Do You Know, or Care, What Kind of Milk Your Daycare Serves?

I care about everything offered to my son either being hormone free or, even better, grass fed/free roaming/organic. My daycare only uses local and organic and I'm willing to pay a premium for it.

As far as fat content- my kid won't be drinking tons and tons, so whole or 2% is fine.

as a daycare provider, I have been asked to provide whole milk for the under 2 group. After that, it seems that most parents don't care.

When children require soy/almond, the parents supply it.
When parents prefer organic, they supply it.
When families drink goat milk, they supply it....usually fresh from their farm!

Most of my families use skim or 2% at home, & that's what my family uses. So that's the bulk of my supply. .....good question, by the way!

I would not care. I am so tired of the medical community harping on whole milk vs. skim milk. Milk is one of the few sources of fat for my child (he refuses to eat most meat and we do not have chips, fried foods (except 1x/week), or other high fat foods. Obesity is not caused by fat, it is caused by too many calories no matter what form they are in. Our bodies need a balance of protein, fat, and carbs. Frankly, if the medical community wants to stop childhood obesity they should start telling parents to eliminate all the highly processed carbs that people are constantly putting in front of children.

It doesn't really matter to me what they serve at our daycare, I believe it is 2%, but I have never honestly asked. Our daughter is lactose intolerant, so I provide Silk soy milk for her, but for my son it really doesn't matter to me.

Our daycare uses regular 1% and if a child needs something otherwise the parents bring it. We use a center though. At home I only use organic. My 3 year old drinks skim but when an infant we started with the whole milk then worked our way to skim. Last I spoke with the pediatrician, he said starting with 2% is fine. I think if you wanted to just go with one, I would go with 2% or 1%. I would never want my 3 year old on whole milk though.

Yes! Organic whole milk is great! Wish you were in my area! Just toured a daycare that does not offer whole milk to under 2 year olds... yikes!

My daughter has taken organic milk to her son's daycare for his use. Whole milk in his case, because he was so active and skinny, and she wanted the fats in his diet for early brain development. And I will buy only organic milk for my milk-loving husband, even though he prefers non-fat.

For me, it seems a small but cumulative worry, having done considerable research on the topic. The fats, particularly, store traces of hormones and medications that have been given to cows, and any herbicides or other toxins that they've been exposed to.

I believe organic whole milk is the healthiest option because it contains more nutrients. In Europe they don't have anything but whole milk. I believe our montessori school serves organic 2 % milk so it is closer to everyone's preference.

When my son was in daycare, I cared about the food he was served as far as it was healthy, a good variety, not too high cal or low cal, and that the rules surrounding food and his consumption were fair: could he eat when he was hungry, and not eat so much when he wasn't? What if he hated the food? Was he punished? Given other options? Were there other things he could eat, as part of the meal, if he didn't care for one element of it? Organic would have been GREAT, a big plus in my opinion, but I figure that daycare providers don't make nearly enough, and asking them to buy super-high-quality food was asking too much. My son was exposed to new foods, he ate well because he ate around other kids, and if he didn't care for something, he was encouraged to try it but not forced. He was fed breakfast, snack, lunch, and snack...and that was asking plenty of my daycare, in my opinion. Oh...I DID care that he had whole milk for his first year of whole milk consumption. By my second, though, who was a CHUNK, I didn't care so much because, with an older brother, I'm pretty sure he already HAD more fats in his diet, just because we couldn't be quite as careful. He was also still breastfeeding at one, whereas my first, in daycare, was weaned at 13 mos. Thanks for caring so much for your kids!

