It should continue to be given alongside an increasingly varied diet once you introduce solid foods from around 6 months. The World Health Organization recommends that all babies are breastfed for up to 2 years or longer. Breastfeeding up to 12 months is associated with a lower risk of tooth decay.
Milk is an important source of fats, protein, calcium, and vitamins A and D, and children of any age as well as adults can continue to drink it for the rest of their lives if they wish.
In short, no, milk itself isn't the ultimate key to your child's healthy growth and development. Plenty of children have grown up without drinking it. Instead, it's the mix of nutrients milk provides that make it such an ideal beverage for children under 5.
One-year-olds no longer need formula, and can now switch to whole milk. Some toddlers never drink milk; if that's the case with your child, please don't force it. Toddlers need the nutrients in milk — calcium and protein — but these nutrients are also available from other sources. Toddlers do not need milk.
To prevent your child from getting iron deficiency anemia or protein losing enteropathy, make sure they are drinking no more than the recommended daily amount of cow's milk. For toddlers, the recommended amount is about 250-500 mL, or 1-2 cups per day. Exceeding this amount can lead to problems.
General guidelines for how much milk a child each should drink are: 2 – 3 cups per day for children 12-24 months; and 2 – 2½ cups per day for children 2–5 years old. For children over 5 years old, the daily recommendations are 2½ cups to age 8, and then 3 cups for ages 9-18.
Milk is one of the most important drinks to help toddlers get proper sleep. A toddler aged between 1-4 years should drink 150 ml of milk before bedtime whereas one with age 5-8 years should consume 250ml of milk.
According to the American Academy of Pediatricians, children under 12 months of age shouldn't receive cow's milk at all. Children aged 12 to 24 months should not consume more than 12 ounces of milk per day and toddlers over the age of 2 should not consume more than 32 ounces of milk per day.
Most toddlers are advised to drink whole milk because they need the extra fat content for optimal growth. However, if your child is overweight or obese, your pediatrician might suggest 1% or 2% milk. Children with milk protein allergy might need to transition to soy milk or another cow's milk alternative.
There's no reason for adults to drink cow's milk unless they like it, according to Vasanti Malik of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Whether you're 7 or 77, drinking milk at any age is important for good health. Milk is a good source of vitamin D and calcium, which older adults tend to need more of, to maintain bone strength, preserve muscle strength, and prevent osteoporosis. For some seniors, milk means more than nutrition.
Milk has long been seen as an important source of calcium and other nutrients, particularly for children. But some researchers suggest that it is not a necessary part of a healthy diet for most adults, and may even be harmful if consumed excessively.
Cows' milk
Semi-skimmed milk can be introduced once your child is 2 years old, as long as they're a good eater and they have a varied diet. Skimmed and 1% milk are not suitable for children under 5 years old because they do not contain enough calories. Lower-fat milks can be used in cooking from 1 year old.
For 3-4-years-olds, 16-20 ounces of milk (or yogurt) is recommended per day, drinking only up to 6 ounces at a time.
Fortified soy beverages are the only milk alternative that help meet a child's recommended dairy needs. Choose one that is unflavored and unsweetened. Your child does not need added sugars. Choose one that is fortified with vitamin D and calcium.
After 12 months of age, toddlers may not get enough iron because they no longer drink iron-fortified formula and they may not get enough iron-rich foods in their diet. To help prevent iron deficiency: Limit your child's milk intake to 16–24 ounces (480–720 milliliters) a day.
Limit your child's milk intake to about 16–24 ounces a day (2 to 3 cups). Serve more iron-rich foods (meat, poultry, fish, enriched grains, beans, tofu). When serving iron-rich meals, include foods that contain vitamin C (like tomatoes, broccoli, oranges, and strawberries), which improve the body's iron absorption.
How Too Much Milk Can Cause Obesity. If a child drinks 32 to 48 ounces of whole milk each day, at 19 calories per ounce they are getting about 600 to 900 calories just from milk. This equals 50–65% of the estimated 1300 calories that a toddler needs each day, making it easy for a child to take in too many calories.
It is fine to include milk as part of your toddler's bedtime routine. It can be a great way of creating a 'count' down to bed time and many toddlers look forward to their milk before bed. In fact, many children have milk before bed for many years to come and that is absolutely fine.
Giving a bottle to a toddler at bedtime and letting him fall asleep before you brush his teeth is an invitation to decay. Many families have children who have developed cavities as young as 18 months and as old as 5 for same reason — they were still taking a bottle before bed.
After your baby is 6 months old, they no longer need a bottle in the middle of the night. If your little one never dropped the habit, eliminating nighttime feedings can help you and your child get more sleep, and will protect their teeth.
So, just two cups of milk (500ml) is more than enough to meet dietary recommendations for calcium in children aged one to three. If your child drinks this amount of milk and has other calcium-rich foods (such as cheese or yoghurt) they may be exceeding their calcium needs.
Stage 3, (12 months to 3 years) Supplies key nutrients to help support young children's growth up until their 4th birthday. Fortified milk drink for young children from 12 months onwards.
The current advice re: kids and milk consumption
The AAP's long-held recommendation, echoed by the current Dietary Guidelines for Americans, is that once weaned, a child should drink whole milk until age 2 and low-fat (1%) or skim after that.
Say Goodbye to Milk before Bed
After your little one's first birthday, milk shouldn't continue to be part of his bedtime routine. When you drop the bedtime bottle, there's no need to replace it with anything. Milk before bed contributes to middle of the night wake ups and this is less than ideal.