At what age should I switch my child from whole milk to 2%?

Question

He is currently 2 and we only buy organic, growth hormone free milk.

Answer 1

Not until the age of 4. Children need the fat in whole milk to help them develop the myelin sheath over their nerves and spinal cord. This is not fully developed until the child is 4 years of age so unless there is a weight problem feed them wole milk until then

Answer 2

My daughter is 14 months and because she is unable to break down the fat that is in the whole milk she has to have 2%.. Talk to your childs doctor and see what age they suggest switching.. It should between the age of 2-3..

Answer 3

Age two, that's what my pedicatrician said. Check if the organic hormone-free milk comes in 2%.

Answer 4

I was told age 2.
Which is when I switched my son (now 8) but we still buy whole milk once in awhile.
With our daughter (23 months) her Dr told us to use 2% after I was done nursing her which was at 15 months. Because of the too high fat content. I thought that was strange but he said to give her other things that are healthier that have high fat content like avocados, etc.

Answer 5

unfortuneatly most supermarket milk is, apart from pateurized (good thing) it is also homogenised. This means the milk & fat content are super-blended to prevent seperation at point of sale. The draw back here is that the fat-globules mostly surround the nutritional (good) ingredients & more than necessary is passed thru the body without properly absorbed. 2% doen't mean it contains only 2% fat content.....just 2% LESS than full cream milk. Check with your paediatrician for best advice.

Answer 6

the American Academy of Pediatrics advises that parents begin low fat milk after age two years. Before that age, toddlers should be either breastfeeding or drinking whole milk, but after age two you can start giving him 2%, 1%, or skim milk. And of course they should be either breastfeeding or drinking an iron fortified infant formula before age 12 months.


Why switch to low fat milk?
Mostly because your child will likely be getting plenty of fat from other things that he is eating. And starting early can help to develop preferences for low fat foods that he will hopefully keep for a lifetime of healthy eating.
If your child has a poor diet and doesn't get enough fat from other areas of his diet, then you may want to keep him on whole milk.

Keep in mind that by the time they are 4 to 5 years old, children should be getting about one third of their calories from fat. If your child isn't, then staying on whole milk may be a way to boost his intake of fat. But remember that isn't a problem for most children, especially with the current epidemic of obesity we are facing.
And of course if your child is already overweight, a change to low fat milk can be very important to reduce the amount of fat and calories that he is getting. Milk is still an important part of a healthy diet for these children though.


What if your kids won't drink low fat milk?
It can be a big change to go from whole milk to skim milk, so it is better to make a more gradual change. You might try to go first to 2% milk and then 1% milk, etc.
Starting early can also help to ease this transition to low fat milk. A two year old who really likes to drink milk will probably be more accepting of low fat milk than a school age child might.

Answer 7

I would switch to 2% around the age of maybe 4 or 5. If he doesn't want to try it, tell him that it is the same kind of milk just better for you, or switch it when he is a little bit older.

Answer 8

Buy both and slowly mix in the 2% with the whole everyfew days/weeks when you give it to him/her.
Ex:
week 1: put 3/4 whole and 1/4 two percent
week 2: same
week 3: put 1/2 whole 1/2 two percent
etc.
get it?

Answer 9

My pediatrician told me that I could switch my toddler to 2 % or skim milk at age 2, but check w/ your doctor just to be sure it's ok for your child.

Answer 10

At age 2 you can change it from whole