Do all kids drink milk?

[imabrat]

I LOVE milk, and I'm 15. Skim, 1%, 2%, Whole - it doesn't matter. Of course, it doesn't help the fact my mom is saying "Build your bones! They're weak from the cancer!", so it's not like I have a choice.

 

[aprilgail2]

DS drinks massive quantities of it but he drinks even more water. I never knew anyone who didn't drink milk except my mother. She hated it.

I knopw plenty of people that don't drink milk. I have not frank it since I was about 5 years old and my daughter drinks it maybe once a week -and it has to be chocolate flavored, I don't blame her, regular millk taste vile.
When she was a baby I would only get her organic milk that had no hormones etc. I read many reports about how milk causes all types of problems if you drink to much of it, including early puberty, breast growth in males etc.
I really don't feel there is any need for us to drink milk, there are many other ways to get calcium. I had one Dr that would tell me that the human body is not made to digest cows milk.

 

[Pin Wizard]

DS drinks milk all the time. That and water are about all he will drink. Occasionally, make that rarely, orange juice.

He's probably the only kid on the planet that won't drink soda! He tried Sprite when he was little, made a face, and never touched soda again.

 

[TaraPA]

Back in the 80s my sister and I were just about the only kids around who refused to drink milk.

We both just plain refused to drink the vile stuff (to this day I can't stand it). It was pretty much straight from **** milk to water for us .

I think we ate plenty of ice cream, cheese, yogurt, etc, but no plain milk.

To my knowledge, there's really no reason that kids "have to" drink it -- there are plenty of other sources of calcium and other vitamins/minerals.

I don't really understand why it somehow seems "obligatory" in a lot of places in the US? I have a lot of memories of being forced to take sips of the nasty stuff in elem. school b/c nobody could believe that we just didn't drink it

Same here. We even grew up with a large dairy farm in the family - but I still refused to drink milk, even to this day. I just don't like the consistency or taste. My kids also do not drink milk. We use it on cereal & that's about it. I also can't stand the milk preachers - you MUST drink milk, OMG your kids will be sickly, blah blah blah. There's plenty of calcium elsewhere!

 

[ajk912]

I have done a lot of babysitting over the years, and it's very "in" to never give your children milk here. Many parents see milk as unhealthy, and soy as the wonderful thing. Many people I know believe milk can lead to breast cancer and obesity, and early puberty. So the message was you are a GOOD parent if your child never touches milk, and many I know follow this philosophy. When I babysat, it was almost the norm for babies to have soy formula, then when older to drink juice or water in cups and never touch actual milk. Most of theses kids would eat tons of cheese, ice cream, and especially yogurt though.

I personally love milk and get upset if we don't have any in the fridge!

I am kind of like this. My kids aren't allowed to have milk (my 4 year old does get half a cup or so at breakfast though) because of all the hormones in milk. Even if that wasn't true, look at the calories in a glass of milk! Even if someone wants to dispute the hormones in milk, you can't dispute it DOES lead to obesity. I have 3 kids, 9, 8, and 4. We kind of live by the rule "don't drink your calories". I don't tell them that, but I follow that rule for the whole family. We put cheese on just about everything here..so I don't think they are calcium deprived by any means. Oh, we do use milk in cereal though, so I do keep it in the house. And I use it in cooking, mac and cheese and such.

 

[KerriSue]

I love milk. A big tall glass of milk with ice in it is the best. I will even put it on top of my ice cream. Love it!!!!

Its funny, I gave both my kids soy formula and once they hit that year mark I put them on cows milk. Never had a problem. Both my kids love milk and drink it often. I have been very lucky with them for not being too picky or having any type of allergies.

 

[KimR]

I never drank it as a kid and still don't. I hate the taste. I don't like cheese or yogurt, either, so I have to take cacium supplements (when I remember). Thankfully, my kids do like milk.

 

[Fabinva]

My kids ages 6 and 8 are always had organic milk but are not the type that drink it all day, usually once a day in the mornings with cereal.
I recently read about cow's milk and how it is digested and problems it can cause, for that reason I will be switching to almond milk at home and do not think the kids will miss it much.

 

[Eeyore'sthebest]

My DD used to drink it all the time until she was about 3. Then she decided she hated it. Hasn't touched it since. I did get her to try chocolate milk and she claimed she liked it. But when I offered it again I got the old "No thank you mommy. I'll just have water."

