lowfat choc milk better than nothing?

[DrSally]

DS doesn't like cow's milk at all. He has a little in his cereal in the am, but won't drink it during the day. He was BF for 3 years and drank soymilk from about 18 months on. I stopped the soymilk at about 2.5, b/c he outgrew the cow's milk allergy at 2 yo and was already getting a lot of soy in his diet--soybutter sandwhiches every day, tofu, etc. We tried for several months to cut the soymilk with cow's milk, but he wouldn't accept it and we ended up wasting a lot of milk.

I'm not a huge fan of soymilk--it is very sugary and he gets vit D in a supplement. Anyway, for calcium, I'd like him to drink some more cow's milk. Auntie took DS for an overnight and got him choc milk at McDonalds. He drank that thing down and said, "Mmmmm, we don't have this at my McDonalds!" My instinct is that it's just a special treat, like a dessert. But, how often would you give choc milk? Maybe I could get a little syrup and just put a little choc in his skim milk...

I know this is totally rambling. Any thoughts?

He's recently started liking cheese, since he picked out come cubes and sticks himself. I let him have as much cheese as he wants, so I'm happy he's now getting some calcium that way. I know cow's milk isn't necessary, but I worry about his calcium intake.

[WatchingThemGrow]

did you look at ovaltine?

[DrSally]

No I haven't. I'll have to check that out!

[nupe]

For DS (who is now almost 5), he drinks milk but loves hot cocoa. SOmething about the packet and counting marshmallows! We only put in a small portion of the packet though, so one packet lasts through 4-5 8oz mugs of milk, heated about 40 sec. As long as the color is different... And now he likes NOT mixing it, so he gets a bunch of chocolate floating on top.

[hillview]

I asked my ped as DS #1 refuses to drink white milk. Ped said lowfat chocolate was highly recommended. He should have 3 glasses a day. Kids need the vit D that is only in milk. I was SHOCKED that he said OK to chocolate milk and that he said 3x a day! I had tried to blend in fruit to white milk and still a no go. DS now drinks 3 glasses a day. SIGH.
/hillary

[mom_hanna]

My kids drink milk (one soy, one regular), and we use chocolate syrup mostly so they only get a little chocolate and a lot of milk. If we buy chocolate milk, I usually go half that mixed with half regular or soy, and it's plenty chocolatey. They don't notice the difference. Maybe you could try that and see if you can get more regular milk into your ds that way.

[DrSally]

I asked my ped as DS #1 refuses to drink white milk. Ped said lowfat chocolate was highly recommended. He should have 3 glasses a day. Kids need the vit D that is only in milk. I was SHOCKED that he said OK to chocolate milk and that he said 3x a day! I had tried to blend in fruit to white milk and still a no go. DS now drinks 3 glasses a day. SIGH.
/hillary

Interesting. I mentioned it to my ped at his 3 yr appt., but I don't think he really heard me. He seemed more interested in whether DS was drinking whole, lowfat, skim, etc.

I feel ok with vit D, b/c I give DS a vitamin that has 400 IU's vit D in it. Interesting he thought you could only get Vit D in milk.

I think I may go with a little choc sauce in a glass of skim, and see what he thinks.

[nicanddrew]

We've stopped using chocolate syrup in milk after the reports of mercury contamination. I will sometimes let DS3 have Ovaltine (usually just enough to color the milk) or the Quick powder.

[DrSally]

We've stopped using chocolate syrup in milk after the reports of mercury contamination. I will sometimes let DS3 have Ovaltine (usually just enough to color the milk) or the Quick powder.

I just pulled out my old bottle from the fridge that I use for icecream--HFCS is the first ingred. :(

Does anyone know of a readily avail brand that doesn't have HFCS?

[Tondi G]

Trader Joes sells Midnight Moo, organic and no HFCS! It's all my kids use/drink! I know Whole Foods sells something similar as well!

[DrSally]

I suppose I could get the TJ's milk and mix it with plain milk. Maybe they have a choc syrup with no HFCS, although their stuff has a lot of "made in facilites with peanuts", so I might be out of luck there.

[JTsMom]

Midnight Moo is actually a syrup, not chocolate milk. I know this b/c I've gone through appx. 8 million bottles of it. :tongue5: I have no problems with Jason drinking chocolate milk, even though he loves any and every type of dairy. I just use a very small amnt. of syrup, and he's fine with it. He has hot chocolate (just milk+chocolate syrup heated up for 45 secs) pretty much every morning.

ETA: I can not put into words how much better the TJ's stuff is vs. the WF version (I think it's called Ah! laska or something close to that) IMO. I tossed 1/2 a bottle of the latter b/c none of us would touch it.

[kijip]

beans, salmon, tofu, all sorts of dark green vegetables have calcium. There are also a number of calcium fortified cereals, juices and breads.

Diary is not the only way to get calcium and milk is not the only way for kids to get dairy foods with calcium. I don't agree that it is necessary to give three glasses of milk a day for calcium reasons. If a child eats cheese, some yogurt and some enriched cereal they are doing just fine. Milk is not even the most calcium rich food option, contrary to popular belief.

