Thoughts on chocolate milk?

[Mashi]

Sara I would do it!  I remember about a year ago I posted asking about Ovaltine, and if ppl thought it was okay to let him drink that as a drink because he was eating so little, I wanted to add the extra vitamins in his diet. I think that Ovaltine here is different to Ovaltine in the US though - it is not a 'chocolate milk' powder, it is not really even chocolately but it is brown so I guess we think of it as chocolate. It is a malt powder full of vitamins, and yes, sugar.   But now in hindsight I look back and thing 'why was I so stressed over the decision - give the kid chocolate milk!!"   My DS does not have sweets or treats, he thinks biscuits or cookies of any kind are a massive treat, never cakes or candies, (though someone gave him a lollipop last week and he is desperate for another!) or puddings, etc.  Yes, we use commercial yogurts but plain, and I add honey or syrup - that is pretty much all of the sugar that he gets.  Now and again we share a quark with him (like a sweet yogurt but it is actually cheese).   So for me, a few spoons of chocolate powder to get him to drink his milk, with all of the added nutrition in the chocolate powder - do it, and do not stress over it!

I also buy other flavoured milks, strawberry, banana and hazelnut are big hits here.  Regular milk is 6g of sugar per 100mls and the flavoured ones are like 8 or 9 g so again not enough to stress me out!

[Lolly]

What Mashi said!

Sara - I'm glad he liked his chocolate milk!

I think with all these things moderation is the key. It's also a lot easier to control their diet as little toddlers. When they get to school and see what others are having it's a lot harder to deny them things, especially when they are at parties and social gatherings. If their diet are reasonably balanced over a week then treats (or somtimes foods) aren't a problem. I'd rather my currently protien refusing DD has a commercial yoghurt than no yoghurt for example - there's only so much cheese based foods I can give her

Laura

[Tweakster]

Like Laura said - if we could protect them from sugar we'd be all powerful and not need this forum lol

I think if you want your kid to not lose interest in milk altogether, it's fine to dress it up a bit.  It's kind of like saying 'no ketchup' when we know that in reality, ketchup is typically a food group here in NA (not so much in UK but they have their 'brown sauce' and in Europe places like Germany have a spicy mustard which, while I can't be 100% certain, I think has sugar).  But if ketchup means your kid will eat fish, or eggs or whatever else worthwhile you're trying to get into them, then it might be worth it.

So perhaps he'll drink some chocolate milk and not even like it lol. But if he does it might mean that he keeps milk on his agenda and gives it another chance down the road.

[LizzieN]

Hey guys, I'm really late on here but one thing I was thinking is perhaps you could try your DS on different types of milk, for example have you tried soy milk or oat milk?  They don't have as much available calcium, but they do have taste and textural differences that your DS might like?

We don't really do chocolate milk often here only as a BIG treat or a warm milo after being out on the farm and getting very cold, have used it when DS was very sick and had very limited food and liquid intake but I think we have too much sugar in our diet and for now our kids like milk so I don't want them to start only liking chocolate milk.  But that is my personal decision...Rather than introducing chocky milk I would just up the yoghurt, use more in cooking, you can make your own bread and add in more milk powder etc and try and use all those other high calcium foods.  It's understandable we all get worried about calcium levels (and milk is super for absorption because of the corresponding vits and mins there) but it is only three small servings a day   Don't stress too much, sounds like you are well on top of it!

[Lemonthyme]

I'd be a bit careful on soy; I'm no expert but I think it contains some natural oestrogens? 

[Mashi]

Soy is controversial yes, but I think it is a personal opinion - I would say read EVERYTHING before you make a decision, not just a few things that are one-sided.

[LizzieN]

Yeah sorry guys, probably shouldn't have mentioned it, all I meant was that there are alternatives out there, goat milk, sheep milk, soy, oat, rice etc....But as everyone says research whatever you are thinking of trying.

xx

[Love, laughter, & PJs]

Interesting thread.  Austin drinks a bunch of milk so we've never really thought too much about this.  He has had flavored milk here and there (like when I need to stop at Starbucks! ) and he likes it for sure.  I agree that diluted chocolate milk in moderation is ok to me.

And I've used chocolate milk as a recovery drink when I'm marathon training - it's great and so much cheaper than those protein drink recovery drinks!  Yummy, too.    In fact, this thread made me a bit sad about my current ED!!

[deb]

Been following along off and on, just a few thoughts.

