Milk? - Minneapolis,MN

Recommendations now say that at 1 yr, toddlers can drink either 2% or whole milk. At 2 yrs of age, kids should be switched to lowfat or skim milk. I would go ahead and switch her to 2% if you feel it is making her constipated. But since she is smaller, maybe add in some higher fat snacks or foods at meals.

My daughter had the same problem. My pediatrician told us that it was OK for her to be on the same milk the rest of the family drinks (which is actually 1%) at age 1 1/2. He said that they generally get enough fat from the other foods they eat that it doesn't make that much of a difference. One thing to watch though is how much milk she is drinking. My daughter would rather drink milk than eat so she ended up drinking more than she should have (bad mom!) and that was a bigger part of the constipation problem than what type of milk she was drinking. Good luck.

I had 3 kids that were allergic to milk as babies. One went to soy formula and then to soy "Silk" milk until she was 2 and then to skim. The other had Nutramigen formula and then went to whole milk fine. The third became allergic when I went from formula to whole milk cold turkey. With him we just went back to formula for a month and then slowly weaned him onto whole milk. I've never bought 2%, just skim for my kids once they turned 2.
My younger daughter has constipation problems and I give her something called "Tropical Oasis - Calcium, Magnesium, D". It's a liquid supplement and it has cured her constipation and it tastes great. Magnesium is a very good stool softener "think milk of magnesia". I used to have her on Miralax and that worked too but the cal/mag is great. I get it at Coborn's in the natural foods section and give it to all of my kids.
Otherwise be sure to push the fruits that start with "P". Pears are the best thing. I'll take a can of pears, in natural juice, dump them in a glass and blend them with my hand wand blender to make pearsauce. My daughter will eat the whole thing. You can also find pear juice - look in the baby section for the Gerber stuff. Avoid anything made from apples and try to avoid bananas.
Once she turns 2 she really doesn't need to have milk. If you give her the cal/mag it will be plenty of calcium for her. For her size I'd probably give 1 teaspoon of it but check with the pharmacist to be sure. I actually have my younger daughter on an elimination diet right now, Gluten Free/Casein Free, to see if it makes a difference in her health or eczema. Sometimes constipation is caused by a food allergy but you just have to figure out what it is that's causing it.
Good luck, and please email if you have any questions.
J.
Mom to 4, soon to be 5 through another adoption.

I would talk to your pediatrician about both the constipation and the milk issue. It probably wouldn't be bad to switch her off of whole milk, but she needs calories from somewhere since she is so small. I would only move her to 2% milk if you replace the calories with something else (maybe extra avocado or oil/butter on veggies, etc.)

Good luck,
B.
Momma to a toddler and baby #2 on the way

My sons both eat yogurt every day, which I really think helps keep them regular. I recommend YoBaby organic from Stoneyfield farms for your little one, as it's made with whole milk (so it has the fat content you need) but the dairy is low enough that it might not upset her. Both my sons had milk sensitivity and did fine on that. My older son has since graduated to YoKids (the 1% version) and he is still really regular. The live cultures in yogurt is really good for their digestive systems.

Check into a Milk Allergy. It is similar to lactose intolerance for some but it is actually an allergy to the casein protein. For most, the symptoms are upset stomach, loose stools, congestion. That is called fast on-set. For others with slow on-set which is less common the main symptom is constipation. Also a common symptom is increased ear infections. My daughter has slow on-set so when we switched her to milk she couldn't go to the bathroom and when she finally would it was horrible. We didn't know what the problem was so we managed with lots of fruit all summer. She'd eat over a pint of blueberries and she'd almost be normal. That is a large amount for an adult! Anyhow, we switched her to soy milk and the problem has gone away. They say they outgrown it typically between 2-5 years. We haven't tried her on cow's milk again yet--I just don't want to go through it and have her be in pain again. She loves soy milk so it is easy for us. She can eat some dairy, mainly removing milk, the largest amount of dairy in her diet helped. Warning though, serious allergic reactions can happen and develop over time. It's rare. She has string cheese or yogurt a couple times a week and she's good. Check it out, soy was the life saver for us!!!

L.,

Milk in it's self is consitpating and so are some fruits (veggies too maybe?) I know apples are used to help stop diareah and banana's are constipating too when not used in moderations. It could just be the mix of foods you are using.

If you wanted to, you could try giving her just a little bit of 100% juice. We use white grape juice. We use the premade stuff and put in a little juice and dilute it with water. That seems to help get things going. Usually he can have 1 serving of juice a day, but if we notice our son going to much the "other" way, we'll stop using juice for a day or so.

If none of that helps, I dont think switching 2 months early would harm your daughter.

