When to swap from full cream milk to low fat?

[Tegam]

I really struggle with the idea that the reason for our child obesity problems stem from full fat milks......hmmmm maybe more to do with drive thrus!

[LimeSlice]

The fats in milk and butter are essential fats in the diet, and a actually good for you in correct amounts. They are not nasty and evil.
TBH the notion that you would change a 2 year old to low fat anything as a weight related precaution is scary.

[Miss E]

The fats in milk and butter are essential fats in the diet, and a actually good for you in correct amounts. They are not nasty and evil.
TBH the notion that you would change a 2 year old to low fat anything as a weight related precaution is scary.

That's interesting Lime... I'd always been under the impression that all animal fats were the ones to steer clear of because they have 'bad cholesterol' and that the fats in plants were the good ones. But I'm definately not an expert in these matters, but in terms of adult health I was always under that impression.

And just in case anyone is unsure, I definately wasn't thinking about changing DS to low fat as a weight related precaution. The whole thing of changing them over was something I've come across in the past a few times (reading bits and peices and I think my MCHN as well) and I had thought it was at two, but wasn't 100% sure. Just wanted to clarify it.

[Mum2Romone]

yuk...

never even considered drinking or buying low fat, milk is good for you

[Shanti]

Full cream here too for our DD

[Tegam]

My DD1 is 7yrs old and was BF til 18months then has had atleast 3 cups of milk a day, she loves it! She is as skinny as a weed! We go thru 1l of yoghurt a day and 3l milk and thats before Molly is on solids! Im thinking of buying a cow!

[Fleur]

I think the difference is really negligible, when you are talking about normal healthy kids I wouldn't bother swapping. We were using low fat here befor Pie came along - we were all older & it was just for coffee & cereal - now we just all have full cream. Tastes nicer too

ETA - Miss E I have heard that too, although not sure if it is a recommendation that you make the change at two, but certainly that before then they should be on full fat products, ITMS?

[Miss E]

Ok, probably should have done this before posting a thread, but I just googled full cream milk and children and came across a lot of recommendations that you switch over to reduced fat at 2 for the reasons below (sorry I'm not too sure how to do quotes so have just copied and pasted). I still not 100% sure that this is the best thing to do, but clearly the basis of the recommendations have nothing to do with preventing weight gain.

Since 2002, it has been recommended in the National Dietary Guidelines for Children and Adolescents that all children in Australia over the age of two years consume reduced-fat milk. The reason for this is that the type of fat found in milk is largely saturated fat — the fat that accumulates in the arteries over time increasing the risk of heart disease. It is reasoned that as Australian children get plenty of fat in their diets from other sources they do not need extra saturated fat from their milk. A common parental concern about choosing low and reduced fat milks over full cream varieties is that kids may be missing out on calcium. This is not the case, reduced- and low-fat milks generally have more calcium than full-cream varieties.

For this reason, once your child reaches the age of two, a reduced-fat milk is the best milk choice. The other potential benefit of swapping a child's milk over when they are young is that they become used to it before knowing any different and there is no problem swapping it over. We all know how difficult it is to change kids' food once they reach school age!

[PumpkinZulu]

"It is reasoned that as Australian children get plenty of fat in their diets from other sources they do not need extra saturated fat from their milk."

Wow, really? I would think that it would have been better to cut out all other saturated fats from a diet before the fats from milk...I mean, how much saturated fat is found to be naturally occuring in whole, fresh foods (not processed)? I would have thought not many 'real' foods would have contained that type of fat, and therefore it would be better to cut out the processed saturated fats in a diet before the ones from milk...? I didn't think milk had enough saturated fat to clog the arteries, in fact, I thought that the extra sugar from low-fat milk would put more of a strain on the body? Dunno.

[Miss E]

Not sure PZ, I read it as it's good to avoid saturated fats in our diets wherever we can and that is why they have made the recommendation. My understanding has always been that before 2 fat is essential for brain development, so their bodies use it differently, but after that age the fats don't get processed the same way

I also don't really get where this whole thing about low/reduced fat milks having heaps of sugar in them comes from. I drink Physical No fat and it has 13.5g of sugars per 100ml, while DS's full cream organic milk has 12g. Yes the no fat one has a little more, but 1.5g isn't that much.

[MantaRay]

There was a push a while back to switch kids at 2yo. Personally I have chosen not to and my boys at 6 and 4 1/2 both still have full fat dairy everything - milk, cheese and yoghurt. Actually I have full fat dairy too (except for in lattes). I think that it might be different if they were overweight, but they are not and they are healthy, I don't see the harm.

[fionas]

I will be ignoring the recommendations and sticking to full fat everything - milk, butter, cheese you name it. If full fat has been good enough for our ancestors for thousands of years, it's good enough for me and my family. I believe in keeping things as natural as possible and avoiding processed food as much as possible.

And so endeth the sermon from fionas.

[Fleur]

Slightly OT, cheese not milk - I think I recall reading something ages ago which said that low fat cheese was so processed, it is really quite bad for you unless you have a reason to avoid as many fats as possible. And that low fat products in general are higher in sugar, more processed and very little gain to be had in them overall - only if you specifically need to avoid as much fat as possible. Wish I could find it :P interesting idea though.

[Gigi]

Sometimes you find out the "studies" have been sponsored by the very companies, that stand to gain.

I was shown the hospital procedures manual at the sleep school we went to. It says to wean babies at three months. This is what the midwives had to refer to, to know how to operate with the mums. I chose to ignore this. And that was a hospital. (bilby was being breastfed at 19 months at this time).

The hospital i had my baby in, used baby products, that gave bilby constant nappy rash. I thought the baby wipes were ok, safe, cos why else would the hospital use them? Then i found out about the chemicals in the baby wipes, and that the hospital bought the baby wipes at a heavily reduced price, so it was a COST reason they had them, not because they were SAFE FOR babieS skin.

I know what you mean about the lowfat info online - i also googled for it. and the majority of studies/links that came up first, were PRO putting kids on low fat milk at two years old.

Sometimes, it's tempting and persuasive, to do what the majority of people, SEEM to be doing. Doesn't make it right for YOUR child, or YOU, to go with the herd mentality. (i'm saying this in general terms, not OP specifically.

it's confusing, and sometimes downright time consuming - to trail through the multiple opinions and work out "which one is the right fit for MY family".

i consider that an individual journey. And you have to make decisions all the time, for your family, how you're going to do things.

You are in charge, you get to decide.

You do it for your child, nobody else. Nobody else will ever count as much as your child. (this took me a long time to work out, cos i'd been a "people pleaser" for most of my life, still struggle with it).

[Marlene]

I haven't read all the responses...I have always thought you were not supposed to give children low fat dairy until at least 12 years of age.

[Nai]

I know that kids aren't supposed to have the low fat under 2 but after that I thought it was ok if not used as the sole source of dairy (unless medically advised). My kids now have a combination - mainly full fat but if that runs out then they drink the low fat (not no fat) if we have some of that left. DD1 doesn't notice the difference but DD2 clearly prefers the full fat however she is less fussed now than she used to be.

[AliBaby]

I have no idea on the recomendations but I often water down full fat milk for DD if she has had a lt of calcium hat day already and still wants milk. She doesnt complain. Most of time though she would never finish the entire milk so it must not be as delicious as plain ful cream. I am going to switch to light milk though as I have been putting on the extra kg's from having full fat milk!