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Milk, nutritional benefits for children from 1 to 3 years old
Up to 3 years old, milk is essential in the diet of kids. Milk not only provides them with the calcium essential for their growth. It is essential to offer infant milks for the 2nd age or immediately up to the age of 10-12 months. Then, switch to growth milk for up to 3 years. Infant milk and growth milk provide the right amounts of iron, a nutrient that plays an important role in the functioning of the immune system. As well as the right amounts of essential fatty acids, especially omega 3 and 6, useful for brain development. According to official recommendations, a child under 1 to 3 years old should drink between 500 ml and 800 ml of growth milk and dairy products per day. Which makes 3 to 4 dairy products every day.
In video: Which milks from birth to 3 years old?
He doesn’t want his milk: the tips
Around 12-18 months, it is very common for a child to tire of his bottle of milk. To make him want to drink milk, it is quite possible to add a little cocoa powder (no added sugar). You can also add a little infant cereals and feed it with a spoon. For afternoon tea, we can offer him yogurt or cottage cheese or cheese.
Equivalences : 200 mg of calcium = a glass of milk (150 ml) = 1 yoghurt = 40 g of Camembert (2 child portions) = 25 g of Babybel = 20 g of Emmental = 150 g of fromage blanc = 5 petits-suisse of 30 g. |
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What dairy products are offered instead of milk?
It is tempting to offer dairy desserts flavored with fruits, chocolate… which are often well appreciated by the youngest. But nutritionally, they are not interesting because they contain a lot of sugar and in the end, often little calcium. We therefore limit them. It is better to bet on plain yogurts, white cheeses and petits-suisse prepared with whole milk, preferably. We flavor them with fruit, honey… We can also choose dairy products prepared with growth milk. They provide more essential fatty acids (especially omega 3), iron and vitamin D.
Cheeses that taste
Another solution, when a child is not too fond of milk: offer him cheese. Because, they are sources of calcium. But again, it is important to choose them well. Generally, kids love processed or spread cheese. They are enriched with crème fraîche and fat, but contain little calcium. Better to favor cheeses with taste that provide good amounts of calcium. For the youngest (the recommendations concern children under 5), we opt for pasteurized cheeses and not raw milk, to avoid the risks of listeria and salmonella. Choice of: Emmental, Gruyère, Comté, Beaufort and other pressed and cooked cheeses which are the richest in calcium.
Cooking with infant milk
To get kids to eat the quantities of milk they need, you can cook with infant milk. It’s simple, just add once the dish is prepared, a little infant milk in soups, purees, soups, gratins … You can also prepare desserts based on infant milk such as flans, semolina or rice pudding, milkshakes… Enough to delight gourmets while providing them with everything they need to grow well.