FULL FAT MILK, am I harming my children by giving them full fat milk to drink, am and pm???

[winegumss]

I always thought it was v nutritious and one of the best drinks a growing child can get.

whoever gave you the idea that you are harming your baby????

How old are they?

I would saythe word harm is a bit strong! Although I was told not to give whole milk to over 2's but to use semi skim instead (same calcium less fat)?

All children under 2 should have full fat and up to under 5 is okay as long as they aren't over weight.

I buy semi-skimmed as I can't be bothered with having different milk for different members of the family. I think ss is recommended for over-2s, but unless your children are overweight I really wouldn't worry about it. My two eldest boys are just skin and bone so they could probably do with some full-fat milk and I occasionally buy Jersey milk as a treat.

full fat milke doesn't really have loads of fat in it. If you give your chuild a healthy diet which includes full fat milk then they will be fine. No point giving them S/S and then loads of cakes and biscuits though is there?
My 6 year old has full fat milk

i have given mine full fat from aged 1 and will continue as long as he likes it.
WHO recommend milk till aged 5 but doesnt as far as i know say what fattage????
its just extra stuff, i am ALWAYS on a diet and so tend to buy full fat stuff for my child...habit rather than based on nutritional fact im afraid.

full fat I think is 4% and semi is 1.5%. So the difference is not that great! And healthier than anything with added sugar, in my opinion (Tickle reaches for another biccie )

Small children need fat, older children less so. Full fat milk is only about 4% fat but it is saturated fat and not going to do them a whole lot of good in the long term. If your children are over 2 it's healthier to switch to semi skimmed and include more unsaturated fats in the diet such as olive oil, nuts and seeds etc.

It does also depend on the rest of your diet, though. My DD is 2.6 and still on full fat milk as she prefers the taste and doesn't drink that much anyway. Also we don't eat meat so there's not much in the way of saturated fat in her diet anyway. Had we been avid meat eaters I'd have had her on the skimmed by now.

My mum always says full fat til at least 5, not just because of the fat but because of the fat-soluble vitamins. Ds certainly eats loads of stuff that is not particularly nutritionally valuable so I would tackle that long before reducing his milk fat intake.

I was surprised to find that some full fat milk has less calcium than semi skimmed. When we were in Australia I found that it wasn't the case, but it was certainly true in the UK when I was deciding for DD. Am prepared to be corrected though as that was a few years ago and things may have changed. Woudl depend on the brand too I guess.

My ds 1/2 (when 2 gets there 11 weeks atm!) will have full fat milk until he leaves home and can make his own choices. We also have butter, eggs, cheese, yogurts all full fat. (I know, I know you're thinking about the eggs aren't you? )

I cook from scratch most days, ds is built like a string bean. We are an energetic out and about family who need 'real' food.

Make good food choices, eat senible ammounts and exercise and you will be fine, as will your dc.

wouldn't give my dd anything else there is so little fat in milk and it has more nutritional value with fat in it as I understand it, as long as they're not guzzling gallons of the stuff. Think it's just a question of moderation and common sense.

I believed that children need more fat until at least 5 years, it helps with brain/nerve development.

So unless your DCs are overwieght, give full fat.

I only changed last year, when ds was 7, cos dh and I both needed to cut down on fat a bit, and yes it's too difficult having different milk for different family members.

And do remember, full fat still only means 4%, even jersey gold top is only 5% so it's really not harming anyone (I grew up in with full fat raw (unpasteurised) milk, and find everything else a bit watery, actually).

The thing is the percentage of fat in full-fat milk is actually still relatively low. In any other food it would be called low-fat! Unless someone was drinking vast amounts every day, I wouldn't have thought it would be a problem.

It annoys me the way some foods like that are demonised for no reason. Full-fat milk and yoghurt is not a bad food in any way. Most of the people who religiously avoid full-fat are probably getting much more fat and saturated fat from other parts of their diet they wouldn't so much as blink at!

Sheffield University did a study that said a number of children in the UK are actually undernourished, because of the fashion for avoiding full fat milk

Same study pointed out that statistically, milk drinkers (inc full-fat) had a tendency to lower blood pressure than non-milk drinkers.

What a wonderful country we live in, where full fat milk causes obesity but a packed lunch every day of crisps and chocolate is the norm.

nutella for breakfast ... followed by skimmed milk...

Thanks to you ALL and I agree, full fat is great for them (B5,g3.75,b1.7) I also cook loads from scratch so they get lots of healthy well balanced home made foods and they are active and happy kids - and they are not fat! We also have bacon eggs sausages but also other 'better' foods like allsorts of fish, chicken brown rice and pasta etc. thank youx

If your kids are not overweight, are active, healthy and happy, then surely you can give them anything, as long as it's a good mix of everything.

A bag of crisps now and then won't do harm, nor will a tube of smarties, a pint of full fat milk, sausage and fried egg, etc, as long as in between those things there also apples, carrots, decent pasta, bananas, peas, etc etc.