About DS drinking milk

[darwinsbabe]

I have a DS who is almost 3.

My DH drinks water all the time and we encourage my son to do the same but he always refuses and asks for milk instead. Even with the lure of diluting juice he will opt for milk. My DH thinks he drinks too much milk and not enough water and gets worked up about it. I'm just glad he's drinking and it's something healthy.

Aibu to tell my husband to calm down and continue to let my DS drink milk?

On another thread, someone said that the Dutch are very tall because of their high Dairy diet. It's funny because my dc drank a lot of milk, and still do - and they're very tall (and thin) too.

I don't subscribe to the anti-dairy brigade at all.

(I do buy organic though).

Fair point crap but if he's drinking enough not to become dehydrated it must be a fair amount. That being said there is a lot of water in some food, fruit especially, so he may be just fine :)

I am very, very anti-cows milk tbh. We don't need it. It isn't healthy, we're just used to being told it is. I would be cutting it down and replacing with water personally, but I accept I am going to be flamed for that.

I agree with you gaelic so I'll take some of the flaming.

It's not healthy for us, it's even worse for the cows

"Cows milk is actually very unhealthy, and dont listen to what you hear about calcium, it was the dairy factorys that first came out with that nonsense"

How people come up with such rubbish in this day and age is frankly shocking. There is no doubt none whatsoever that milk is very rich in calcium AND its bioavailability is high - i.e. we can absorb most of it.

There is also no doubt that milk intake in childhood and adolescence is extremely important to achieving peak bone density:

Milk intake during childhood and adolescence, adult bone density, and osteoporotic fractures in US women

Milk intake and bone mineral acquisition in adolescent girls: randomised, controlled intervention trial

The bone issues start if you cut out cows milk and don't replace the nutrients.

Cows milk is breast milk. That's all it is. So think about why breast milk is needed; it's because of the nutrients it contains. If you cut out cows milk and replace it with alternative sources of those nutrients, you will be fine, and you're not clogging your body up with cow hormone.

"Most almond milks have more calcium per ml than cows' milk."

Do you know the meaning of the word bioavailability?

Cows milk has high levels of bio available calcium. Some things are just facts

ThreeLegged

Yes, ones that are fortified with calcium.

Milk is probably the most hydrating thing you can drink. What planet are you living on where you don't know this?

Your DH is being bloody daft.

ThreeLeggedHaggis: Most almond milks have more calcium per ml than cows' milk.

And around three times the sugar. Also at about three times the price.

Pinkandwhiteblossoms: Fair point crap but if he's drinking enough not to become dehydrated it must be a fair amount.

Erm, not really. Think of it this way. A three year old needs around 1,000 calories per day. To consume that in full-fat milk alone, he'd need to down two and a half pints. In practice, it's more likely he's having something like a drink with each meal and maybe an extra one for comfort at some point. Let's say he drinks 100ml with each meal, and an extra 100ml at bedtime. That's still only 240 calories - not quite a quarter of what he needs. And there's always water to go alongside it anyway.

Given that sugar is much worse for obesity than fat is, I just can't bring myself to get too upset about milk as an "unhealthy" drink (aside from the gross impurities, but that's a different matter), whereas I can bother myself more about sugary drinks like fruit juice, and quite a lot more about chemicals that can cause strokes, such as those found in artificial juices.

I have read about a few studies that have suggested that milk is better for rehydration than water or sports drinks. Neither if my dcs would drink plain water as children. We were advised to let them have milk or sugar free squash. They are both fit and healthy adults. I can't stand water on its own, so I always carry one of those concentrated squash drinks in my bag. If I have to buy water, I add a squirt or two of that to make it palatable.

Gaelic, you're as daft as OP's husband, frankly. "It isn't healthy" I'm crying laughing at that... or are you living in the USA where it's pumped full of crap?

The other replies here are hilarious. Milk is even encouraged now specifically for post exercise rehydration.

A good quality chocolate milk has the perfect balance of everything you need to aid recovery after serious exercise. That's not even a joke.

Wow, what a bun fight on this thread!

My now 4 yo only drinks milk or water. My 1 yo is water, cows milk and BM (I'm not a martyr, it's just very very hard to say no when sleep deprived and due in work in a few hours) I am a lazy mum and detest washing out bottles and believe it us almost impossible to properly clean the vast array of children's drinks bottles we seem to have amassed.

Therefore all the bottles are for water only, milk must be drunk at the table in the kitchen from an open proper cup, straw optional. Obviously the 1yo is basically fed it as she can't be trusted with a cup.

Water can be drunk anywhere you like from one of the bottle options. Seems to work quite as well as you have to really really want milk to sit down for 5 mins to drink it!

Just going to leave this here..

saveourbones.com/osteoporosis-milk-myth/

It's hardly a bun fight or should we all just post "your DS, your rules, hun."

There are really quite a lot of people on this thread with not enough common sense. Milk is fine OP. Human children have been drinking it for hundreds of years. Unless he has an allergy to cow's milk, you do not have a problem on your hands. Swapping some of the milk for water would be sensible just so he isn't getting too many calories from his drinks, but given time he will probably accept more water and less milk.

Skimmed milk is useless the calcium and other minerals in milk actually need the fat in the whole make ok to metabolise them. Fat doesn't make you fat, too many calories make you fat particularly empty calories from refined sugars.

Milk is 95% water. for every litre you drink, you're having 950ml water which is plenty. My 2 DCs and DH get through 6-8 pints a day. I draw the line at full fat but as long as it doesn't lessen their appetites, I don't care. They're all very active and lean people.

There are no soft drinks in our house (usually) and a single bottle of squash lasts months and months.

@Boooooom

Cows' milk is for baby cows

True, but once they're vealed (is that a real verb?), they don't need it any more. Unless you're entirely vegan, you're a hypocrite.

I still drink milk instead of water when I'm thirsty

NHS website says over 2 you can introduce semi-skimmed, but no skimmed until 5. Just for all those debating types of milk...

Innocent92 your link is pseudo-science at its best!

This has been debunked countless times by actual scientists

Open your eyes. When you take in cow's milk, you take in, you've guessed it, cow protein, enzyme etc. That isn't healthy. Not all of that can be digested by humans and it's been linked to all kinds of problems. So why isn't it being researched by medical councils? Easy answer. Because most of the problems associated with the inflammation that comes from the human body not being able to break down cow protein affects women.

www.larabriden.com/what-dairy-does-to-periods/