Full fat v semi skimmed milk

[damzel]

My 3yo daughter is quite susceptable to constipation so I am looking at her diet and in particular her dairy intake as it's her favourite food group. I'm also trying to up her liquids as she has nowhere near the recommended 6 to 8 cups a day.

She generally has about a pint of full fat milk a day, plus more on her breakfast cereal. I have recently been giving her half milk, half water in her cup and she hasn't noticed. I'm wondering if I should swap to semi-skimmed milk though - does anyone know which would be the better approach?

[Moos]

According to one of my baby books (sorry, forget which one) at the age of 2 you can or even should switch to semi-skimmed, as from that age little children can start to accumulate cholesterol. They still need a high-energy diet, but not necessarily full-fat milk. I did switch my son over to semi at the age of 2, and he didn't notice.

On the other hand, some nutritionists say that adults should drink full-fat milk, just not too much of it... hard to get right, isn't it??

[nunheadmum]

Why not try semi-skimmed and still dilute it (increasing the water till she's on water alone if you want). Obviously still keep giving her non-diluted milk at times or yoghurt / cheese etc to keep the good aspects of dairy.

I think nutritionally, semi-skimmed is fine as long as they're otherwise on a balanced diet and probably helps build good habits for later in life. (Though I'm not a nutritionist in any way, just a mum.) I moved mine onto it around age 2 - just because it was easier to buy 1 kind of milk rather than 2 and we didn't like full fat.

I'd love to know how many kids drink 6-8 cups a day? I don't think either of mine are anywhere near that (another bad mummy point for me!).

[damzel]

Thanks, you've both helped me make up my mind, I'm ditching the full fat! I know she won't notice, as long as it's white and milky. I'll keep adding and increasing the water too.

Yes, 6-8 cups seems an impossible target for us. Although it's based on 150/180ml so childs sized cup rather than adults.

[minder]

I also used to top up my children's milk with water if they were ill, constipated and they didn't notice. I did used to worry about them not getting enough calcium. I've found out since though that semi-skimmed and full-fat milk contains the same amount of calcium.

Not the same amount of fat though, but full fat milk is still a low-fat drink.

I gave mine full-fat until 4-5.

[dullified]

I have a 2 year old who suffers from chronic constipation. I give him very diluted coridial (no sugar added) to make sure he gets his 6-8 cups a day. I also try to give lots of watery foods like cucumber, tomatoes and kiwis. However everything I have read on the subject suggests his bowel muscles don't have the necessary omph yet to squeeze stuff along and that he will hopefully improve with age. So I also have a perscription for Movicol (better than lactulose) to try and avoid any potential toilet issues in the future and keep things sloshing along. I have a Dutch friend and they recommend semi-skimmed from the start of drinking cows milk over there. Which makes me think it must be ok.

[karter]

I would not use cows milk on my kid. You can buy semi skimmed goats milk from smbs or supermarkets. Alot easier to digest and you get used to the taste.(tu)

[duchessofdulwich]

any reason why you chose goats milke over cows?

[zeban]

I think because it's easier to digest- for adults as well

[duchessofdulwich]

might give that one a go!

[BB100]

You might want to consider whether the constipation is caused by an intolerance to diary if her intake is high.