Debt - Additional Information (Detail) (USD $) Share data in Millions, except Per Share data, unless otherwise specified	1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended			3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended			1 Months Ended		1 Months Ended		3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended		3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended				3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended						12 Months Ended		12 Months Ended	1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended	1 Months Ended							3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended							1 Months Ended					1 Months Ended							12 Months Ended				1 Months Ended
	Jul. 11, 2013	Dec. 31, 2013	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2013 Senior Notes Due 2018	Dec. 31, 2013 Senior Notes Due 2018	Dec. 31, 2013 Senior Notes Due 2016	Dec. 31, 2013 Revolving Credit Facility	Jan. 03, 2013 Morningstar	Jul. 11, 2013 WhiteWave Foods	Jul. 25, 2013 WhiteWave Foods Common Class A	Jul. 25, 2013 WhiteWave Foods Common Class A IPO	Dec. 31, 2013 Dean Foods Company	Dec. 31, 2013 Dean Foods Company	Dec. 31, 2012 Dean Foods Company	Dec. 31, 2013 Dean Foods Company Senior Notes Due 2018	Dec. 31, 2013 Dean Foods Company Senior Notes Due 2018	Dec. 31, 2012 Dean Foods Company Senior Notes Due 2018	Aug. 03, 2011 Dean Foods Company Senior Notes Due 2018	Dec. 16, 2010 Dean Foods Company Senior Notes Due 2018	Dec. 31, 2013 Dean Foods Company Senior Notes Due 2016	Dec. 31, 2013 Dean Foods Company Senior Notes Due 2016	Nov. 12, 2013 Dean Foods Company Senior Notes Due 2016	Dec. 31, 2012 Dean Foods Company Senior Notes Due 2016	May 17, 2006 Dean Foods Company Senior Notes Due 2016	Dec. 31, 2013 Subsidiary Debt Obligation	Dec. 31, 2012 Subsidiary Debt Obligation	Dec. 31, 2013 Subsidiary Debt Obligation Senior Notes Due 2017	Dec. 31, 2012 Subsidiary Debt Obligation Senior Notes Due 2017	Dec. 31, 2013 Term Loan A	Oct. 31, 2012 Term Loan B	Dec. 31, 2013 Term Loan B	Jan. 03, 2013 Term Loan B 2016 Tranche B Term Loan	Jan. 03, 2013 Term Loan B 2017 Tranche B Term Loan	Jul. 11, 2013 Term Loan One	Jul. 11, 2013 Term Loan Two	Oct. 31, 2012 2014 Tranche A Term Loan	Oct. 31, 2012 2014 Tranche B Term Loan	Jan. 03, 2013 Senior Secured Revolving Credit Facility	Sep. 30, 2013 Senior Secured Revolving Credit Facility	Dec. 31, 2013 Senior Secured Revolving Credit Facility	Dec. 31, 2013 Senior Secured Revolving Credit Facility Letter of Credit	Dec. 31, 2013 Senior Secured Revolving Credit Facility Prior Credit Facility	Dec. 31, 2013 Senior Secured Revolving Credit Facility Swingline Loans	Dec. 31, 2013 Portion of Senior Secured Revolving Credit Facility Maturing on April 2, 2014	Oct. 31, 2012 Portion of Senior Secured Revolving Credit Facility Maturing on April 2, 2014 New Credit Facility	Dec. 31, 2013 Non Extended Revolving Credit Facility Maturing on April 2, 2012	Jul. 02, 2013 Five Year Senior Secured Credit Facility	Jul. 02, 2013 Five Year Senior Secured Credit Facility Maximum	Jul. 02, 2013 Five Year Senior Secured Credit Facility Minimum	Jul. 02, 2013 Five Year Senior Secured Credit Facility Letter of Credit	Jul. 02, 2013 Five Year Senior Secured Credit Facility Swing Line Loan	Jul. 02, 2013 Five Year Senior Secured Credit Facility Libor Plus Margin	Jul. 02, 2013 Five Year Senior Secured Credit Facility Libor Plus Margin Maximum	Jul. 02, 2013 Five Year Senior Secured Credit Facility Libor Plus Margin Minimum	Jul. 02, 2013 Five Year Senior Secured Credit Facility Alternate Base Rate Plus Margin	Jul. 02, 2013 Five Year Senior Secured Credit Facility Alternate Base Rate Plus Margin Maximum	Jul. 02, 2013 Five Year Senior Secured Credit Facility Alternate Base Rate Plus Margin Minimum	Mar. 08, 2013 Receivables Securitization Facility	Dec. 31, 2013 Receivables Securitization Facility	Jun. 30, 2013 Receivables Securitization Facility	Feb. 29, 2012 Receivables Securitization Facility	Dec. 31, 2013 Receivables Securitization Facility Letter of Credit	Jul. 02, 2013 New Senior Secured Credit Facilities	Jul. 02, 2013 New Senior Secured Credit Facilities Initial	Jul. 11, 2013 Short Term Credit Facilities Maximum	Jul. 11, 2013 Short Term Credit Facilities Minimum
