~Whole Milk and Vit queston~

[galesville1980]

My son is turning one this sunday. My qustion is a friend of my heard they are saying to wait till 2 years of age b4 going to whole milk?? Have you heard this? Also when he does go on whole milk do I start to give him vit?

thanks!

[jvdsista]

All three of my kids went from nursing to whole milk at 1yr.I never believed in low fat milk. I give my kids gummy vites and my 21month old LOVES them!

[dogmom327]

Ideally he should be getting breastmilk for as long as possible and once he weans then you can look at whether milk is a good choice for him. If you are going to do milk, then whole milk is certainly best (and preferably non-homogenized and if at all possible raw). For what it's worth, kids aren't required to have milk to be healthy--there's nothing necessarily wrong with milk it's just not a necessity like society often makes if out to be. Both my kids are allergic to milk and so we just eat a balanced diet with cultured foods, bone broth, etc. The only "vitamin" they get is a dose of fermented cod liver oil and butter oil each day.

[Magelet]

a friend of my heard they are saying to wait till 2 years of age b4 going to whole milk

I'm curious what he is "supposed" to be getting instead?

If they say formula, it's ridiculous. formula is a compromise food and for a toddler who is eating enough solid foods, whole milk (ideally grass-fed unhomogenized, raw milk, or as close to that as you can get. at the least, hormone free milk that is NOT ultra-pasturized) is a good food for many kids. some kids can't eat it, and that's fine, there's other healthy foods for them to eat, but whole milk is a very healthy food.

If they say breastmilk, and that toddlers shouldn't have cow's milk til 2, that's sensible to me, but I'd say it depends on the mom and the child. And that I wouldn't stop breastfeeding to give whole milk unless you or the child was ready and needing to wean.

If they say skim, or reduced fat milk, I'd say it's borderline criminal. Children require the saturated fats in whole milk to grow their bodies and brains. (when you think about the fact that our brains and cell membranes are almost all saturated fat, it becomes very obvious that children need to eat plenty of saturated fat.) Children need need need saturated fat in their diet, and while I feel very strongly that no one should be drinking skim or reduced fat milk (besides the powdered/dry milk issues), it is particularly true for children.

Children don't need milk, but whole milk can be a very healthy food for them if they can digest it.

on the point of vitamins, I feel very strongly that unless a person is deficient in a vitamin or mineral, there is no reason to supplement (except possibly cod liver oil. except that cod are an at risk species, so I feel that it really should remain for people who need it desperately and have problems which it can cure. but it is such a superfood. umm I'm conflicted on that point.) You can have blood tests done to see if your son needs any supplementation, if he is deficient in something (entirely possible if you were deficient in something), then I would find a food based supplement to give him, and research the most absorbable forms.