When did you stop giving whole milk?

My kids turned 2 on August 22. Zack is 30 lbs and TALL. Annika is only 23 lbs and smaller. Neither is fat nor skinny. Some days they drink less that 8 ounces; some days over 20 ounces. Pedi said to keep them on whole milk or 2%. I keep reading that they shoudl switch to 1% or skim. When did you switch please and to what kind?
Many thanks!
Kathleen

 

Thanks for asking Kathleen!! This is on my list to ask the pedi next week, but I would love to hear what others have to say since I've been thinking about the same thing.

 

This is at the top of my list of questions to ask when the girls see their doctor at 2 years old (end of October). Everything I have read says that they should have whole milk until 2 years of age and then any other kind of milk after that (2%, 1% or skim). We are planning on switching them to 1% (that is what DH drinks) after they turn two if their doctor is fine with it.

 

I switched mine all to 2% before they turned two. Mine were not on the small side and they ate well so I figured they were fine. They are growing and developing fine so I'm not worried. I will probably switch my son over to 1% around 2 1/2-3 since that is what dh and I drink and my girls too (they actually get either whatever I have most of). Mine drink tons of milk too .

 

I waited until after they turned two. I switched to 2% per my pedi and my SIL who is an RN at our local health dept. I guess I didn't have to, but I felt that since they drink so much milk, that switching to 2% was the best thing for them. I don't foresee switching to anything lower until they are several years older since they don't eat extremely well.

 

My girls just went to their 18 month check up, and pedi said keep them on whole until at least 2.

 

The girls turned 2 in July and have been on skim milk since. Haley is 30lbs and tall also and Meg is 25lbs and shorter. The doctor told us that it was fine to have them on skim.

 

We went to 2% (from BM) at 2 years old.

 

We were told at 2 we could stop, however we did not stop until about 2 months ago (so they were about 28 months). Now they get 2%.

 

All of my dd's are very small so they are all still on whole milk. Even the 12 year old. For most kids, the switch is okay at 2, but our ped wants us to keep giving the girls as many calories as possible.

 

Still on whole milk with no plans to switch anytime soon. My 2.5-year olds are 25 pounds soaking wet...they need all the calories and fat they can get.

 

My girls are 2.5 and still on organic whole milk and not switching anytime soon. They are tall for their age, but only about 28 lbs. So until they get a little more "meat" on them, we aren't switching.

 

We didn't switch until mine were 3--they were in the 50th %ile. But the ped said we could switch at 2 and give them anything but skim at that time. They are now 6 and still drink 2%. I don't see switching them any time soon.

 

After two, they get whatever we've got around. The older ones were drinking whole milk sometimes when that's what we had for the twins. Now that the twins are three, we mostly buy 2%.

 

My pedi had us switch them from whole milk to skim milk at age two. I was skeptical, and questioned him since mine have always been on the lower end of the growth curve. He assured me that I should notice an increase in their appetite if I switched them to skim. And he was right on, once we switched to skim they started eating a lot more food. And the pedi said it was important for the calories to come from food over milk. And they've stayed on their same growth curve with the skim milk. Plus it's nice to just buy the same milk for all of us.

 

QUOTE(Babies4Susan @ Sep 15 2008, 08:47 AM) [snapback]980539[/snapback]
My pedi had us switch them from whole milk to skim milk at age two. I was skeptical, and questioned him since mine have always been on the lower end of the growth curve. He assured me that I should notice an increase in their appetite if I switched them to skim. And he was right on, once we switched to skim they started eating a lot more food.

That is interesting!

 

We switched to 1/2% which is what we drink at age one. We had major problems with reflux, and this was the pedi's recommendation. Plus, my kids are super chunky (all three little ones are off the charts for weight) so as long as I gave them enough dairy in other products like cheese and yougurt we did the switch a little earlier than most.

 

I just asked my pedi this a couple of weeks ago at our 2 year check. He said to keep giving whole milk until the age of 5. This kind of surprised me because I was sure he would say to switch to 2%. He said the extra fat is good for their brain development, so I guess I'm sticking with whole for now.

 

We have both skim & whole milk on our house.

DH, DS #1 & DD#1 all prefer skim.

DS #2 & the twins still mostly drink whole although they will drink the skim if we are out of the other. I see no need to change them at this point.

 

Still on whole milk here, too. Mine will be 3 next week, but only weight 30 lbs (DS) and 25 lbs (DD). They have always been on the low end of the charts, so the pedi isn't worried. He said as long as they keep growing on their curve, they are fine. But, he also wants to keep their calories up. So, no plans to switch any time soon.

 

For both the boys they got switched at around 11 mos or so to 2% but only because they ate SOOOO well. When they would go through a phase where they didn't get as much I picked up a half a gallon of whole milk, but for the most part they ate well enough to get switched. BUt I felt that was just fine for my kids. So I guess it depends on how you feel about their eating.

 

We decided to stick with whole since both of mine are on the thin side. It doesn't hurt to leave them on whole milk.

 

What a fantastic, WIDE range of answers. Thanks so much to everyone for the responses!! I switched them to 2% last night because they are excellent eaters. If Annika's weight doesn't climb though I'll put her back on whole milk.
TS'ers rock!

 

We went to skim shortly after they turned 2 by suggestion of the pedi. It's nice only having to buy one type of milk, until the baby turns one and nneds to go to whole milk.

 

We switched when the kids turned 2. At that point I just bought whatever kind had the longest expiration date.

 

we switched to 1% at 2yrs, and mine are always around the 30% for weight (off the charts for height).

 

I switched all my kids to 2% at age 2.