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Line of credit facility, maximum borrowing capacity																																										$ 350,000,000	$ 1,500,000,000	$ 150,000,000	$ 1,275,000,000	$ 1,000,000,000	$ 225,000,000	$ 750,000,000			$ 200,000,000	$ 150,000,000							$ 600,000,000	$ 550,000,000			$ 300,000,000		$ 132,300,000
Potential change in borrowing capacity																																																	500,000,000
Debt instrument, maturity date																																																Jul. 02, 2018											Mar. 06, 2015
Loans outstanding under the new senior secured credit facility interest rate	2.50%																																																				1.75%	2.25%	1.25%	0.75%	1.25%	0.25%
Consolidated net leverage ratio										4.00																																							4.00	3.50																4.00
Consolidated interest coverage ratio										300.00%																																								300.00%																	300.00%
Maximum permitted leverage ratio																																																3.25
Fees in connection with the new senior secured credit facility																																																																6,000,000
Amortization period of issuance cost																																																																5 years
Outstanding borrowings		897,262,000	2,322,243,000					50,300,000					549,641,000	549,641,000	2,191,364,000											347,621,000	130,879,000
Average daily balance under facility																																									15,500,000																			21,000,000
Letters of credit outstanding amount																																									800,000																			213,000,000
Debt instrument, principal amount																			400,000,000	400,000,000					500,000,000			142,000,000		1,500,000,000		1,800,000,000
Term Of Debt, in years																														5 years		7 years									5 years
Prepayment of outstanding borrowings																																	480,000,000	547,000,000			480,000,000	675,000,000	265,000,000
Cash proceeds from sale of operations			58,034,000	91,958,000					1,450,000,000
Deferred financing cost written off		6,791,000	3,519,000																												1,500,000									5,400,000
Term loans aggregate principal amount	626,750,000																																		545,000,000	81,750,000
Debt instrument, maturity date																	Dec. 15, 2018					Jun. 01, 2016						Oct. 15, 2017							Aug. 12, 2013	Sep. 09, 2013
Number of share for public offering											34.4
Number of share for public offering price, per share											$ 17.75
Common stock shares exchanged for term loan												589,200,000
Unamortized debt issuance costs													5,500,000																																														600,000
Line of credit, current borrowing capacity																																																												550,000,000
Amount borrowed under credit facility																																																												908,000,000
Line of credit, amount outstanding																																																												236,200,000
Line of credit facility outstanding, remaining borrowing capacity																																																												100,800,000
Total receivables sold																																																												690,800,000
Borrowings repaid																																																												695,000,000
Issuance of standby letter of credit																																																													60,900,000	80,000,000
Debt instrument, interest rate																9.75%	9.75%	9.75%		9.75%	7.00%	7.00%		7.00%	7.00%			6.90%
Senior notes					475,600,000	475,600,000										23,812,000	23,812,000	400,000,000			475,579,000	475,579,000		499,167,000				132,808,000	130,879,000
Debt instrument, principal amount retired					23,800,000											376,200,000
Debt instrument repurchased face amount																							400,000,000
Debt instrument repurchased amount																376,200,000	376,200,000				23,800,000	23,800,000
Call premium charges																54,000,000					3,000,000
Pre-tax loss on extinguishment of debt		(63,387,000)				(38,700,000)	(38,700,000)						63,300,000	(63,387,000)
Net-tax loss on extinguishment of debt													38,700,000
Debt instrument tender premium													57,200,000	57,200,000
Tender offer cost													$ 600,000