Debt - Additional Information (Detail) (USD $) Share data in Millions, except Per Share data, unless otherwise specified	9 Months Ended									3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended				3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended		9 Months Ended			1 Months Ended		1 Months Ended			9 Months Ended	1 Months Ended		9 Months Ended	1 Months Ended			1 Months Ended	9 Months Ended						0 Months Ended						0 Months Ended		0 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2014 entity	Sep. 30, 2013	Sep. 30, 2014 Senior secured credit facility	Sep. 30, 2014 Dean Foods Company	Sep. 30, 2013 Dean Foods Company	Sep. 30, 2014 Dean Foods Company Senior secured credit facility		Dec. 31, 2013 Dean Foods Company Senior secured credit facility		Dec. 31, 2013 Dean Foods Company Senior Notes Due 2018	Dec. 31, 2011 Dean Foods Company Senior Notes Due 2018	Sep. 30, 2014 Dean Foods Company Senior Notes Due 2018	Aug. 31, 2011 Dean Foods Company Senior Notes Due 2018	Dec. 31, 2010 Dean Foods Company Senior Notes Due 2018	Dec. 31, 2013 Dean Foods Company Senior Notes Due 2016	Dec. 31, 2006 Dean Foods Company Senior Notes Due 2016	Sep. 30, 2014 Dean Foods Company Senior Notes Due 2016	Sep. 30, 2014 Subsidiary Senior Notes Due 2017	Sep. 30, 2014 Senior Secured Revolving Credit Facility	Aug. 31, 2014 Amended Senior Secured Revolving Credit Facility Senior secured credit facility	Jul. 31, 2013 Five Year Senior Secured Credit Facility	Sep. 30, 2014 Five Year Senior Secured Credit Facility Minimum	Jul. 31, 2013 Five Year Senior Secured Credit Facility Maximum	Jul. 31, 2013 Five Year Senior Secured Credit Facility Letter of Credit	Jul. 31, 2013 Five Year Senior Secured Credit Facility Swing Line Loan	Sep. 30, 2014 Five Year Senior Secured Credit Facility Libor Plus Margin	Jul. 31, 2013 Five Year Senior Secured Credit Facility Libor Plus Margin Minimum	Jul. 31, 2013 Five Year Senior Secured Credit Facility Libor Plus Margin Maximum	Sep. 30, 2014 Five Year Senior Secured Credit Facility Alternate Base Rate Plus Margin	Jul. 31, 2013 Five Year Senior Secured Credit Facility Alternate Base Rate Plus Margin Minimum	Jul. 31, 2013 Five Year Senior Secured Credit Facility Alternate Base Rate Plus Margin Maximum	Sep. 30, 2014 Amendment To Five Year Senior Secured Credit Facility Maximum	Feb. 29, 2012 Receivables Securitization Facility installment	Sep. 30, 2014 Receivables Securitization Facility	Sep. 30, 2014 Receivables Securitization Facility Letter of Credit	Sep. 30, 2014 Amendment To Receivables Securitization Facility Maximum	Sep. 30, 2014 Modified Receivables Securitization Facility Letter of Credit	Aug. 31, 2014 Modified Receivables Securitization Facility Letter of Credit	May 31, 2014 Modified Receivables Securitization Facility Letter of Credit	Jul. 11, 2013 Short Term Credit Facilities term_loan	Jul. 11, 2013 Short Term Credit Facilities	Jul. 11, 2013 Short Term Credit Facilities Minimum	Jul. 11, 2013 Short Term Credit Facilities Maximum	Jul. 11, 2013 Term Loan One	Jul. 11, 2013 Term Loan Two	Jul. 25, 2013 WhiteWave Foods Common Class A	Jul. 25, 2013 WhiteWave Foods Common Class A	Jul. 25, 2013 IPO WhiteWave Foods Common Class A underwriter
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Loan term																					5 years
Amount borrowed under credit facility																					$ 750,000,000			$ 200,000,000	$ 150,000,000									$ 550,000,000			$ 350,000,000		$ 300,000,000
Potential change in borrowing capacity																							500,000,000
Debt instrument, maturity date																					Jul. 31, 2018													Jun. 12, 2017
Debt fees																				1,000,000																		600,000
Loans outstanding under the new senior secured credit facility interest rate																										2.50%	1.25%	2.75%	1.50%	0.25%	1.75%									2.50%
Percentage of guarantor's first tier foreign subsidiaries			65.00%
Secured debt						47,960,000		50,250,000
Average daily balance under facility																			57,300,000															244,500,000
Letters of credit outstanding amount																			0															0
Number of wholly-owned bankruptcy remote entities	2
Line of credit, current borrowing capacity																																		550,000,000
Total receivables sold																																		718,500,000
Proceeds from receivables-backed facility	1,836,000,000	478,000,000		0	0
Repayments of Other Debt	1,754,000,000	478,000,000		0	0
Line of credit, amount outstanding																																		295,000,000	212,300,000
Line of credit facility outstanding, remaining borrowing capacity																																		42,700,000
Maximum consolidated net leverage ratio, prior to September 30, 2014																																5.25				5.25
Maximum consolidated net leverage ratio, prior to March 31, 2015																																5.00				5.00
Maximum consolidated net leverage ratio, prior to June 30, 2015																																4.5				4.50
Maximum consolidated net leverage ratio, after June 30, 2015																																4.0				4.00
Maximum senior secured net leverage ratio																																2.50
Maximum consolidated net leverage ratio, prior to September 30, 2014																						3.00
Number of term loans																																								2
Term loans aggregate principal amount																																									626,750,000			545,000,000	81,750,000
Consolidated net leverage ratio																																											4.00
Consolidated interest coverage ratio																																										3.00
Number of shares for public offering																																														34.4
Price per share for public offering (in dollars per share)																																															$ 17.75
Common stock shares exchanged for term loan																																																589,200,000
Number of underwriters in the offering																																																2
Issuance of standby letter of credit																																	80,000,000	37,700,000
Number of payment installments																																	4
Debt instrument, principal amount													400,000,000	400,000,000		500,000,000		142,000,000
Debt instrument, interest rate														9.75%		7.00%
Borrowings repaid										376,200,000					23,800,000
Debt instrument, maturity date											Dec. 15, 2018					Jun. 30, 2016		Oct. 15, 2017
Senior notes												$ 23,812,000					$ 475,757,000	$ 134,369,000
Weighted average rate (percent)						2.16%	[1]	1.67%	[1]									6.90%
Ownership percent	100.00%

[1] Represents a weighted average rate, including applicable interest rate margins, for the credit facility.