Toddlers - full fat or semi skimmed ?

[bourneville]

Hi all.
I'm confused about what I've read/what I've been told about what sort of milk kids need after 2 yrs old. I thought kids should always have full fat everything till, i dunno, they've turned into older kids! But i also read somewhere after 2 yrs old you should change to half fat. What is right?

I'm suddenly concerned about this because my blood pressure is slightly high (I'm only 30) and it runs in the family, and I partly blame my mum for giving me a taste for fatty cakes, biscuits etc and don't want to pass the same sweet tooth onto my dd! Any ideas or facts even?
For myself i will be cutting out butter, high fat cheeses, full fat milk etc but worried that WON'T actually be good for dd?

[bobbybobbobbingalong]

They put all sorts of things (sugar, water, fillers) in to replace the fat in the low fat stuff. I would be more concerned about that than the actual low fatness IYSWIM.

If you are drinking semi skimmed she will be fine on it too.

[harpsichordenvy]

I give dd1 full fat mostly because she's not a big eater
after two you can swap to s/s but no need

[Elibean]

I was wondering exactly this yesterday - DD eats well, is now two, and still has two full cups of milk per day: seems like a lot of full fat to me, but had no idea.
Bobbybob...added sugars in milk: thats scary, didn't know that! Do you mean in skimmed milk? Or semi-skimmed? Or something else?

[bourneville]

thanks. i've never ever eaten half fat anything, hate it. Luckily i'm one of those skinny people who seems to eat tons and never get fat. Guess i'll just read the labels.

[bourneville]

dd drinks loads of milk i'm constantly telling her "not yet" "after lunch" "after tea" etc. So switching to S/S would be no problem for her.
Other than that she has a small appetite tho. And she loves her cheese! I'll just have to resist temptation when it comes to cheese i reckon.

[bobbybobbobbingalong]

Sorry no, not the milk, but soft and cream cheeses and "lite" spreads etc.

The milk is fine, just has less fat.

[bobbybobbobbingalong]

s/s also has more calcium, so another benefit.

[bourneville]

And less nutrients? That's what I had read originally and had in my head. Skimmed has hardly any nutritional value at all, imo it tastes like water!

[bobbybobbobbingalong]

loads more calcium, and I presume same vitamins etc. They take the fat out, rather than add water, so all the other stuff gets more concentrated. it just tastes rubbish.

[SoupDragon]

You lose some, um, Vitamin D (?) or another vitamin in milk that is fat soluble.

[Auntymandy]

didnt know they added anything to milk, thought it was just taken out!!
Thought you gave full fat up till around 5?

[Highlander]

DS is still BF (16mo) and occasionally has a half beaker of milk - he just gets semi-skimmed. His porridge is made up with that too. I'm not wasting money on buying him seperate milk.

[harpsichordenvy]

is that true about s/s having more calcium??
that sounds unlikely...

[SoupDragon]

It is true. Skimmed has even more. I think it's only marginal though and the lables don't show any difference. It's only because the fat has gone which means % wise, there's more calcium because there's less fat taking up space in the bottle and the calcium is in the non-fatty bit. Does that make sense? The downside is you lose some fat soluble vitamins by removing the fat. Or something. That's what I remember from somewhere anyway.... may be a load of bunkum!

[lapsedrunner]

Providing your child is active I strongly believe they should stick to full fat until they are much older.

[expatinscotland]

i have a very strong history of hypertension and heart disease on my dad's side. but i don't eat or drink low-fat anything, exercise daily and maintain a normal weight and BMI.

I could say 'I partly blame my parents for giving me a taste for cigarettes' b/c they both smoke and I used to, but no one forced me to smoke fags.

It's all about moderation.

Low fat aside, I'd be more concerned w/giving one of my daughters an unhealthy attitude towards food - i.e., fat is bad.

[mszebra]

I have skinny kids so only full fat here (and ds is 6yo).
But if I had plump kids I might offer semi from 2yo. Anyway, DH will only have full fat, and we need it for the toddler too. They need fat for their growing brains...

DH has a theory, and I think it explains the success of the Atkins diet & some other things, that basically low fat has less satisfying taste so people eat more calories in total to make up for the lack of fat. In the USA they replace fat taken out of food with sugar, and that brings its own health problems (plus things like bread & sausages really shouldn't taste sweet imo), so we're big fans of leaving fat in food, in moderation, when possible.

[bourneville]

expat, i was half joking about blaming my mum hence the - but seriously since having dd I've realised that my mum is very much on the high fat, sweet diet and that she encouraged it when we were little. (I guess i realised it cos I was suddenly more sensitive to diet once dd came along) In one way it's cool cos I've grown up with a healthy attitude to food (as in not worrying about weight, what i'm eating etc) but I honestly do think my sweet tooth has developed because of it, I have the same taste in food as my mum. (more or less)

[Enid]

my two always get full fat (3 and 6)

I have half fat

[NannyL]

The calcium is in the "milky" bit rather than the "fatty" bit.... so its true that technically the semi skimmed milk does have more calcium in it (and skimmed even more so!) fi you look at the analysis of the 2 products the amount is So miniscule it really is hardly worth worrying about! (The same is true of Vitamin D.... yes there is a difference but it is SOOOO small, it really is hardy worth worrying about!)

(i think it worked out that per pint it was a fraction of a microgram or something!)

as for full fat / half fat etc, from 2 years a child can have semi skimmed milk, but ONLY if they are really good eaters, and of the "chunkier" type

It is not recommended for most children until 5 years to switch over to semi skimmed... but its only because small children grow so fast they need to have lots of fat intake in order to have enough calories to grow!

(of course an occasional bit of semi skimmed / skimmed here and there is NOT gonna hurt them in the long run!)

In the same way its not reccommended that you give children very high fibre foods (like all bran etc) because the children will feel full, yet wont have consumed enough calories that their bodies need

After 4 or 5 years our rate of growth slows down so having full fat is not as essential, (but it also doesnt matter if they do!)

Also when you see the crap they put in lots of low fat / light products, id rather consume fat molecules then chemicals any day!

[Elibean]

Thanks for the info, Nannyl and Bobbybob - that clears that up!

I personally hate the taste of milk, always have (used to be sick from school milk) so I love skimmed or soya. DD has always had full fat, but as she is an excellent eater, and on the plumpish side of perfect (), its good to know semi would be ok too.

[bourneville]

Sorts it out for me too, dd will continue having full fat as she's on the skinnier & fussier side. I'll buy separate for myself!