and yesterday had a fit because she wanted milk in the sippy cup. I do give her one glass in the morning in the sippy, but that is to stay off hunger until I can get breakfast together. At bedtime if she has not had her full 24 ounces of dairy, then I offer her another sippy cup of milk. For the most part, though, the big girl cup has slowed her down and got her eating!

One small triumph for Mommy....