Is Children’s Milk Good for Health?

What do you think of so-called children’s milk (from the 12th month)? Does it really contain a better nutritional composition than cow’s milk, or is it mainly money-making by the baby food manufacturers?

With a balanced diet, healthy small children do not need any nutrient-enriched substitute products such as children’s milk. From the age of 10 months, they can be introduced to the normal family diet with natural milk and milk products.

So-called children’s milk is a substitute product for drinking milk. They are available ready to drink or as a powder to be mixed with water. The protein content of cow’s milk is reduced from 3.3 g/100ml to approx. 1.5 g/100ml. In addition, further changes are made to the composition of children’s milk: compared to cow’s milk with 1.5% fat, the average content of iron, zinc, copper, iodine, selenium and manganese as well as vitamins A, D, B1, C, K, E and pantothenic acid and omega-3 fatty acids increased, but poorer in potassium, calcium, phosphorus and magnesium as well as in vitamin B2, biotin and vitamin B12. The energy and fat content roughly corresponds to that of cow’s milk with 3.5% fat, the carbohydrate content is higher than in cow’s milk.

These points show why children’s milk is not recommended:

• There is no clear scientific evidence that reducing protein intake reduces the risk of obesity in later childhood. Current studies show that small children consume too much of the protein sources sausage, meat and eggs, but not milk.
• Children’s milk cannot replace targeted supplementation under medical supervision, which is necessary in the event of iron deficiency. Natural sources of iron are not cow’s milk and dairy products, but other foods such as whole grains and meat.
• The fortification can lead to an uncontrolled oversupply of some nutrients, especially when consuming other fortified (children’s) foods. Cow’s milk and products are the most important sources of calcium, but children’s milk drinks contain about a third less calcium than cow’s milk.
• The contained omega-3 fatty acids come from added vegetable oils that do not occur naturally in milk.
  It makes more sense to eat foods that are natural sources of omega-3 fatty acids, such as sea fish and vegetable oils (e.g. rapeseed oil).
• Children’s milk is much sweeter than milk and often flavored. This can lead to the child getting used to the special, sweet taste.
• Children’s milk is up to four times more expensive than cow’s milk. A price comparison is hardly possible, since the basic price usually refers to the weight of the powder and not to the ready-to-eat quantity.

Nutritional benefits of children’s milk compared to low-fat cow’s milk could not be proven.

Children’s milk is therefore superfluous and also expensive.

With three servings of milk and dairy products a day – around 300-330 ml in total – your toddler is well taken care of. Example: A small glass of milk for breakfast, a small cup of yoghurt in the afternoon and a cheese sandwich in the evening.

Reduced-fat (1.5%) fresh milk is recommended for small children.