I am a licensed home daycare provider with 20+ yrs experience. I have always provided whole milk for ages 12mos-2 yrs. After that, it has varied. I have had a few underweight children in my program (including my own dd), so those children were served whole milk. For any other children, it has been 1% or skim. Currently, I do not have anyone in my care under 2, so the 2 yrs olds and the smaller (in weight) children get 2%, instead of whole. All of the other children currently get skim. I tried 1% for a few weeks and they complained that they did not like it. If I run out of skim and give those kids 2%, they wont even drink it - they say it tastes like cheese! I am not a milk drinker (never have been), so it is hard for me to know the taste differences. The only parents who have ever asked are parents of 1 yos, wanting whole, or the parents of the smaller size kids - requesting something above skim. I agree with what several people have said, kids are not overweight because of the milk they drink (unless it is due to the volume of milk they drink!), it tends to be the fast food and high fat highly processed foods. Interesting topic! I think I may ask my friends on FB, too (also most dc providers and/or moms!).
S.

I don't care about organic personally--I buy the local organic carrots at our grocer because they are cheaper. I drink only skim milk and my kids drank whole until they turned 2. My husband will ONLY drink 1% or use it on his cereal, so when my oldest turned 2 he drank 1% since my husband rarely goes through a whole gallon on his own and I drink several gallons a week. Now that my youngest is 2, he shares the 1% with daddy and my oldest drinks skim or 1%, depending on which has more in it. I would say that I would prefer skim if my kids were in child care, but as long as it is not higher than 1% for a child over 2 I wouldn't care that much.

I don't mind some normal milk once in a while in emergencies, but for every day school and daycare I sent organic milk with my daughter to avoid the hormones.

I always used whole milk for the little ones and then 2% for the preschoolers and older. As I understand the food program for home situations you don't get as much as full child care centers. If you want to serve more expensive milk that you won't necessarily get reimbursed for then that is a decision you'll have to make. I personally use the normal milk from the store.

If you go by the food pyramid they recommend whole milk for the little ones. I don't know where your food program gets their information but they should be requiring you to serve whole milk to the younger ones.

Our boys (20 months and 4) get whole milk. After 2 I would have switched to skim since it has all the same nutrients and not the fat, but both of our boys are on the skinny side so the extra fat is good for them. I think it all depends on their size. I wouldn't use whole milk if any of the children are overweight, but if weight is not an issue I would give them whatever they will drink.

I still buy whole milk in our house. My kids are 15, 14, 9 and 6. None of them have weight issues. The oldest is actually underweight. My pediatrician said to stick with whole for us. It is so hard to please everyone. My kids dont like skim. I also know that some of my nieces and nephews dont like whole. Maybe 2% is a happy medium :)

I definitely do... I don't allow myself or family to have regular mainstream milk if I can help it. My daughter's private school only offers mainstream milk, and does not allow students in Kindergarten to choose any other drinks like the 1st-5th can. So I buy the Organic 12 pack of small milk cartons and send one with her everyday,

At daycares and pre-school, I told them not to give her any milk.

my preference for my child would be skim. She has never in her life had whole milk. I do believe she has had 2% before though because my mom drinks it. Organic milk would be important to me as well.

i only served skim. in all reality, even 1 year old kids are only going to have a glass at breakfast lunch or dinner, so its not like they are going to get that much, and really, the fat in milk isnt good fats anyway; its actually dangerous.

so buy skim, if someone wants whole, you can request they send it. kids over 2 do NOT need whole, at all, even WIC is telling me now to give my son skim or 1% only. we just do skim, as i said, the fats are actually worse than you think, even organic (but kudos to you for going that route, it is preferred to hormone/etc treated milk)

The center I work at & my daughter goes to provides 2% only (Silk for those allergic to dairy & w/dr note)- if a parent wants them on whole they have to provide it. I bring my daughter's Pediasure/whole milk daily and keep a spare bottle of pediasure there. There are a few parents there that bring whole milk til their child(ren) reach 2 yrs then they usually switch but most of the parents just use the center's 2 %. The center I worked at when my older daughter was baby only used whole milk.
If I didn't work there I would like to think I would care enough to find out - just because my daughter has fought to gain weight since birth and I wouldn't want to be giving her less than whole unless in an emergency.

Don't know, but honestly don't care b/c she provides them with balanced breakfast and lunch options. We have 2% in our home, but it never occurred to me that I should ask what they drink at daycare.