Does a 3 year old still need full fat milk?

[Sleuth]

I figured a 3 year old would have no problem burning the calories.
And whole milk in tea and cereal is nothing. Your friend with the skimmed milk (which we call "white water") is crazed.

[msmslau]

i concur with all of your comments. however, i want to bring out the topic of the health benefit of milk. some studies some that milk contains a protein that can cause/promote cancer. The most comprehensive book called "China Study" by Dr. Campbell lists many reasons why we should avoid meat protein (which milk has). His study has been aired in HK recently.

http://www.thechinastudy.com/

i know some parents are skeptical about his conclusion..but it's worth a look.

[Sleuth]

So this guy says a vegetarian diet is probably healthier than a meat diet. Big surprise there. Hope he liked all the funding he received. Like everything else, you can not drink gallons of whole milk every day, just like you can't eat red meat every meal. Moderation.
We are nothing more than hunter-gatherers: more plants/berries, less meats, water by the gallon, plenty of exercise. Deviate too far from any of that and you run the risk of not being healthy.

[joannek]

i asked my daughter's ped whether she needs to be switched to skim (cos of all these us/uk children health books i read). he said skim milk is not for children, they're for adults. i remember i drank whole milk til i was 22!! it's only when i started trying to lose weight (i am 5'2 & i weighed 105 lbs!! what was i thinking??!!), i started drinking skimmed!! well i continued to drink skimmed milk, but i still gained thru-out the years. of course, i am lacking so much more exercise as i get older... so yes, i agree we should continue giving our little kids whole milk & keep them exercised!

[mintycat]

I also drank full fat milk until I was in high school. Personally, I will let my DD drink full fat until she is much older. As the previous posters said, I'd rather make exercise a daily habit than limit her fat intake at this stage. I think if your DD is not overweight, it's ok to continue giving her full fat milk.

[AforApple]

In Australia, toddlers can switch from full fat milk to low fat varieties from 2 years of age. I never did for my son as I think the fat content in milk is only so much and he is a very fussy eater. I would rather cut out the fat in other parts of his diet...such as grilling his food rather than frying, lean meat, trimming chicken skin and fat of fillet, no sauce and dressing etc. However if my son was overweight and/or was not active I would consider a lower fat content milk.

[loupou]

I think we switched the kids to skim milk when they were two. I think I read that some group (American Academy of Pediatrics?) recommended it.

It was also easier to buy just one sort of milk. I grew up drinking skim milk, so never found the taste wanting. My kids are used to skim milk and now when offered full cream milk don't really care for it. I never thought of it as part of a "low fat diet" but just part of a healthy diet - same way I try to make them eat their greens and limit our visits to McD's to less than once a month.

I guess it's all what one is used to.

Interesting - I just googled and found this article that states since skim milk has no fat to bind dioxins, it has less dioxins than full fat or even 2% milk.
http://www.thegreenguide.com/doc/103/dioxin

[sophwillsmum]

I also grew up drinking full fat milk, but what we need to rememer is that children have a lot more incidental fat in their diet these days than we used to. I used to go to school each day with just a wholemeal sandwich and an apple as did most of my friends.We never ate fast food and certainly none of the pre packaged 'healthy' fruit bars etc.that kids have now.These days the kids eat much larger portions as well as so much more processed and fast food. I agree with the Australian standards that they don't need the extra fat after two for this reason.