Full fat milk for 4 year old in a bottle!

[missgraciea]

Please no judgement. My daughter - just 4 a couple of weeks ago - still drinks whole milk. Guzzles it to be honest. I cannot get her off her bottle. I have a couple of questions.

Should I have switched her semi skimmed a while ago? I’ve only just realised if doesn’t matter anymore.

The bottle- she drinks milk from it in the evening and in the morning. She loves it. She is not ‘babied’ in any other way - dresses herself head to toe every morning, is incredibly chatty and will walk/run for miles. Has been potty trained since just over two. Her teeth are fine. We’ve just had a check up - I was worried the bottle might be damaging them. But she loves this bottle. Does it really matter? Should I just let her have it?
She’s my only child if you couldn’t tell!

If I’m reading this correctly, the guidance about semi-skimmed has changed and can now be offered from 1. However, as everyone else has said, that’s not really the point. But thought I’d mention it as it’s quite surprising. 1% and skimmed still unsuitable for under 5s except in cooking.

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/baby/weaning-and-feeding/what-to-feed-young-children/

Why would full fat milk even be so widely on sale if it was not meant to be consumed by anyone over the age of 2?

Quoting from a blog post I read:

there have been a large number of recent studies demonstrating that full-fat milk drinkers not only tend to be slimmer than those on lower-fat varieties, but also have a lower risk of metabolic syndrome – or raised blood pressure, elevated blood sugars and raised levels of fats in the blood that can increase your risk of heart disease.
A recent study of 1,600 healthy middle-aged Swedish men found those who ate butter and drank full-fat milk were half as likely, over the 11-year study period, to become obese than those who went for skimmed milk and low-fat spreads.[1]
And a study of 18,438 American women found those eating the highest amount of full-fat dairy were the least likely to gain a lot of weight over 11 years.[2]
The likely explanation, according to studies, is that consuming high-fat dairy products keeps you fuller for longer, reducing the lure of sugary snacks.
So why not just go one step up to semi-skimmed? Well, you certainly could but it has lower levels of some essential fatty acids, like omega-3, which is linked to slowing cognitive decline and reducing anxiety and depression.
Full-fat milk may have three times the fat content but it also contains 90 times the amount of omega-3 fats as found in skimmed milk, and about twice as much as semi-skimmed, not to mention that the fat-removal process rids the finished product of a host of vitamins, such as Vitamin A and Vitamin D. Some of these vitamins are added back in afterwards, but by no means all.

You can stop it by simply getting rid of them. Whether she has full fat or not depends on her bmi, many dc need the extra calories if they are not great eaters where as some really need to cut down to semi skimmed

Thank you for all of these responses - I do like the idea of maybe Santa taking it.
No, she doesn’t sleep with it! She drinks her milk before bed and then brushes her teeth and again in the morning. She also brushes after lunch at nursery they have their own toothbrushes there.
I’m aware she’s very old to have a bottle though and starting school next September, I’ve spoken to her about it and she keeps saying but I love my bottle. I’m aware I’m the parent here and I need to just make the swap but I guess I’m asking if this detrimental to her in anyway? Other than being unusual.

If she's pissed off, she's going to throw a beaker!

I'd bin the bottles, one of those munchkin 360 sippy cups. She'll be pissed off but that's life. Full fat milk is fine.

My 4yo will still have full fat milk on cereal etc and I cook with it too, I don’t think that’s really an issue? It’s not an unhealthy version of milk! My 4yo is so active I like knowing she’s getting some calories in first thing! She doesn’t drink it as a drink but I still don’t think I’d give her semi skimmed if she did.

The bottle I’d probably be trying to wean her off of to be honest! Maybe transition her with a 360 cup?

It’s not that she doesn’t drink out of other cups. She drinks every other drink - well she only drinks water and milk and VERY occasionally squash out of a cup. If she drinks milk in the day it’s out of a cup. I know this sounds crazy but at bedtime she wants this bottle and when I say I can’t I mean this child will cry hysterically at the thought of no bottle at bedtime.

Nothing wrong with full fat milk unless you’re concerned about her weight. It is high time
to ditch the bottle though. A straw cup might be an easier transition?

This, if you can't parent her at four how are the next 14 years going to look.

