Cow's milk or formula from 12 months?

[srisky]

Fair enough, littleEDfamily.

I certainly didn't mean to imply that you advised anyone to give up dairy and I agree that a dietician would be better than a GP but often you have to go through the GP (or some other specialist) to be referred onto a dietician.

I just wanted clarify your statement 'There is no way we would see the rates of osteoporosis we see in the West...'.

Obviously, nothing is a wonder food, hence the need for a balanced diet.

Good luck with your bone scan.

[StraferJack]

a lot of the talk here has been about nutritional value rather than pleasure of eating food.

One might arguably be healthier for a diet without milk or cheese but it's not a diet I would choose, or inflict on my child. If they choose to abandon dairy as they grow then that's fine.

[Otta]

I agree with what you're saying Strafer, but equally agree that if little one is eating a balanced diet of solids, I wouldn't bother giving milk to drink. Milk with cereal is cool.

[sophiechristophy]

agreed straferjack - i have organic soft cheese, cheddar, sour cream and live yoghurt in my fridge. Dairy is great for adding flavour and texture, and I definitely didn't say to exclude it from the diet, or that there is anything wrong with eating it in moderation. I was just trying to make the point that people shouldn't feel the need to give it to their children as a health drink to boost calcium, or feel the need to give 'milk' to their children just because there is a cultural belief/habit to do this. also agreed with otta, my daughter has dairy in her diet, but I don't give her cows milk as a drink/bottle.

[srisky]

Sophie, I didn't mean to suggest you (or anyone) recommended excluding dairy! Apologies if it came across that way; it was just a well meant caveat at the end of my post.

I don't have a strong opinion about what milk or how much to give a child over 1y, in fact I hadn't given it any thought until this thread came up.

[littleEDfamily]

Very interesting all. Nice to have a lively convo on the forum without it turning ugly. Off for a nice mug of cocoa now...seriously, I am :-)