I talked to my son's doctor about switching him from whole milk to 2% when we went for his 18 month check up. He looked at my son's weight gain and said he was on track and that I could switch but we would discuss it again at his 2 year check up. At his 2 year check up he was fine with the weight gain so he's been drinking 2% since and he's 3.5 years old right now. Just talk to your doctor about switching or do as the other people have suggested in adding some prune juice to her diet.

It is probaby OK to give her 2% milk as remember she is much smaller than an adult and the 2% fat might be enough for her fat intake for her size and weight but best to ask a pediatric nutritionist or a pediatrician. Make sure it is not Lactose Intolerance also. If she has gas pains and or flatulence then is probably lactose intolerance. This means not having enough enzymes internally to break down lactose sugers in milk and many other dairy products. Sincere, Steven C DDS.

Milk isn't a necessity. There are other high calorie or calcium products out there. I'm kinda anti-milk.

My daughter hardly drinks any milk I think milk does her more problems than more good. My daughter still super constipated all the time. I try very hard to keep fiber and fruit steady in her diet. Infact when she was 3 and kept wetting herself after being potty trained I was concerned and took her to the doctor who did a xray and said she was so backed up it was pushing on her bladder therefore she was having accidents and we got a prescription laxative for children you mix in their drinks. She wasn't really drinking any milk at that time either.

We've never used whole milk, my boys nursed beyond a year nad we slowly intro'd 2% milk into thier diets around 18 months, and around 2 we went to 1%milk, but they still only drink jsut a cup a day at dinnertime. They both eat plenty of greens so they get thier calcium.

As far as the constipation.... how often is she pooping? My oldest (5 1/2) poops every day at almost hte same time every day LOL! He's like clockwork, always has been. My youngest really varies, he goes 3-4 days without pooping, then poops 3-4 days in a row. He sometiems seems to strain when pooping (he's trained, has been since 15 months old) but its never constipated poop.

she is truly constiapted hwen her poops are dry, hard little pellets. If she isn't pooping dry hard pellets, then she's not relaly constipated, just straining to poop, which is normal. Pooping every day isn't really 'required', and kids vary so much. As long as her poops aren't hard and dry, ten she is fine, so dont worry. :)

I would try the 2% for a couple of weeks and see if it makes any kind of difference. a short time won't hurt and the fat from the milk should be able to be made up for from other foods.
One of the previous posters suggested having an allergy to the protein in milk. that is very possible. My oldest son, when he was 3, started having issues with very loose stool and most of the time he couldn't make it to the bathroom in time. it was very frustrating for me until we got a diagnosis. he had been constipated very badly to the point that it compacted in his bowels and eventually distended a section of his large intestine. because his bowel was so stretched he couldn't feel that he had to go to the bathroom until it was too late. we had to cut dairy 100% from his diet for several months, during which time he had coffee creamer on his cereal in the morning, and he had a Large dose of Mirilax every day for a few weeks and then it was every other day. we did that to clear his system and keep it clear until his bowel had time to heal from being so stretched. He's 10 now and he can eat dairy again, but every now and then he does have some bowel issues just not to that extent.

another thought... I've heard that some people will only use goat's milk. it has different proteins than cow milk and is supposed to be easier to digest. however, it is expensive, but it's just a thought.

Have her checked for food allergies. Regular cows milk may not be the thing for her.

L.,

I never had my two oldest children on Whole milk, I went right to 2%. My oldest daughter is 10yrs old and has always been small for her age, my 4 yr old son has always been big for his age, so milk didn't play a role in their sizes.

I have read that Children one to two years old should drink whole milk. After age two, low-fat or fat-free milk should become their regular drink. However I guess I never followed that myself. We went from 2% to skim for them. We all drink skim milk now, with the exception of my infant who is on formula.

I would try the prune juice as the other mother said.

My sons had a similar problem with constipation. I added a little prune juice to their juice or milk and it made all the difference. I put maybe a tablespoon in 8 oz of liquid. You can tell when you use too much. All it does is increase the liquid content of the intestines naturally. There are drugs that will do that too, but a child can become dependent on the drugs.

I had to switched my son at 15 months to 2% because he had a hard time dealing with dairy products and the 2% seemes to go better with his system. He is doing great and the doctor said as long as he was getting the nutrition he needed it was fine. He is growing like he should and is a normal size for his age so I think it would be fine and if you want to be sure give her some Pedia sure.

I try to give my daughter one of those YoBaby drinkable yogurts every day. I swear that helps keep her regular. My problem is that they are a little bit spendy (in my opinion) and few groceries stock them.

My daughter is about the same age and about 26 pounds. We give her 2% either when out fridge is too full for multiple gallons of milk or we run out of hers. I would be cautious in your case do to her lower weight, but if it seems to help, sure.

My step-daughter to be, drinks whole milk and does not have any issues with the constipation. My son, however, had those issues when he was younger (4 years old now), and I always used kyro or corn syrup to resolve the constipation issue which seemed to work rather well. Another suggestion would be prune juice.