Milk and your Child's Nutrition

Review the types of milk that are available for your kids, nutritional benefits of drinking milk, and the latest recommendations to make sure your kids are drinking enough milk.

Some parents are turning to organic milk as a healthier option for kids because it is made without growth hormones, antibiotics, and pesticides. Is it really better for your kids though?

Although the calories in milk are usually thought of as good calories, since milk has so many benefits, you can think about ways to reduce those calories by switching to low-fat or nonfat milk.

Review the dangers of drinking raw milk that hasn't been pasteurized, including the risk of infection from harmful bacteria and the lack of Vitamin D in raw milk.

Review the issue of whether or not you should give your kids plain white milk or chocolate milk.

Do your kids drink enough milk? If they don't, they may not be getting enough calcium and Vitamin D. Take our Milk Quiz to see if you know as much about milk as you should to help make sure your kids are getting enough of the right kinds of milk each day.

Review the issue of whether you should give your kids whole milk, low-fat milk, or skim milk.

Learn how much calcium your kids need to build strong bones and about many of the foods that are good sources of calcium.

My 14 month old has a milk intolerance. He has been on a soy formula, because he has diarrhea every time that we tried to give him a cow's milk based formula. He also had diarrhea when we recently tried to introduce regular cow's milk. Does he really need to drink milk?

There are many alternatives to cow's milk, including soy and rice milk. What type of milk do you give your child?

Review the indications and possible harmful effects of soy baby formula and why they usually aren't necessary for babies with colic, diarrhea, and premature babies.

Review when you should change kids from whole milk to low fat milk.

When do you switch your kids to low fat milk?

Review the risks of a toddler drinking too much milk, including becoming constipated, overweight, underweight, or developing iron deficiency anemia.

A discussion of a baby who may be allergic to milk because of a diaper rash and several instances of vomiting after drinking a cow's milk based formula.

Learn about how to change your child from an infant formula to whole cow's milk so that she continues to get enough calcium in her diet.

Review when you can introduce your baby to yogurt and other milk based products.