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Whole Milk vs. 2%

playeraplayera member
in Toddlers: 12 - 24 Months
My doctor recommended I switch to 2% milk for DD.  She is 15mo and is the 92 %-ile for weight.  I thought whole milk was essential up until 2yo.  Has anyone elses Dr made them switch?  If so, what are your thoughts? 
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Re: Whole Milk vs. 2%

  • care22care22

    My DD is only 75% for weight, but I had asked my Dr. about whole vs. 2%. he said unitl 2nd birthday they try to keep DC on whole because they need the fat is provides for brain development. I have heard of some dr's lowering it b/c of weight. So my guess would be he's doing it for fear of overweight< is DD short?  Personally, I don't worry about overweight until kids are older. At this juncture I'd go ahead and stay on whole.

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  • kelly&martykelly&marty member
    I'm torn about this. I know there has been new research that's been in the news a lot that switching kids to 2% is fine to help prevent childhood obesity. Still, the point of having kids drink whole milk is because fat is essential for brain development, and limiting fat intake could hurt this. We're keeping DS on whole milk until age 2 at least until I hear more about this.
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  • mbtortormbtortor

    At her one year appt the pedi suggested we do 2% until 18 months when we should switch to skim!  I was nervous because hadn't heard really of anyone doing that.  And my DD is 50%!  So we've been giving whole, but this weekend just bought 2% for the first time and will prob just switch on and off until we go in at 18  months and see what the pedi says.

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  • Temp174496125006552Temp174496125006552 member
    Our pedi hasn't made us switch, Ben just refuses to drink whole milk.  So, he gets 2%.  It's still got a good amount of fat (which is why they recommend whole)...and I make sure that he gets fats from other sources every day as well (whole milk yogurt, cheese, etc.).
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  • ABMcKinneyABMcKinney

    My doctor recommended we switch so I did a bunch of research on it. The AAP suggests 2% milk if your child has a family history of heart disease or obesity and my doctor also said that bigger children can get their fat from other places and don't need it from the milk. We do have a pretty strong family history of heart disease so we decided to go with the recommendation.

    Also, whole milk is 3.25% fat- only slightly over a percent difference from 2% milk!

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  • CariflyCarifly

    The AAP recommendation is now to do 2% for babies with a family history of heart disease, high cholesterol, or obesity.  My family has cholesterol problems & heart disease in the family (though not really obesity), so I asked the dr. about it at Penny's 15 month check up.  She said maybe we could switch a little early if we wanted, but would recommend whole milk at least until 18 months since the fat is good for her.  So I guess we'll reevaluate then.

    From what I've read, it matters more if you've got the family history- I don't think just being in the high % for weight really means much- does her height match?  Although really there isn't a huge fat difference between whole milk and 2% milk anyhow. 

    Peru!
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  • Brookie-CookieBrookie-Cookie

    Our Dr told us to stay on whole milk until 2yrs but I have seen a few posts now about this. 

    Whole milk is 3.25% mf so it's not a huge difference.  If you are giving other high fat dairy throughout the day I think LO will get the needed fat for brain development. 

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  • KittyCatBioKittyCatBio
    Daycare provides 2%, so she gets a mix of whole and 2%.  she gets whole milk yogurt and cheese daily, so...
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  • playeraplayera member

    hmmm... so there are no medical reasons that she should need to switch, she is by no means obese nor is anyone on either side of the family obese (maybe a little chunky but really aren't we all? tee hee).  But then again, she does eat ALOT of cheese and a container of yogurt (and sometimes a smoothie on top of all that).  I'm so torn on this.  DH thinks we should switch (he's afraid of the obese thing), but I think we should keep her on it for brain development!  What to do? What to do?  Do mom decisions ever get easier???

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  • C Bear EC Bear E member
    I was surprised that our pedi recommended 2% at our 12 mo visit. He said it's a new AAP recommendation because of the rise in childhood obesity. However, we talked to him a little more about ds's diet and decided to stay w/ whole since ds doesn't get a lot of fat in his diet right now. Maybe when we start adding other fatty foods we'll go down to 2%.
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