2% or skim milk @ 12mo per pediatrician advice ?!

[okinawama]

I had my 12mo son's well baby today and he weighed in at almost 29lbs and was 31inches tall, he's always been big, and has been consistently off the chart in weight and usually height as well. However, he now is in the 75 percentile for height (still off the chart for weight) and so today my pediatrician told me I need to "slow him down a bit." she advised me to give him 2% or even skim (what???) milk rather than whole. Is this correct info? I was told that the whole milk fat was good fat and essential for good brain development. What do you think?

[slworld]

DS does not drink milk but I was just reading the Ellyn Satter book (Child of Mine) and she said to give whole milk until 2yrs of age since they need that fat. She actually mentioned about parents/peds giving toddlers under 2 lower fat milk since they were worried about weight/fat and that she doesn't think that is right. I am of course no expert. Maybe others will chime in with their opinions.

[arivecchi]

I took DS2 to his 12 month appt not long ago. I told the ped that I had DS2 and DS1 (who is 3 years old) on whole milk and he did not bat an eye. DS2 is around the 50% in weight and 75% in height. However, DS1 is above the 95% for height and in between the 75-95% for weight and the ped was totally ok with giving him whole milk as well. I am not an expert either and many mommies here know more about this than I do, so I look forward to seeing their responses as well.

[Happy 2B mommy]

My ped had recommended the same for my DD at her 12 mom appt. She was 90th percentile for height and 97+ percentile for weight. It wasn't to "slow her down" - he claims that it's pretty common practice in Europe. HOWEVER I was still nursing DD once a day and would feed her avacado and put olive oil on veggies and bread and her ped was aware of this. So her was getting fats that way (and fats that he felt were healthier than animal/milk fat).

I'm not sure if your LO needs to be 'slowed down' just because of a number? I would consider the bigger picture of the daily diet. You are correct, fats ARE needed for brain developemnt and the nervous system. But I do think more peds are recommending 2% because of the rise of childhood obesity. I, however do not think most chuncky babies become obsese children. Plenty of other factors are contributing to obsesity.

[SnuggleBuggles]

I stuck w/ whole b/c of the good fat for brain development.

Beth

[kdeunc]

My ped just told me at DD's 18 month visit to keep her on whole milk until 2. She is in the 75th percentile for weight. She said she needed the fat for brain development.

[hillview]

My ped said reduced fat milk at 2. I didn't do that. DSs drink MAYBE 1 glass a day or maybe 2.
/hillary

[g-mama]

Definitely NOT skim. I just went to a presentation by a psychologist at our elementary school who was talking about how important it is to give children dairy products w/ fat in them. She talked about how many anxiety disorders are related to low-fat diets. It was really interesting. I had no idea the correlation. I know your dc is not school-aged, it was just that there are so many important functions fat plays for young children.

[Clarity]

Funny how different the recommendations are. I recently had a conversation with my pediatrician and he said that current theory is leaning toward offering skim at 1yr (happening in Europe, yes). He said this is in part due to the increasing problem of childhood obesity which leads to the early onset of other serious health concerns. I'm interested to see how long it takes for this to become the way it's done.

[chottumommy]

Interesting to see the different opinions. In our house we all have full fat milk (yes even DH and I) but both of us are very thin and lean. DS is 50th percentile for both height and weight, so no concerns on weight. However we all have only 1 glass of milk a day. DS gets calcium and other essentials from different sources. He also drinks a little bit of almond milk daily.