There are plenty of foods that have calcium, as well as calcium supplements. The calcium in milk isn't as bio-available as that in, say, leafy greens, so despite a glass of milk having X grams of calcium, the body doesn't absorb it all anyway. If you're looking at Nesquik or similar for vitamins, you may as well take a vitamin supplement; the vitamins in drinks like that are already supplemented, so if you have a quality vitamin supplement already, you're covered and the powder for the milk is extraneous.

Had a look at the sugar-free Nesquik, and while there's no sugar in it, there is sucralose, which is Splenda - an artificial sweetener - so if you're trying to avoid artificial, that's not the way to go.

As PP have mentioned, soy is controversial; we pretty much avoid it here, as much for the potential hormonal component as because we just don't digest the stuff well. (Most people don't digest unfermented soy well, from what I've read.) Other nondairy beverages like rice milk contain supplemental calcium - which you can get in a supplement anyway.

If you can avoid commercially sweetened yogurt - it's not hard to make your own; I make about a gallon a week here as it's the only dairy we seem to be able to digest in our family - I'd stick with that for protein and calcium. Once you get used to not having it sweetened, the milk sugar alone (which is partially broken down by the culturing, so it tastes sweeter the way lactose-free milk tastes a bit sweeter than regular milk) is plenty sweet enough. The kids get a bowl of yogurt and/or a calcium supplement daily, depending on how many greens I can get into them on any given day.

Oh, recovery beverage for after exercise: coconut water! http://zico.com/ . We chug this stuff in the summer!

[Tweakster]

I use less sugar Nesquik syrup - no artificial sweetener:
Ingredients
SUGAR, WATER, COCOA, COLOUR, SALT, CITRIC ACID, VANILLIN, POTASSIUM SORBATE, FERRIC ORTHOPHOSPHATE.

Yes it has sugar, but far less than a lot of other things.  And since I control how much I add, I feel perfectly good about it :-)

I don't use the powder.  I find that it takes far less of the syrup to turn the milk brown.  And really, Finn thinks it's totally special when he gets a small glass of mildly brown milk.

Finn eats zero greens and we have no time to make our own anything.  We are cow's milk drinkers in our home, not ready to ditch that yet.  Down the road maybe, but for now, it's a staple. 

It's really all down to your comfort level and what you can live with :-)

[Shdef]

Chocolate milk is nice and if you buy a proper kind, it's healthy, too. I see no reason to withhold things that are nice AND healthy for Scotty, he loves it.

Oh, and he loved savoury and bitter things all the same, if that is what you worry about 

[deb]

It's a lot harder to find "a proper kind" here in the States.

[nona]

i think i stress about these things way less than you guys do......

i think most things are in OK in moderation.

we use the less sugar nesquick or i buy the horizon chocolate milk in the carton or individual cartons. I will also buy the Promise brand (the midnight chocolate) and then I dilute it - but I can def drink it straight!  so i think these things are "proper" and i find them at my local grocery store. granted, i'm not making my own chocolate to add to the milk i just milked from a cow but it is good enough!

[deb]

Heehee! It's a lot easier when your kids don't respond well to milk and in fact go around the bend behaviorally from it - it's a lot easier to just keep it out of the diet entirely. It's a pain explaining this to a school that thinks if it's not a life-threatening allergy then it's not a problem, but otherwise it's easier.

[~Sara~]

If you're looking at Nesquik or similar for vitamins, you may as well take a vitamin supplement; the vitamins in drinks like that are already supplemented, so if you have a quality vitamin supplement already, you're covered and the powder for the milk is extraneous.

My thoughts exactly...but I couldn't find a kids vitamin that had calcium in it.  Maybe I just need to check a difference place (I was at Target, where I bought the Nesquik...low sugar, since the No Sugar had Splenda in it).

Well, we tried this weekend with the chocolate milk.  It was a no-go, thopugh he took a couple more sips than he would normally take of plain milk.  We'll keep at it, though.  Unfortunately, he will only eat veggies if they're pretty much invisible in whatever I cook, so leafy greens are out; and I can't get DH to be very creative during the day at home.  So, our situation is what it is.

Wendy, hooray for Finn liking his brown milk

But now in hindsight I look back and thing 'why was I so stressed over the decision - give the kid chocolate milk!!"

That's kind of how I'm leaning at this point now, though to still only offer it once a day with breakfast.