How much milk do you get through?!

[Anon8319]

I have my own 18 month old daughter and 3 mindees - 1 is nearly 5 and at school, 1 is 21 months and here Mon-Fri 7-330 (one night til 6), 1 is 18 months and just here on Saturdays.

Before I started minding (about a month or so ago!!), I just had my daughter drinking the milk and a 4pt bottle of blue milk would last over a week!! Now however, I am getting through about 2-3 6pts a week! The kids have breakfast here every day and obviously the under 5s are all on milk for drinks. I then use the blue milk in cooking some days. They are here for lunch and dinner but don't tend to need milk unless it's in the cooking. I got so fed up last week that I even sieved their unwanted breakfast cereal so I could keep the milk for them to drink later in the day instead of having to pour fresh!!!

How much milk do you get through? How can I cut this back? I am even considering rationing - ie, 100ml each maximum for breakfast and then water with meals (the 21 month old in particular usually only wants milk, even with meals!).

I know I can eventually get vouchers for milk, but even then it only covers about a pint a day per child doesn't it?! I can't afford to keep up with the milk. It would be SO bad if I didn't cook amazingly balanced and healthy meals which, on their own, cost me a bomb!!

[The Juggler]

we don't do too bad. none of my babies have milk in the day and the older children don't ask for it.

it's just breakfasts really and my own kids drink it at bedtime. We go through about 16 pints (3 or 4 x 4 pint bottles).

[Nature'sKids!]

I wkd say try and find other sources of calcium and iron (for which milk is overrated anyway) in other food sources.
Green leafy vegetables are good for example. Chopped finely they can be served in any dish, especially pasta and tomato dishes.


http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/calcium.htm
http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/iron.htm

Some ideas there.

If you incorporate other sources, they will be ok with just a small amour of milk a day, too much milk can have the opposite effect anyway as those nations that drink lots of milk are also those with the highest rates of anaemia and osteoporosis.

[ginag]

I am only just returning to childminding after a 4 year break so not sure how this will effect milk usage but I have 3 children, 17, 14, and 11 and they drink between 4 and 6 pints a day between them. I don't mind tho as they use quite a bit with cereal, milk before and after school and often cereal again as "supper". I have thought it might be cheaper to keep a cow!

Gina xx

[Anon8319]

They do have a very good diet with plenty of veg etc, and I breastfed my own little one til she was nearly 17 months so we hardly got through any cow's milk for her at all, so it's a bit of a shock!

We have milk on breakfasts and my 21 month old mindee constantly asks for 'mulk' and seems to refuse water.

Think I am going to cut back.

[Zoomie]

22 litres .... that is what my weekly milk delivery is, and I occassionally buy an extra pint or two to carry us over till the next delivery.

My own children are 4, 10 and 12 and our family is known as the milk drinkers.

I pour full cups for my children as I know they will drink it, but only half cups for the mindees because most times, they don't drink it. Think I am going to cut the serving down to 1/3 of a cup.

For mindees, milk is only served at breakfast, and am and pm snack times. Rest of the time it is water. My older children obviously can help themselves to milk, but they have to drink it in the kitchen cause it isn't at the usual serving times.

Costs a fortune

[Nature'sKids!]

To be honest milk isn't that good full stop.

Despite what the dairy industry has led us to believe, many medical doctors and nutritionists are now saying that cow's milk is not healthy for human consumption, and that it can lead to many serious diseases. When you look at the credentials of the doctors making these statements, it would be hard for the dairy industry to accuse these physicians of being on the lunatic fringe of the medical world.

Frank Oski, M.D., author of Don't Drink Your Milk! is the Director of the Department of Pediatrics of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Physician-in-Chief of the Johns Hopkins Children's Center. He is the author, co-author, editor or co-editor of 19 medical textbooks and has written 290 medical manuscripts.

In the first chapter of his book, Dr. Oski states, "The fact is: the drinking of cow milk has been linked to iron-deficiency anemia in infants and children; it has been named as the cause of cramps and diarrhea in much of the world's population, and the cause of multiple forms of allergy as well; and the possibility has been raised that it may play a central role in the origins of atherosclerosis and heart attacks."

Dr. Oski comments, "Being against cow milk is equated with being un-American," but still he notes, "Among physicians, so much concern has been voiced about the potential hazards of cow milk that the Committee on Nutrition of the prestigious American Academy of Pediatrics, the institutional voice of practicing pediatricians, released a report entitled, "Should Milk Drinking by Children Be Discouraged?' Although the Academy's answer to this question has (as of this writing) been a qualified 'maybe,' the fact that the question was raised at all is testimony to the growing concern about this product, which for so long was viewed as sacred as the proverbial goodness of mother and apple pie."

Another outspoken critic of cow's milk is Dr. William Ellis, a retired osteopathic physician and surgeon in Arlington, Texas, who has researched the effects of dairy products for 42 years. Dr. Ellis is listed in Marquis' Who's Who in the East, Leaders of American Science, the Dictionary of International Biography and Two Thousand Men of Achievement. Dr. Ellis says dairy products are "simply no good for humans... There is overwhelming evidence that milk and milk products are harmful to many people, both adults and infants. Milk is a contributing factor in constipation, chronic fatigue, arthritis, headaches, muscle cramps, obesity, allergies and heart problems."