Vitamin D in milk is just the same as Vit D supplements because there is very little of it naturally in any foods. Milk is not necessary for vitamin D. Supplements and sunshine!

I think Chocolate milk is fine but I would not be inclined to think of it as my only option for calcium.

For what it is worth, I grew up very healthy without ever touching a glass of milk. I ate some other dairy and had vitamins and later on a lot of beans and greens.

[DrSally]

Midnight Moo is actually a syrup, not chocolate milk. I know this b/c I've gone through appx. 8 million bottles of it. :tongue5: I have no problems with Jason drinking chocolate milk, even though he loves any and every type of dairy. I just use a very small amnt. of syrup, and he's fine with it. He has hot chocolate (just milk+chocolate syrup heated up for 45 secs) pretty much every morning.

ETA: I can not put into words how much better the TJ's stuff is vs. the WF version (I think it's called Ah! laska or something close to that) IMO. I tossed 1/2 a bottle of the latter b/c none of us would touch it.



Oh, I think I know what you're talking about. I was just in the city and went to the co-op and they had 2 brands of organic choc syrup. One was peanut/tree nut free! But $7. Oh well, I got it. Given Trader Joes, not sure if their midnight moo is peanut free...

[DrSally]

beans, salmon, tofu, all sorts of dark green vegetables have calcium. There are also a number of calcium fortified cereals, juices and breads.

Diary is not the only way to get calcium and milk is not the only way for kids to get dairy foods with calcium. I don't agree that it is necessary to give three glasses of milk a day for calcium reasons. If a child eats cheese, some yogurt and some enriched cereal they are doing just fine. Milk is not even the most calcium rich food option, contrary to popular belief.

Vitamin D in milk is just the same as Vit D supplements because there is very little of it naturally in any foods. Milk is not necessary for vitamin D. Supplements and sunshine!

I think Chocolate milk is fine but I would not be inclined to think of it as my only option for calcium.

For what it is worth, I grew up very healthy without ever touching a glass of milk. I ate some other dairy and had vitamins and later on a lot of beans and greens.

I know there are a lot of other options for calcium, but when you're trying to get 600-800 mg per day, it's nice to have something they will eat every day. DS eats tofu, but not every day, beans and sardines, but not every day. His cereal isn't fortified. Are you talking about Total? Ds is picky about his cereal and only eats Oatmeal squares, doesn't drink juice, and I haven't found a calcium fortified bread around here. What brands do you use? I found Arnold whole wheat, which doesn't have HFCS, but it isn't calcium enriched. If I could find a bread with extra calcium, that would help a lot, since he has bread virtually every day. I am thankful that DS has started eating cheese. Eventhough he can have cow's milk now, it's taken him quite awhile to warm up to dairy products.

[misshollygolightly]

I'm wondering if you could start off giving him chocolate milk (even if it has to be made w/ chocolate syrup high in HCFS and other non-thrilling things), but gradually decrease the chocolate syrup in proportion to the milk? Maybe the end would justify the means, you know ;)

[hillview]

My ped is against vit/supplements at all. So while I was thinking if he didn't have milk but had calcium from yogurt and cheese he'd be fine, my doc said he needed 3 glasses a day. I was surprised (REALLY surprised) but it seems to work.
/hillary

[DrSally]

I'm wondering if you could start off giving him chocolate milk (even if it has to be made w/ chocolate syrup high in HCFS and other non-thrilling things), but gradually decrease the chocolate syrup in proportion to the milk? Maybe the end would justify the means, you know ;)

Oh yeah. When I do give it, it will be with just enough to color the milk. FWIW, I tried cutting cow's milk with soymilk and he wouldn't take it when it got down to 1/2 and 1/2

[DrSally]

My ped is against vit/supplements at all. So while I was thinking if he didn't have milk but had calcium from yogurt and cheese he'd be fine, my doc said he needed 3 glasses a day. I was surprised (REALLY surprised) but it seems to work.
/hillary

Interesting. I thought that fortefied food products were just foods with vitamins added, KWIM? Doesn't milk just have D vitamins added? How is that different from taking a plain Vit D supplement. Just curious, did he explain his reasoning behind being against vitamins? Does he think they're hard on the liver or full of unknown toxins or something like that?

[hillview]

He didn't provide any info. I have googled it and it makes NO sense. I will do some more research later ... ARGH!
/hillary

[KHF]

I just checked our bottle of TJ's Midnight Moo and it does indeed say it's manufactured on equipment that could have traces of nuts on it :(

[JTsMom]

I just checked our bottle of TJ's Midnight Moo and it does indeed say it's manufactured on equipment that could have traces of nuts on it :(

Oh that stinks! Sorry Sally. Nuts are everywhere, huh? :(

[DrSally]

Yes, and usually in chocolate, so I'm esp. suspicious of choc things. I guess it was worth my peace of mind to buy the speciality bottle for $7 that specifically said "no peanuts/nuts".

ETA: Thanks for checking it Kristen.

[elephantmeg]

here's a homemade recipe from pioneer woman. Looks delish

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/10/decadent-chocolate-milk/