Hello,

My toddler who’s 20 months has been really ill the last week (hand, foot and mouth and tonsillitis) to the point she didn’t eat and only drank a few sips of water for a few days. She was very close to having to go to hospital for dehydration.

Leading up to her throat being bad and not drinking, her throat was sore and half way through drinking a bottle she would cry and be in pain. She also had to have antibiotics that she wouldn’t take and the dr said to try and put them in milk. I did this for 1 bottle and she had 2 sips and refused and got upset. This was the only bottle she tried to drink when her throat was bad.

Now she’s better, not 100% but I would say 85% better and she’s eating and drinking again, she is refusing milk. Not only is she refusing, she’s flat out getting distressed and having a full meltdown about the milk. The last few nights when I’ve led her down to have her bottle she would get up straight away and start the meltdown. The same at nap time. Tonight I made the bottle but didn’t even put her in the bed and put the milk down because she was already having a breakdown. Even tho she refused she still says milk like she wants it but if I pick the bottle up she gets hysterical. Then I removed the bottle from her room altogether and she got hysterical again. Once she does go to sleep around 7:30 she seems to wake up around 11 hysterically crying and TV is the only way to settle her before she’s gagging and being sick. But she mentions milk when she does this. I can’t keep letting her watch TV because I don’t want her in this routine. I have to be up at 4am for work and even tho I only work for a few hours before my partner has to go to work, I need better sleep. My toddler does too.

I’ve tried offering her milk in a calm environment at a different time and she says no and puts the lid on the bottle.

My question is, does this sound like she’s formed an association with pain and is scared to drink the milk? How do I resolve that? I think she does want the milk but is scared to drink it. Or do I completely give up with the milk? I offer water when she’s refused the milk and she does drink some but it’s not having the same effect milk has if you know what I mean. She knows it’s sleep time when she has the milk, it’s comforting (well used to be) and she doesn’t eat much at all and it helped her tummy stay full all night.

Is there another drink I could try? She’s allergic to dairy, soya and almond. We’ve tried to get her to drink oat milk in the past but she wouldn’t touch it. She’s very fussy with food and drink and is the worst picky eater.

Anyone have an opinion on what I can do? I’m at a loss.

Thankyou 🤗

Edit- thank you for the replies. She’s on dairy and soya free formula. We get it from her dr. Last night we skipped the bottle completely and it was the first calm bedtime in a while and slept all night last night! Let’s hope this continues 😅