Dr. Michael Taylor, a Chiropractic Physician, doctoral candidate to become a Doctor of Nutrition and fellow of the American Academy of Orthomolecular Medicine, agrees, stating, "It is a dietary error to cross species to get milk from another animal." He notes there is a tremendous difference between human babies and baby calves, and a corresponding difference between the milk that is intended to nourish human babies and baby calves. In an interview on "Let's Eat," a Seventh-day Adventist television program, Dr. Taylor notes that human infants take about 180 days to double their birth weight, and that human milk is 5 to 7 percent protein. Calves require only 45 days to double their birth weight and cow's milk is 15 percent protein.
In addition to the difference in the amount of protein in these two different types of milk, there are also major differences in the composition of this protein. The primary type of protein in cow's milk is casein. Cow's milk has 20 times as much casein as human milk, which makes the protein from cow's milk difficult or impossible for humans to assimilate, according to Dr. John R. Christopher, N.D., M.H.

Protein composes 15 percent of the human body and when this protein cannot be properly broken down, it weakens the immune system, causing allergies and many other problems. Allergies caused by cow's milk are extremely common. In fact, Dr. Taylor states that when a single food can be isolated as the cause of an allergy, 60 percent of the time, that food is cow's milk. Dr. Ellis notes that symptoms of this allergic reaction to cow's milk in infants can include asthma, nasal congestion, skin rash, chest infections, irritability and fatigue.

Dr. Oski's book cites evidence from Dr. Joyce Gryboski, director of the Pediatric Gastrointestinal Clinic at Yale University School of Medicine, who states "they see at least one child a week who is referred for evaluation of chronic diarrhea and proves to have nothing more than an allergy to cow milk."

Another reason many people suffer various symptoms of disease from drinking milk is that, according to Dr. Oski, the majority of the world's adult population is "lactose intolerant," meaning they cannot digest lactose, the sugar in milk (cow's milk and human milk). An enzyme known as lactase is required to digest lactose, and Dr. Oski states that "between the age of one and a half and four years most individuals gradually lose the lactase activity in their small intestine. This appears to be a normal process that accompanies maturation.... Most people do it. All animals do it. It reflects the fact that nature never intended lactose-containing foods, such as milk, to be consumed after the normal weaning period."

http://www.waoy.org/9.html

[Bananabrain]

GALLONS!!!!!
I do claim thru' 'nursery milk' though [third of a pint per child per day]
It's not much but every little bit helps to keep costs down.

[AliceK]

We get through about 18 pints a week. I use lots on breakfasts as most of the children and also myself have cereal for breakfast.

xxx

[xgemx]

I havent got any mindees at the minute but between me, my hubby and the 3 kids we get through 6-8 pints every other day it cost me a fortune

[Anon8319]

Nature's Kids, I do sort of agree, but I come from a dairy farming family and won't be turning my back on milk lol. I just made sure my daughter had milk meant for humans until she decided she didn't need or want it anymore, and now she has it on her breakfast and in her beaker mid morning and mid afternoon. Most of the time she is happy with water though. hehe.

[Pinkrose]

I have 3 under 5's and use about 5 pints a day x

[Playmate]

Hubby and I mind 5 - 6 under 5's every day. We buy 4 pints of blue milk and it lasts the week! Only my under 2's drink milk during the day (of which we have 2). All of the older children have milk at home morning and night and water at our house and juice with lunch. They have yogurt every meal and cheese and many of my meals contain a white sauce (which is usually made with semi-skimmed). I also have to be very careful as one of mine is allergic to dairy.

[candlequeen]

You will receive funding for 1/3 pint of milk per day per child, so I would consider any less than this would be going against nutritional standards for providers of care for under 5s.
Whilst there may be some scientific evidence showing that milk may not be right for everyone, and there are cases of lactose allergy, the fact is that at the moment the general nutritional consensus still is that milk forms a valuable part of the diet of under 5s. It is really important that those who take responsibility for children's wellbeing (including childminders) ensure children are properly nourished according to fully evidenced nutritional advice, such as that issued by the Caroline Walker Trust (www.cwt.org.uk).
There is a great deal of harm being done by people believing that milk is in some way bad for people, without a full body of scientific evidence to back this up. I am not against people bringing their children up as vegans if they have fully researched and can provide a balanced diet, but I cannot tolerate people who have some vague belief that their child is lactose intolerant or that milk is causing mucus build-up and just cutting back on cows milk, or using milk alternative that may not be right for children.
Milk is an important source of protein, vitamin A, fats etc in the diets of young children not just calcium, so cutting out milk should only be done with careful consideration of their overall diet.

For the record, milk does not inhibit absorption of iron, it is just a fact that children who are over-dependent on milk instead of having a balanced diet, do show higher rates of anaemia (because they are not eating a balanced diet). If humans fed children mainly on apple juice instead of giving them a balanced diet they would be anaemic too. So yes drinking cow's milk has been linked to iron-deficiency anaemia, but it does not mean cow's milk causes anaemia. It's interesting how a lot of the anti-milk proponents use facts such as this as evidence to back up their case.