I wish she would drink more milk. Heck, I would be content if she would eat grilled cheese. The only thing she likes is string cheese. Hates yogurt. And yes, we take multi-vitamins every day.

 

[Darsa]

I have always loved milk, drank tons of it as a kid. My DD13 has always loved it as well, and I've been careful to limit it to skim milk for a while now, because I'm pretty sure that part of my extra weight as a kid had to do with the fat in all the milk I drank.

 

[kristilew]

DD and I do not drink milk. We don't even put it on our cereal. She was allergic to milk protien as a baby, and her ped. said I probably was too and therefore "decided" I didn't like it.

I remember seeing an interview with some anti-milk celebrity (Mary Lou Henner, maybe?) a long time ago, and one quote always stuck with me:

"The only purpose of cows milk is to turn a 60 pound calf into a 600 pound cow in 6 months."

This may have been a bit of hyperbole, but it made a big impression on me!

And while DD is normal height for her age, she is a good 20# less heavy than her milk chugging classmates. Also, not as "developed" at 11.

 

[FINFAN]

Our DD ( almost 19) goes through it like crazy, always has, our DS (14) has to turn a glass of 2% into a glass of mud with both liquid and powder chocolate to ingest the stuff. Unless I have a bottle of Oberweiss Chocolate milk, then he's good for a glass every 2 days maybe. I try to get apple juice and OJ that have calcium in it, and DS does like yogurt and cheese...some people just don't care for milk.

 

[podsnel]

I never drank milk either- I actually LIED when I was 4 and told them at school I was allergic so I could have water or juice instead! I hate milk to this day, but LOVE cheese and yogurt, so my bone density is good.

And I think you can get rid of the worries of hormones, etc in the milk by drinking organic milk, if you're worried about all the bad milk pr.

 

[lil mermaid]

As for calcium, it's been known at least 20 years now that it takes more calcium from the body to digest the protein in the milk than the serving of milk has...so each glass of milk you drink depletes your body's calcium stores even more...is it any wonder our bones are falling apart?

I've never heard that before. Do you have a link to a credible source?

 

[sacall]

Growing up, all we had to drink was milk. Pop was only for Sunday night, when we all watched Disney on TV (can't remember the name of the show)

I still love drinking milk, but I only drink it at dinner. My girls are not huge milk drinkers - they prefer water or juice. They do have it with cereal and with dinner. We drink skim, expect my oldest dd who drinks whole because she is on a high fat diet. I also am sure to buy the milk without hormones. Both my girls are underweight and I'm pretty sure it's not milk that is making me fight my weight

Stacy

 

[Colleen27]

My kids don't drink a lot of milk. They put it on cereal and in hot chocolate and they drink it at school if they buy lunch, but most of the time they'd rather have water or juice. They get plenty of dairy from other sources, mainly cheese & yogurt, so I've never seen any need to encourage milk as a beverage.

 

[Colleen27]

And I think you can get rid of the worries of hormones, etc in the milk by drinking organic milk, if you're worried about all the bad milk pr.

It doesn't even take going organic. A lot of dairies have eliminated the hormones and antibiotics from their standard milk in response to growing public concern.

 

[ZephyrHawk]

Actually, it is somewhat unnatural for children over the age of 4 to drink milk. Why? Because that's the traditional end of weaning age in humans. No other mammals maintain the correct bacteria to process lactose in their intestines after weaning. Point in fact, lactose tolerance is a fairly new evolutionary development which has arisen post-agricultural development. It is seen mostly in populations where cattle, goats and camels were common and domesticated early (for instance, Europe). In those places where these heavily milk producing species were comparatively rare (Asia, Australia) we see high incidences of lactose intolerance among human descendants.

Does this mean kids shouldn't have milk? If they're lactose tolerant there's no reason why they shouldn't. It's an excellent source of calcium and has significantly less sugar than other things they would drink in its place. I just find it fascinating that something which 5,000 years ago would not have been tolerated is now encouraged as a staple of everyone's healthy diet. Let's hear it for biology!

 

[Ariel Mae]

As a child, teenager, and now an adult, I still don't drink milk. Chocolate, Strawberry, or likewise. Needless to say, because I also don't eat much cheese products/dairy, I'm lacking in my daily upstake of calcium.

 

[joviroxx]

My son doesn't drink milk and never has. He actually eats Cereal dry , in a bowl, with a spoon.. Weird, but whatever. DD Loves milk and would drink it all day long if allowed.