Whole milk or 2% for toddlers

Lilbobo · May 2013

Do you give your toddlers whole milk or 2%? I thought the rule was whole milk for children under 2 but my pediatrician mentioned that we could use the lower fat milk.

My son is a picky eater so I'm sticking with whole milk for now. Just curious - what are your pediatricians recommending?

MyPlus5 · May 2013

Our 3- year old is a huge milk drinker. We give him what we drink, which is skim. Our pediatrician was fine with this, he said to give him whatever we drink.

katieh1017 · May 2013

My pedi recommended said the same thing as yours did. I choose to give her whole milk.

itsmevkb · May 2013

We've done whole milk from one to two. At two we dropped down to 2% but then, since my daughter will only drink milk and nothing else I eventually switched her to skim since she was getting a lot of added calories and fat from her milk consumption. I seem to have the opposite issue with my almost two-year-old who is so skinny I've just kept giving him whole milk.

jf198400 · May 2013

We did whole until DD turned 2 then switched her to 1% since thats what we drink. DS is drinking whole milk now (he's 15months) and he will switch at 2 as well.

jlaOK · May 2013

Our pedi recommended whole until age 2 and then 1%. We drink 2% because we're rebels.....and because that's what DH prefers.

2chatter · May 2013

DS doesn't drink milk; he occassionally sips it. So we give him milk when we can, cheese, yogurt and occassionally a tums crushed up in his applesauce. If you have a really low fat diet, you can also mix a tsp of cooking oil in applesauce. We will try that - not so much due to the milk, but to try to get his stools to be more solid. DS eats mostly fruits and veggies, and that was the ped suggested to get more fat into him.

MammaBear81 · May 2013

Our whole family always has (and always will) drink whole milk (I prefer the taste of whole milk). We aren't HUGE milk drinkers, maybe if they were having 2-3 glasses of milk a day I'd feel differently.

Strunella · May 2013

I still give DS whole milk. Pedi said I could give 2% or continue with whole. We did have to cut back his intake though as he LOVES milk and could seriously drink a half gallon a day. So, he gets about 20 oz a day now.

Pips09 · May 2013

My 22 month old is drinking whole milk. I hadn't really thought about switching, but it makes sense to switch at 2 years. I'll ask her pedi at her next appointment. She's on the small side and is not a great eater, so we might keep her on whole milk.

financialdiva · May 2013

DS1 got while until he was 2, then we switched to 2 percent bc it's what DH prefers, and I don't really drink milk so I don't have a preference.

When DS2 starts whole milk, that's what the whole family will switch to. I will not buy different kinds.

The pedi actually said he could have whatever type of milk we drink except for skin after 1 year old. We still choose whole though.

rockychryslerb2010 · May 2013

We started with whole around 12 months, but E was spitting up a lot more and just seemed uncomfortable. I spoke with pedi and she said sometimes kids can have trouble with all the fat in whole milk, and said 2% was fine. We switched E to 2% (what we usually drink, but not big milk drinkers) and he stopped spitting up and tolerated the 2% much better.

ksyknelvr73 · May 2013

We were told whole milk til age 2 - and DS is big for his age and we stuck with it. We were told to go to skim milk at his 2 yr appt.

shannm · May 2013

We do whole milk until two and then switch to skim. DH and I prefer the taste of skim and DS doesn't seem to have a preference because he easily transitions between skim and his sister's whole milk when we are out of his.

gingerfamily · May 2013

Our toddler started out on 2% and then at 2 went to 1%. We'll do the same thing with the baby.

kcisthebombdotcom · May 2013

wife07mom09:
hocus:
The big advantage of whole milk is the fat which is crucial for brain development. However most folks in the US have more than enough fat in their diets so the difference between whole and 2% or even 1% isn't that big of a concern. I don't offer skim because it tastes bad and has been recently linked to being overweight.
I personally would prefer to just offer whole milk since I think that having the "real thing" is better but we do 2% for my 3 year and whole for my 1 year old because whole milk tends to constipate my older child.

