Milk it… For All It’s Worth

After their little one’s first birthday, parents will notice that milk will begin to become less and less of a priority as their child starts to consume a wider variety of foods. However, should milk still remain in a toddler’s diet?

Milk is a good source of all-essential nutrients, including bone-building calcium. If you breast-feed, the World Health Organization and also our own Health Ministry recommend continuing until age of two years. After the age of one though, your toddler can switch from formula to whole milk.

How much milk should a toddler drink?

It’s a common sight to see toddlers between the age of one right up to three years going about their day with a bottle of milk in their mouth. Many parents, till this day, oblige their little ones’ request for milk, either in a bottle or via modern sippy cups at any time of the day, with the very best of intentions. After all, milk is a healthy choice for growing bodies and minds!

However, when it comes to obtaining essential nutrients through a varied diet, toddlers should consume no less than two cups of milk daily, for too much milk may prevent them from consuming other healthy foods or even prevent them from trying new foods.

A toddler’s calcium needs

Milk and other dairy products provide the best source of dietary calcium, essential for healthy bone growth. A 1-cup serving of milk supplies 300 milligrams of calcium; toddlers need around 500 milligrams per day. Yogurt and cheese as well as calcium-fortified foods such as orange juice can meet your toddler’s calcium needs as well as milk. Most children under age 5 get 70 percent of their calcium from milk.

Vitamins and Minerals in Milk

Milk contains a variety of nutrients necessary to sustain the growth and development of babies and toddles and many of these nutritional needs carry on well into adulthood too.
Milk is rich in the following vitamins and minerals:

• Vitamin B12: This essential vitamin is only found in foods of animal origin and milk is one of them
• Calcium: Milk is not only one of the best dietary sources of calcium, but the calcium that is easily absorbed
• Riboflavin: Also called vitamin B2, riboflavin is found to be abundant in milk and dairy products.
• Phosphorus: A mineral that plays an essential role in many biological processes and is found in all good dairy products

Casein & Whey proteins
Proteins in milk can be divided into two groups. They are casein which are not water-soluble, and whey proteins which are water soluble. Both these proteins are essential for growing bodies and are easily digested.

Casein forms about eighty percent of proteins in milk. It is made up of a group of different proteins where the most abundant one is called alpha-casein. Casein is is important to the human body for its ability to increase the absorption of minerals, such as calcium and phosphorus. Whey protein is another family of proteins, accounting for 20% of the protein content in milk and is rich in amino acids such as leucine, isoleucine, and valine.

Why some toddlers can drink milk

As unfortunate as it may sound, some toddlers can’t drink dairy milk. This is mainly due to milk allergy or lactose intolerance. They can still meet their nutritional needs for dietary calcium and fats in other ways. A toddler with milk allergy or lactose intolerance can drink calcium-fortified soy milk or another alternative milk source. Juices fortified with calcium can help meet your toddler’s calcium needs. Your doctor or a dietician will be able to help you with the best recommendations in alternative sources of nutrients that can help close up the nutritional gap.

Your little one needs fats!

Milk fat is one of the most complex of all natural fats, containing about 400 different types of fatty acids. Toddlers need fats for optimal neurological growth, so resist offering your toddler low-fat milk, skim milk or fat-free milk till the age of five, unless advised by your doctor.