Give me milk!

I took Logan for his 18 month well-child check up and I literally cringed when I heard myself asking our pediatrician the most absurd question. “How do I get Logan to eat? He drinks 3 cups of milk and then he won’t eat his dinner.”

Now I know this sounds crazy and I relate it to working mother’s guilt but when Logan comes home from school he begs for milk or “mick” as he calls it.

When I say begs he actually stands at the refrigerator and screams as he attempts to open the doors to get “mick.” I try to distract him or offer him water but I usually cave in and give him a sippy cup full of milk. I’ve quickly realized that the 5 minutes he takes to drink his “mick” is a perfect time to unload the dishwasher (without dodging Logan) or begin on dinner preparations.

The problem is after the first cup of “mick” is “all-done” Logan wants “more mick.” I’m about 50/50 on my percentage of days where I cave in and give him his second cup of milk. It depends on the degree of his meltdown or how beat down I am from my day at work. Regardless, once Logan is in his highchair he wants “mick” again. If anyone at the table mentions milk or even opens the refrigerator, he loses it. So I am at a crossroads, Logan is so upset he refuses to eat because he wants milk but if I give it to him he is too full of milk to eat!

Should feeding a toddler be this difficult? As much as I love my family, I dread meal times. Am I a bad mother if I refuse to give him milk outside of mealtime or do I continue on and have confidence that he gets the full fat and calcium that whole milk provides and believe that he will eat if he’s hungry?   Mindy Seals works in the information technology division at Texas Health Resources and is balancing work, married life and raising two kids.