fat is important for for little developing brains and body
however skim milk or even 1% is just fine and saying it tastes bad is expecting your child to have your same bias. there are no reputable studies I am aware of suggesting skim milk may increase weight.

you should do some more research. There's quite a bit of research out there that suggests that those who follow lowfat diets are heavier than those who don't.

skim/lowfat milk isn't just fine. It's processed junk. They drain the fat from milk which also drains out the vitamins then add synthetic vitamins back in. Whole milk is perfectly balanced with fat, carbs and protein. Without fat your body doesn't absorb the vitamins and nutrients in as well.

wedsept · May 2013

As for the study that skim milk (fyi--we give our children age 1 (whole milk) and age 3 (2%)) is somehow linked to more obesity, correlation is not causation. The reason that those individuals who drink skim milk might be more overweight might be because parents who have overweight kids might be giving them skim milk instead of 2% or whole milk. It doesn't necessarily mean that you get fat from drinking skim milk as opposed to whole milk.

For instance, studies also show that those who drink 1 glass of alcohol a day are healthier than those who don't drink alcohol at all. The reason may be that a lot of people who don't drink any alcohol are more likely to be ex-alcoholics and have thus done a lot of damage to their bodies from the days when they drank heavily. This is basic Statistics 101.

oooCarrieB · May 2013

Our pedi said at our last apt that we cod switch to whatever we drink. But we don't drink milk, bc I quit drinking it when going through IF treatments. Skim milk specifically has been linked to infertity and obesity in children and now I think milk is just gross for adults to drink. I eat cheese and yogurt which is easier to digest anyway.

We decided to keep DD on whole for now and reassess at 3 and maybe go to 2 percent.

groovygrl · May 2013

We switched to 2% at age 2. I wanted to switch to skim b/c we drink it and didn't want to be buying 2 different kinds, plus our kids have never been big milk drinkers anyway but MH balked at giving kids skim milk so we just do the 2%. DD strongly prefers almond milk so that is what she gets when she wants milk but she mostly prefers water in general. DS drinks a little of all 3, just depends on what he is in the mood for.

skibunny59 · May 2013

Whole milk until age 2. She's 15 months and still gets mostly breastmilk though.

LoCarb · May 2013

For a picky eater whole milk. My pedi suggested switching DD1 to skim at her 2yo spot bc she only drank milk; more than the recommended daily minimum. So yes, you can definitely switch to a % milk too.

Jinsy80 · May 2013

We've done whole milk until after age 2. DD1 was almost 3 before we switched her over to 2%. We switched DD2 over a couple of months ago because I got sick of buying two different milks. There's no way in the world we'd do skim, that's gross. Lol! Pediatricians never suggested skim milk. DD2 had a speech therapist (she did feeding therapy) who said skip the skim too. Our girls have never had weight issues.

pitterpatter129 · May 2013

Our pedi said whole milk was better through age 2, but not necessary. We do whatever is cheapest when I buy milk! It's over $4 a gallon here!! Lately, we've just been drinking a lot of water instead.

pitterpatter129 · May 2013

2chatter:
DS doesn't drink milk; he occassionally sips it. So we give him milk when we can, cheese, yogurt and occassionally a tums crushed up in his applesauce. If you have a really low fat diet, you can also mix a tsp of cooking oil in applesauce. We will try that - not so much due to the milk, but to try to get his stools to be more solid. DS eats mostly fruits and veggies, and that was the ped suggested to get more fat into him.

Cooking oil will probably cause diarrhea, not solid poo! That's a sure-fire cure for constipation and I wouldn't do that to your kid if I were you.

h2babe · May 2013

lasposa425:
Our pedi recommends whole milk until age 2, then 2% from 2-3 then skim milk at 3.

This is us too!

KathrynMD · May 2013

We never did whole milk - she drinks skim or 1% like us now.

I think the pedi told me we could do 2% when DD was 1-2 but as long as DD was getting enough fat in her diet from other sources - other dairy, meats, etc. low fat or no fat dairy was fine.

nosoup4u · May 2013

We only eat full-fat dairy in our house.

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