Skipping whole milk?

[katfco]

Caleb weighed in today at 30 lb, 2 oz, 31.75 inches tall and the doctor gave the go ahead for milk, but said because he's so big he's fine going right to skim or 2% milk--not because he's too big, but because he's getting enough nutrients from his food.

Anyone else heard of this? It never occurred to me he wouldn't need whole milk.

[laurack]

I have an issue with this because of the assumption that skim or 2% is the "end game" for everyone? I mean, there isn't anything wrong with whole milk for any age.

I'd say if anything just don't give him any, or not much milk. If he's happy to drink water and getting enough nutrition from food, then there isn't any "need" for milk at all.

[thedahliharpa]

I know nothing about babies and cows milk but maybe you can do half whole and half 2% for awhile?

[kistjenn]

Areed with laurack, my DH still drinks WCM, so I think you could just give him whatever your family drinks. 

[JuliaGulia]

Alexis was 27lbs 33'' long and our pedi said we didn't have to give much WCM if we were giving her plenty of yogurt and cheese. He told me to stick with whole until at least 2 when giving her milk. However, every doctor is different.

[katfco]

Apr 25, 2013 12:07:12 GMT -5 kistjenn said:

Areed with laurack, my DH still drinks WCM, so I think you could just give him whatever your family drinks. 

We actually drink skim. I guess the only difference is calories?

[Deleted]

Apr 25, 2013 12:07:12 GMT -5 kistjenn said:

Areed with laurack, my DH still drinks WCM, so I think you could just give him whatever your family drinks. 

So did I until a few years ago.

[vidalia]

The way my pediatrician put it was that she would rather see babies eat their calories than drink them so we are going with that.

[ruby412]

One of the MOOKs on here didn't give her older child whole milk... I want to say maybe @therealmc? 

[devotchka]

Apr 25, 2013 11:58:09 GMT -5 katfco said:

Caleb weighed in today at 30 lb, 2 oz, 31.75 inches tall and the doctor gave the go ahead for milk, but said because he's so big he's fine going right to skim or 2% milk--not because he's too big, but because he's getting enough nutrients from his food.

Anyone else heard of this? It never occurred to me he wouldn't need whole milk.

We went to the pedi yesterday and talked about milk for quite a bit. My pediatrician actually just told me that this used to be the old recommendation from the AAP for kids that are on the bigger side because they thought whole milk would just make them gain weight. Now the recommendation is the opposite - they think giving them more whole milk will actually fill them up and make them eat less (she might have put it differently but this is the jist that I got from what she said.) So she is still recommended doing whole milk for all babies who switch to cow milk until they are a bit older and then switching to skim. She said babies do need the fat for growth right now and not as much later. 

However - we will only give him milk with mealtimes and not at every single meal. He only drinks water otherwise. I also don't want to fill him up with drink calories  The AAP recommends no more than 3 cups a day bc of this. I actually wasn't sure that we were going to give him milk at all but it is easy carbs, protein, calcium, vit d, etc. so why not :/ He doesn't seem that interested yet but we just started offering it.

[Deleted]

I agree with laurack re: there's nothing wrong with WCM.  I prefer it in my coffee/tea/hot chocolate and I believe full-fat dairy fills you up better.  I eat full-fat greek yogurt and cheese for example.

Re: kids, I think a lot of people give their children way too much milk.  I'm not anti-milk but when a 2 year old is sucking back 3 bottles of milk a day, that is OTT.  

I would just cut back on the milk for DS, in general.  I don't think it matters too much what kind of milk it is.

[devotchka]

Apr 25, 2013 23:32:09 GMT -5 @starbound said:

I agree with laurack re: there's nothing wrong with WCM.  I prefer it in my coffee/tea/hot chocolate and I believe full-fat dairy fills you up better.  I eat full-fat greek yogurt and cheese for example.

Re: kids, I think a lot of people give their children way too much milk.  I'm not anti-milk but when a 2 year old is sucking back 3 bottles of milk a day, that is OTT.  

I would just cut back on the milk for DS, in general.  I don't think it matters too much what kind of milk it is.

I agree. My stepsister gave her kids milk way too much. They fell asleep with a bottle every night when they were weaned and ran around with bottles of it all day. I think she just took the approach of switching formula with wcm, it seems like some people think that is what theyre supposed to do. I have to say though, unless I had asked how much, pediatricians don't seem to tell you. Maybe people just assume they can have as much milk as they want... 

[careyalis]

The big joke in our family is that my husband had to go on a diet when he was a baby because he was getting too big. My MIL said he got put on 2% milk at 6 months. He blames it for not being as tall as his brother

[wildcatprincess]

I just switched R back to whole because I refuse to buy 4 different kinds (DH get chocolate soy, I get skim, Sam is on whole and R was on 2%). I have read skim isn't really healthy for anyone and you should buy at least 1%....but I still use skim on my cereal. I guess a lot of nutrients are loss during fat removal and are then replaced with synthetic vitamins and filler. Plus the point has been made the vitamins in milk are fat soluble and if there's no fat in the milk you're not going to absorb much.