How are her teeth? My friends dd stopped sucking her thumb at a similar age after a chat with the dentist!!

I had my daughter's 12 month review two weeks ago and health visitor said the current recommendation is semi skinmed from 1. Maybe different advice for underweight babies/toddlers.

Sure she'll cry. She's using it as comfort and it's her routine. My LO was breastfeeding until just after 4 (I was waiting for her to self wean and she u just didn't). She also cried hysterically when I said no more boob, but she got over it after a couple of days. Yours will too.

@missgraciea I had similar issues with my DD last year. Just after her 3rd birthday I decided we had to get her off the baby bottles.

I prewarned her that a baby was going to be coming to the door for the bottle and in exchange for the bottle the baby would leave a toy.

She handed me the bottle and I pretended to pass it to someone outside, but just left it on the side and showed her a small toy had been left for her.

It did the trick, she did ask for the bottle but there were no meltdowns, I told her there was a baby who needed it more than her and she just said ok xx

@missgraciea reading this having just put my nearly three yo to sleep having had his bottle!! Same as your dd, he loves it. I would maybe not bother with a sippy cup but you could try a sort of older child’s drinking bottle you know the type with a pop up straw?? You can get glittery ones etc maybe that will help the hard sell!!!

Why does it though?
I entirely disagree. There's no logical reason on earth to give it up. It's sensory and oral pleasure. Giving it up would be silly. And mean! If it was bucking her teeth or making her behave badly, I could see it.

😬

Her teeth won't thank you for those.

"She's using it as comfort and it's her routine."

Exactly. Both great things for a little kid.
(I know you weren't singing from my hymn sheet there but you've made my point beautifully in that sentence.)

Mine left theirs out for the Easter bunny in exchange for eggs - you could do the same with Santa? She will probably understand this a lot more being a little older so may be even easier? Maybe a thank you letter from Santa too would be exciting/distract her?

I’m a bit shocked at this tbh. Surely with the better knowledge around whole (natural) fats and UPF processes’ this isnt for the best! I’m sticking with whole milk- if a child is overweight it’s not full fat milk that’s the issue!

All my kids still have full fat dairy even the teens and pre-teens. We drink it too. Switching to low fat dairy is pointless imo as the ‘fats’ you lose are the good stuff that keep your heart healthy.

Full fat milk is healthier for you. I am in my 40s and only buy full fat dairy. Growing children need healthy fat in their diet.
She seems to associate the bottle with snuggly bedtime. Can you buy her a cup that looks snuggly & nightimey? Say it’s her bedtime cup?

@Morven7 why on earth are you implying that I cannot parent my daughter? How unbelievably rude. I posted for some support and advice, knowing it something that needs to change. My daughter, who is 4 and 2 weeks, can dress herself independently, write sentences, read cvc words and can blend sounds, she’s happy and social, all which is my own doing as a single mother. How absolutely dare you imply that I cannot parent her.

@Bruisername we went to the dentist last week as I had this concern, she said her teeth were absolutely fine.

Aww bless her.
My advice would be to do similar to what you might do when getting rid of a dummy - there's loads of different ways just Google it and you'll probably get loads of suggestions, just replace dummy with bottle it's the same principle. Especially if it's a comfort thing!

Personally I'd make a big deal of letting her choose a really cool drinking bottle, maybe one with a straw or spout thing so it's not totally different but age appropriate. Then once she's chosen her big girl drinking bottle, just explain what will happen next - ie. From tomorrow, you're a big girl and we'll only be using your big girl drinking bottle. The actual bottle needs to go in the bin! There's so many different things you can do to make it a fun transition though, just Google it.

Our nursery has a dummy tree, and the dummies get hung on the tree overnight and the dummy fairy comes to give them to all the little babies that need them, because she's a big girl now. In the morning, the dummy fairy leaves a present (enter, brand new drinking bottle she's picked herself!)

If it helps my little girl was SO attached to her dummy but I was amazed the dummy tree thing worked amazingly, she was so excited to see a gift on the tree and she slept with a unicorn teddy she had picked instead that night (I showed her some pics on my phone beforehand, she chose the unicorn, I ordered on Amazon so the dummy tree was the first time she actually saw the real thing)

Good luck!